Clean your house, clear your mind….they say. Organize your house, organize your life….they say. Well, guess what? It works! It definitely helps the healing process.
I am not a cleaner, never have been. Ask my past roommates! But I have family and friends who are natural born cleaners and organizers and you know who you are! Soon after I found out I had cancer, my sister and my friend Ann went on a cleaning frenzy in my home. They organized my “stuff”, gathered items for donation, threw stuff out, scrubbed the floors, vacuumed, and dusted. I was in my bed lying down at this point. The fluid in my chest was making it hard to sit up and breathe, plus I was so tired. Ann would come into my bedroom and ask if she could throw out this item or donate that item. I don’t easily throw stuff out. I have a little hoarder in me that likes to hold on; but during this time, it was easy to say “Donate It”, “Get Rid of It”! They cleared out A LOT, and as they cleaned, we visualized my life and my body being “cleaned”. My sister visualized those spots on my x-ray going away as she scrubbed spots on my kitchen floor.
People feel helpless when someone they love is diagnosed with cancer. They want to help. Let them!
Thank goodness Marian and Ann cleaned the house and especially my spare bedroom. The “junk” room was now ready for guests. My friend Jill gave me a blow up mattress and Marian found a cute table and lamp at Goodwill. The guest bedroom was welcoming and calming. Two years out and it is now back to a junk room. How quickly that happens! I will get to it soon. I don’t need cancer to organize my life!
The basement was also cleaned and organized. Items were put into containers with labels. Christmas, Easter, craft items, photos and video tapes….all like items were boxed together and put away. My friend Kerry helped to coordinate the removal of a big, old refrigerator that had been down there since I purchased the home. The basement was set for my daughter to hang out with her friends. If you have read Alice’s blog (3)Cancer Journey: Two Minutes and Forty Six Seconds – Finding Abilities) you know it was hard for her to be home during this time. It was difficult with me sick and all of my support coming and going. Still the basement did come in handy a few times.
The living room was ready for guests.
The kitchen was ready for guests.
The extra bedroom was ready for guests.
Guests really isn’t the right word – Family, friends, helpers, supporter, angles, healers!
The house was ready for “guests”, but was I? I knew I didn’t want to be alone but at one point, I had four or five visitors at once. I hadn’t reached the stage where I asked for exactly what I needed; that strength came later. I was just trying to hang on, eat what I could, and wait for my next appointment, my official diagnosis and treatment plan. The waiting is the worst. I did read up a bit on my condition on the internet. It helped me slightly, but I quickly realized that for each nugget of positive, hopeful information, there were pages and pages of negative, sad and horrible stories and statistics. It was at that point I decided NO INTERNET! My family and friends cleared my house. I now needed to clear my mind. I needed to fill it with positive thoughts of faith, hope, love and healing. I was not a statistic.
Their cleaning process created a space for me to meditate and heal. I was able to display prayers, positive affirmations and quotes on my bedroom wall. There was a lightness to the house. It was such a gift and blessing!
It set me off on my journey to clean my mind and body. One of the quotes about cleaning I like is “Outer order contributes to inner calm.” Gretchen Ruben. I needed all the tools available to achieve an inner calm. Having the house organized made room for me to focus on recovery. There is a certain freedom to having extra space.
Now I needed to wait. Wait and find out what was next.
Finding the Ability to be clear – in my surroundings as well as my body and mind.
Other helpful “Clean” quotes…
“Clean your space, clear your mind.”
— Unknown
“The most important house to clean is your body” – unknown
Once you learn how to see how your inner turmoil manifests itself through your surroundings, you can reverse engineer this, mastering yourself by mastering the space in which you live.”
— Shoukei Matsumoto, A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Mind
“The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment.”
Marie Kondo
“You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.” — Louise Smith
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Finding Abilities 
Well said, Lisa. That’s how I get through rough times………….Organize; we all need to have control somewhere.
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