It’s November 28, 2019, Thanksgiving evening after a wonderful day spent with family. Since I’m still wound up from all the interaction, I begin to decorate for Christmas. I’m happy and excited. The first thing I do is put out the decorative placements on the dining room table, then I run out to the garage and get my tree box and begin to assemble the Christmas tree.

It is an artificial white tree, with clear pre-lit lights. This is my tree, it’s not green because I wanted white. I specifically chose this tree in 2009 when I was focusing on what brings me joy and straying away from the traditional tried and true. I carefully chose the thick gold and silver garland and the burgundy and gold ornaments. The finishing touch topping the tree is a beautiful angel, her dress is burgundy & gold with gold chains dangling in the front, and sporting fine white feathers as her wings.

I put out a few more decorations that I love and go to bed.

The next morning, I began the more difficult task of trying to figure out what else to put out from my four bins of indoor Christmas decorations. You see, I moved last year and can no longer decorate this house like I did the last, which is not necessarily a bad thing; however, it is challenging, nonetheless. In my previous house for the past three years I had some kind of tree and decorations in every room of the house…and yes, that included the bathrooms! I love decorating for Christmas. It brings me joy!

Then why is this so challenging, you ask? Well it’s not what you think. It’s not about finding a place to put things, there is plenty of room in this house. Though, some of my themes, like my Star Wars tree that used to reside at the bar in the basement of the old house, just doesn’t fit anywhere except the garage… well, there’s an idea since the very few movie theatre themed items I kept, are in the garage and I really do love my Star Wars! Ahh, but I digress…

The challenge for me is discerning what truly brings me joy, and to be honest a lot of the items I am still hanging on to do not bring me joy.

Some of the decorations actually bring me emotional pain.

Then there are the items from my childhood which are so bittersweet and to be honest, they initially make me sad. As I think of the memories from years past, tears began to leak from the corners of my eyes and then I begin to cry in earnest. I miss those whimsical childhood years and the people who have now passed on to a better place and time. They make me long for the family I never had and then I begin to play the “what if” game in my mind. But not today. Today I’m writing this article in order to put these feelings out there so I can assess them, make a plan and move forward.

Do you hold onto things that don’t bring you joy? Have you ever asked yourself why?

I constantly ask myself these questions, especially since through my spiritual studies and awakening I now know and understand everything holds energy and the things that do not bring us joy hold negative space in our homes, in our minds and in our bodies.

Knowing this, why on earth would I continue to hold onto things that are hurtful?

For me personally, I’ve had enough negativity to last me a lifetime so it looks like I’m going to be purging all the things that do not bring me joy since I truly want to live a peaceful and joyful life.

I spent an entire day going through decorations, deciding what to keep and what must go. I’m happy to say three large boxes, big enough to be bins themselves, are ready for donation to a local charity. The lightness I now feel in releasing these things is amazing. My home sings with the spirit of the season!

Oh, and by the way, I did keep the three items from my childhood, they are precious to me and a reminder that that beautiful little girl is not gone, but lives inside of me, always.  

Wishing everyone a joyous holiday season and an amazing new year and decade!

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