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Do some clutter therapy, think clearer

  • Published
  • By Chap. (Capt.) Craig Forsythe
  • 451st Air Expeditionary Wing Chaplain
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Seven-hundred thousand to 1.4 million Americans do not have room in their homes to do day-to-day tasks such as personal hygiene, preparing food and sleeping simply because of the clutter that has invaded their lives. These people suffer from Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome and are referred to as "hoarders."

Hoarding stuff can literally choke a human to death as the things they collect overflow from one room of their home to another. The hoarder and his or her family are soon without places to sleep, eat, shower and live as the clutter takes over. Clutter therapy helps lead the hoarder into a new lifestyle free of clutter. However, the success or failure of such a venture relies on one factor: the hoarder's willingness to let go of the stuff.

Maybe we need some clutter therapy in our lives. Do we need to address the need to clear our work and personal areas of physical things that clutter these spaces? Maybe, but more importantly, we all have a need to rid ourselves of the clutter that gets in the way of clear thinking, simple living and peace.

Conducting mental clutter therapy every day is a necessity. This need is even greater as we are away from home and undergoing the stress that a deployment brings. We need clutter therapy.

What is your clutter therapy? Exercising is clutter therapy as working the body acts as an outlet for stress. Reading a good book is clutter therapy as it occupies, entertains and focuses the mind. Most of all, practicing our faith is clutter therapy as it connects us with God. We need to put clutter therapy into practice if we expect to think clearly, live simply and have peace.

The success or failure of such a venture relies on our willingness to let go of the stuff that clutters our daily lives. Are we willing to put the things that clutter our lives in appropriate perspective? While duties and responsibilities require a lot of our time and energy, God, the creator of the universe, calls us to put it all in perspective. He calls us to focus on him and trust him with ALL things ... not just the small things that clutter our day-to-day lives.

And so, today, I urge you to do some clutter therapy. Spend some time taking care of yourself, and getting in touch with God. This clutter therapy will allow you to live a peaceful and clutter free life.

Numbers 6:25-26, "(May) the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; (May) the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."