Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The Zen Of Shredding - Day 29


When you live in New York you get used to periodically going on a rampage and throwing stuff out. Living in small spaces forces you not to accumulate too much for one simple reason - most of us just don't have the room to. 

Sometimes I plan the decluttering activity. Sometimes it just sweeps over me - an unplanned project that once I start - I can't stop. 

Like Sunday night. After an idyllic few days out of the city, I decided to get a head start on the week. It started by looking through a few files in search of something I needed. I still can't tell you what that was. It seemed all I was finding was the stuff I didn't need. Nor could I figure out why I had been saving it.

I tossed those aside until the pile toppled over. The next thing I knew I  was sitting on the floor in front of my shredder watching the unnecessary transform into thin strips of confetti. 

I fell into a  Zen - feeding in just enough paper not to jam or overheat the machine - before I emptied the tray into a giant Hefty trash bag and started again.

I can't quite explain the sense of peace this gives me. The feeling is never replicated when I do it electronically. Hitting a delete button on my iMac or dragging a file to the trash basket are not a substitute for the tactical release of stuff I once thought important enough to fill a file folder and now constitute junk in my life. 



note: This is Day #29 of the 30 Day Experiment. Tomorrow is the last day! Don't miss it!   Here are the details on how it all started.

  

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