A Little Bit Here, A Little Bit There, It All Adds Up...

I was listening to someone talk about cleaning out their space, and I was thinking how much decluttering our homes relates to decluttering our minds and our bodies. I have been hearing a lot about this lately, so it must be on everyone's mind. One poster went so far as to say if one is living in a cluttered environment, they can't possibly be making progress on decluttering their bodies or minds. That seems a little judgemental because one of the big factors in decluttering is how much space one has available. Some really do not have room for the necessities, but then again, maybe we just need to prioritize.

What I have learned from watching Roger go through this process (in watching him, I realized I did the same thing, but I couldn't see it in myself until I saw him) is that just as our bodies get rid of the waste by what I call shelves, we do the same with other decluttering that needs to be done. Example? ok.

We decided a couple of weeks ago to clean out our closet that had not been cleaned since we moved here. There were things put there when we first moved in and never looked at again. Then we just kept stuffing more and more things on top until we could barely get in there to get our clothes.

First, we just emptied everything out. It all started because we were getting rid of clothes we had undergrown in our 75 pound weight losses. Some of the obviously large clothes we had already gotten rid of, but there were some clothes to which we had emotional attachments. Imagine having emotional attachments to a piece of fabric! It seems strange to even say it.

As we started going through the piles in the closet, some things were so ridiculous to even think about saving that we laughingly threw it out or put it in the pile to sell at the flea market or donate to Goodwill. Other things, we actually had to think about. Remember, we did not even remember this stuff was there...how could we possibly need to KEEP IT? Some things had memories attached to it that caused us to shed a tear or two. I became aware of how many memories are attached to THINGS...

As we sorted, most of the stuff could be disposed of, but of the things we decided to keep, I saw an interesting pattern: emotional possessions. Part of the healing process we are going through in the raw vegan diet is very much emotional. We have learned that much (most, all, not sure what %) of the food we ate prior to starting the raw vegan diet was eaten for the emotional support it gave us. When I say emotional support, I'm thinking that's not such a good word for it. It served more as an emotional suppressor. Feeling sad, lonely, tired, depressed, angry, worried: have a bowl of chocolate pudding (or a piece of pizza, or .. well you get the picture). Since I no longer have those options available to me, it has become glaringly obvious that most of these foods with their addictive qualities serve the same function as alcohol does for the alcoholic and pot, cocaine, heroine, crack for the drug addict.

I read a story about a woman last night that had given up sugar for two weeks when someone came to her door at Christmas time with a box of chocolates for her. She knew if she ate them that she would have to start over in her attempt to get rid of the substance in her system, so she tossed it high in the attic where she wouldn't be able to get at it. (She had just had hip surgery and couldn't climb the stairs very well.) The longer it was in the house, the more she started thinking about how good they would taste, so finally she crawled up the stairs to get at it. It wasn't until she actually reached the top of the stairs in tremendous pain from the effort that she realized how foolish this was and how addicted she was to the substance. She didn't eat the chocolates by the way because this recognition got her through it.

Some would say, "So, what's the big deal? Just eat the stuff, and move on." I have found it is not that easy. Just as a drug addict won't get well by taking another hit, a food addict won't get better with another twinkie.

I realize a lot of people don't see the foods I no longer eat as addictive. It won't be long when one is without them that it will be realized. Healthful foods are never addictive. We may know that they are healthy and that we really want a salad today or some fresh juice, but there is a difference between knowing what we NEED to eat and desparately WANTING something. This is a good way to find out how addictive a substance is: go without it for a week, and see how desparate you are to have it.

In conducting this experiment, one must isolate the whole category. For example, you can't say, "Well, see, I gave up parmesan cheese this week, and I didn't have a negative symptom at all," when you continued to eat other dairy products. In fact, with a food addiction, the mind is very clever about substitutes. Any dairy product will feed a dairy addiction, any bread product a wheat addiction, any processed sugar a sweets addiction. I imagine alcoholics would go through this as well: any alcohol will do when the alcohol of choice is not available. My father was in detox in the hospital once for his alcoholism and begged for 8 oz. Hershey bars (which he normally never ate). This helped me make the connection between alcoholism and sugar addiction.

Well, I intended to write about decluttering our living spaces, and this may seem unrelated. In fact, since I have given up addictive foods, decluttering other aspects of my life has been complicated by the emotional addiction I have to things, memories, stuff in general. I have been really surprised by this. But the good news is, that as I peel off layers inside my body, I am able to peel off layers around my body including negative emotions, relationships, excess baggage. This is a wonderful side benefit. As I hit each new shelf internally, I can see how difficult it is by how difficult the external shelves are to clean. It is amazing how hand and hand they go.

As we enter this new phase of our lives via grandchildren living with us, we are able to apply these principles. I can already see where their emotional attachments are. I can see more clearly why the scriptures tell us we have to put these things behind us if we are to truly follow Him.