Letting it go

An old friend of mine used to say that if it isn't useful or doesn't bring you joy then get rid of it... she was talking about keeping a house clean and tidy. As I was tidying up our home today I started reflecting on this in two ways, both of which were really good for me.

Firstly, about the tidying up of stuff. I am a bit of a hoarder, I hate to waste things and often think that perhaps something will be useful for me or someone else at some stage so hold on to it. Yesterday I went clothes shopping at a second hand store, I spent NZ$95 but walked away with the following items: for my son- three sweatshirts, one woolen jersey, one pair of pyjamas; for myself- two skirts, one pair of pants, one pair of jeans, three cardigans and one pair of pyjamas. They are all good quality and in good condition. With all of these new clothes drying on the rack after being washed this morning I realised that they had served their purpose for previous owners and were then let go, so I went into my own closet and cleaned out clothing that I no longer needed or wanted. How liberating! I don't have to keep something just in case I lose weight, or gain it, nor do I have to keep it because someone gifted it to me even though it doesn't feel comfortable or look right. Someone else may love these items of clothing and that is just great.
I have been doing a lot around recycling, reducing and reusing lately... reducing being the first step in making a positive impact on the planet. When buying second hand I am reducing by not buying newly produced items and purchasing based on when I need something rather than just because!

Secondly, is the deeper significance of the statement and this is what I mused on as I was tidying up. Looking at what we do with our time and getting rid of that (as much as practical) which is not useful or does not bring you joy can be just as liberating as cleaning out the closet! Some of this comes back to being aware of what your goals are, what your dreams are and what is important to you, then apportioning your time accordingly. Our lives can be hugely busy but some of it can be busyness for busyness' sake rather than useful or joyful time spent.
Today we stacked wood, had lunch, did some gardening work, and tidied up around the house before preparing a roast vegetable risotto for tea... and time seemed to go so slowly, I felt like I had time for all of this without feeling pressured or rushed. This is because it was useful and I enjoyed most of it too, strange as that may seem, as some of that time was spent with my own thoughts and the rest with my family. It was great being outside in the fresh air on a relatively warm winter's day, knowing that the cooler weather was coming again.

In my role as a teacher I am thinking that this is as true for the classroom as it is in my own home. When we are so busy we lose sight of what is useful or joyful the joy of learning can disappear almost entirely. I am looking at my planning and stripping it back, focusing first at what is useful and joyful (for us all in the class)... I figure if we start there and then move forward from that then we might just strike the better balance.

Perhaps taking on the philosophy of getting rid of that which isn't useful or joyful (where practical) has the capacity to simplify our lives and help us get more out of the time we have? I think it just might.

Spending time... are you investing it well?

I love that phrase 'spending time'. It makes so much sense (or cents!) How often do we stop our constant doing-ness to consider if we are spending our time well? I know I don't do it often enough, however it occurred to me this evening that I really need to stop and think about it seriously.

Today I went out to work on a neat wee project, doing some filming with some folks I used to do some work for. It was a fun day out and I was lucky that my mum was able to look after our little boy. This evening I had to attend a meeting and my little boy was less than impressed that mummy was leaving again. The meeting was not particularly pleasant to be honest and as I drove home I started asking myself some big questions, the biggest being, was that a good use of my time?

I am lucky, there are many opportunities I am exposed to and I want to say YES to them all. However if I do that I find that I am actually unable to do them all justice and something suffers, usually my own wellbeing... this is an old treadmill I have been on and not an experience I wish to repeat yet again. So tonight as I was driving I did some maths, I am sure that many others have done this before me and probably far more eloquently but just in case here is some of my thinking.

There are 1440 minutes in a day. Now lawyers and accountants (and other businesses too I am sure) charge out their time in blocks of minutes. Imagine if in our lives every minute was worth $100. (please note: I chose a round number because maths isn't a strength of mine and it's a big lot of money because I think it helps to demonstrate a significant 'value' for our time) That's a lot of money in itself really but wait.... at that rate our time is worth $6000 per hour or $144 000 per day... wow, that is a whole lot of money. What would you do if you have $144 000 to spend?

If I had $144 000 to spend I would want to give some to my family, use it to help others, do what I could to be healthy and invest in my learning probably. Those things are important to me, so they'd be top of the list anyway. The disconnect comes when I look at how I have spent a day and I have not addressed those things in the measures I would like and worse still when I feel that the time I have had has been poorly used, taken for granted or wasted. Tonight for a short time I felt really angry but then I needed to think about what I was giving up to feel angry (see my post about being as big as you dare to be for more information about this type of mindfulness) and I also started to equate it to a dollar amount.

For every minute spent angry that is $100 worth of time gone that could have been spent with my family or in my learning or helping others. And if I spend half a day angry then I have wasted $77 000 worth of my time that could have been better spent on other things including investing wisely in my own health.
The same applies for screen time. Entertainment is great for our health, but it is all about balance and I know TV and other technologies are easy time thieves.

You see I just don't spend money like that, I am more conscious of what I do with my money, but I do let time slip through my fingers and wonder where another day has gone. I know it's normal that there will be days like that at times but I wonder what would happen if we were more aware and thought about where we are investing our time and whether we are really investing in our goals and the important things/people in our lives.