Cleaning stuff up means nothing without a broader context.

As I cleaned stuff up and shared my experience, I was left feeling like what I was sharing was relatively ordinary. I could also sense that much of what I shared was oriented around breakdown and challenge. From an outsider’s perspective, I wondered if my blogs read as mild complaints about how hard it is to be in communication, clean my car, and otherwise engage in cleaning stuff up.

And indeed, that is (perhaps) the perspective I shared.

I committed when I started this blog to write about my honest, in-the-moment experience. And it has been fascinating and helpful for me to see what comes up and onto the digital page. I’ve learned a lot about myself, the way I think, and my tendencies simply by sharing from the space right in front of me.

But I think that sharing context is important too, so I’ll do that here:

I clean stuff up because I want to eradicate poverty. No one in our world should be hungry, go without great education, or die from preventable and curable diseases because they don’t have money. No one should be without a home. No one should be worried about money to the extent that they cannot enjoy life. Human beings deserve to be happy, healthy, and fulfilled.

I clean stuff up because I want to eradicate racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and religious persecution. No one should be killed because of the color of their skin, their place of origin, their sexual orientation, or religious affiliation. No one should feel unsafe walking down the street. No one should be teased, mocked, or ridiculed for being who they are. No one should ever be a victim of a hate crime. I wish to eradicate hate.

I clean stuff up because our political system has gone mad.

I clean stuff up because my friends keep dying from cancer.

I clean stuff up because war, terrorism, and mass shootings continue to rape us of our humanity.

I clean stuff up because many immigrants and refugees have been disowned by the human family.

I clean stuff up because animals are abused and killed for their bodies, their skins, and their horns.

I clean stuff up because human garbage kills marine life.

I clean stuff up because kids are initiated into gangs.

I clean stuff up because women, men, and children are raped, abused, and neglected.

I clean stuff up because our world is full of possibility but also filled with pain, and I don’t believe it has to be.

When I clean stuff up, I’m creating space for myself to be the person I need to be to do the work I need to do.

I need physical, mental, and emotional space to think critically and act intentionally. I need a strong mind, body, and soul to deal with criticism, resistance, and bullying. I need to have my life in order so that I can focus on our global life.

And so I clean stuff up. I deal with the mundane so I can be with the profound.

I deal with myself so I can be my Self.

And being my fullest Self, I believe, is the starting point for transformation.

Lessons Learned:

• You can either set an intention and take action accordingly, or you can take whatever action you know to take and let your intention reveal itself.
• Scrubbing my heart clean makes it available for others.
• My mind works best in uncluttered, beautiful, and well-organized spaces. (And I really dig my mind.)
• The most powerful thing we can do is act from a created space.

In love and liminality,

Annie Rose Stathes