Hoarding

For your consideration….

I was really surprised when our message came in as “hoarding.” Today’s blog is late because, quite frankly, I know very little about it. I have had to spend some time researching it and sitting with it to figure out where this message wanted/needed to go. Clearly there is a lot more to hoarding than what we hear today.

When I first started reading, I thought, “Whoa, am I a hoarder?” as I sat and looked around the books in my library and thought about my basement. Maybe you will think the same. For myself, I came to the conclusion that I may exhibit a few symptoms of hoarding but mostly it is about lack or time and drive to really tackle a full-out sorting and discarding. For the most part I do not have the attachment to “stuff” that a hoarder has. And I remembered in the spring about doing some of that in the kitchen and how good it felt.

Here’s a good synopsis of much of what I read this morning. It is part of an article from “Psychology Today:

“It can be difficult to determine whether someone is a hoarder or just a pack rat, someone who just likes to hang on to things. The main determiner of whether a behavior is just a personal preference or a disorder usually has to do with whether or not, and how much, that behavior has begun to negatively impact daily functioning. Here are generally recognized symptoms of hoarding from the Mayo Clinic:

• Cluttered living spaces
• Inability to discard items
• Keeping stacks of newspapers, magazines, or junk mail
• Moving items from one pile to another without discarding anything
• Acquiring unneeded or seemingly useless items, including trash
• Difficulty managing daily activities, procrastinating and trouble making decisions
• Difficulty organizing items
• Perfectionism
• Excessive attachment to possessions and discomfort letting others touch or borrow possessions
• Limited or no social interactions”

The article continues on to say that they don’t know what causes hoarding. We can’t know but our message today wants us to examine our “energy hoarding.” When we hold on to things too tight, our emotions too in check, we withdraw, our love is smothering versus free, our generosity is stinted etc., we are hoarding our energy. While we hold onto it tightly, we forget that the only way it can grow to its full potential is to let it go. It is hard to let go of what we love the most. But we have to remember, what we let go is not lost., It is always a part of who we are.

That is the HOPE. And so it is.

Bit by bit, piece by piece, HOPE by HOPE action steps anyone can take….

-Meditate/pray…ask…”What is my next step for my highest good and the highest good of all?
-Drink lots of water.

– Get outdoors and take in at least 10 deep breaths.

-Let go of what no longer serves you…what you no longer need…what you would like to see grow and expand.

What made me smile yesterday…..

-My Sis and her family had a good ride home….totally not like the ride to vacation.

-Taylor’s graduation. It was so good to see AJ and some of her family.

-A beautiful ride through the country to get there and then I continued through the country to Peanut’s baseball game.

-A good book and chill evening.

Love, Blessings and Gratitude,

Rev. Chris