It didn’t really take much effort to clear the stack of old bills stubs, receipts and invoices that were sitting in the cabinet. And yet how did they get stacked up and taking all the spaces in the cabinet which could be put to better usage? Procrastination. As the saying goes, ‘out of sight, out of mind.‘ It is about time to take the first step. The Guy’s Perspective post provided that kick in the butt.

Today, I decided that it is time to let go of all that stack of old bill stubs, receipts and invoices. Their rightful place are in the recycle bin. They are of no use to me or anyone as long as they remained the way they are. However, going through the recycle bins, they have a chance to be recycled into something useful again.

Do you have stack of old bill stubs, receipts and invoices sitting in the cabinet waiting to be cleared? Perhaps it is time for you to clear the messes; spring is really a good time to start.

Besides the old stack of bill stubs, receipts and invoices, are there also emotional baggage which some of us are carrying through life like? Some of these emotional baggage may not really do much harm to us but they do take up spaces and give us the messy feeling; like there is always something holding us back. Wouldn’t it make sense for us to clear them too?

I have cleared the mess outside today and there are more to be cleared in the other cabinets. After that, it will be time to revisit the messes inside to start cleaning them too. It is time to ditch the emotional baggage,.

However, the author mentioned something which brought me to a new level of appreciating quotes. I have always like collecting quotes for the wisdom we can find in them, from my own interpretation, my own understanding, my own experiences and my point of views. It may or may not have anything to do with the great and famous people who uttered those words.

The author mentioned, “We cannot fully understand the beauty and power of certain quotes unless we understand both the context and the experiences of those who uttered them.” How true isn’t it?

Most who have undergone personal tribulations and challenges in life may understand that the world does not stop just because of them. The people around them would offer love, consolation, support and sympathy but end of the day, these people would have to move on with their own lives. The planet still continues to revolve around the sun. Nothing stops; changes are taking place all around us in the next nanosecond. This realisation usually comes later for some; for a while they may stop moving in their lives and thought likewise that their lives have ’stopped.’

If only all will realise one day as what Robert Lee Frost had experienced that ‘Life goes on,’ then moving on and letting go would be much easier, smoother and faster.

A look at Robert Lee Frost’s personal life, one would realise that his life was plagued with grief and loss. At the age of 11, his father died of tuberculosis, leaving the family in financial distress. From Wikipedia:

Frost’s mother died of cancer in 1900. In 1920, Frost had to commit his younger sister, Jeanie, to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness apparently ran in Frost’s family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost’s wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.

Elinor and Robert Frost had six children: son Elliot (1896–1904, died of cholera), daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine (1899–1983), son Carol (1902–1940, committed suicide), daughter Irma (1903–1967), daughter Marjorie (1905–1934, died as a result of puerperal fever after childbirth), and daughter Elinor Bettina (died three days after birth in 1907). Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost’s wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed breast cancer in 1937, and died of heart failure in 1938.

That is one question which I cannot answer for you? I believe that everything happened for a reason. For what reason you may ask. Sometimes you would know the reason immediately and other times you would not. Whatever reason it may be, there is always an opportunity to learn from what happened and to grow.

Just as a toddler falling, many times, from learning to walk, the toddler didn’t question why he/she was falling; the toddler just kept on trying.

As for me, it didn’t always get better for me in letting go and moving forward also, but it had not gotten any worst too. In fact, whatever I had thought not possible, proved me wrong again and again. There are times I was broken and thought that I could never love another as deeply again?

And eventually when I met the person with the ‘right’ chemistry, sparks flew and my heart beating once again at the speed of light. Yes, I exaggerated. But I believe you get my idea that eventually we will find the ‘right’ person again - provided we are willing to let go and move on with an open heart again.

Letting go and moving on is not always easy. But it can also be as easy as deciding that we want to move on. Lessons in the past we need to learn but forward we must move on … for that is where our future lies.

I wish for you the strength and courage to take on any challenge that you may be facing in your life now.

If life is like a book we received at birth as what Dorothy mentioned in her blog, how are we writing each chapter? Our parents had already helped to write the introductions for us and now it is up to us to complete the rest of the chapters in the book.

Is the book going to be one that grabs the readers’ attention and keeps them going from one chapter to another? Or is it going to be one the readers will put down after reading the first chapter and know exactly what they can expect in the following chapters or even the conclusion?

Whatever it is, it is up to us what we want to write in the book. And since we are stuck with the writing, why not make it an exciting one - starting from today! We cannot erase what had already be written, but we sure can start writing the most exciting and colourful story from today.

How our stories will turn out depend on the choices we are making each day. From a past training I went to previously, the trainer was telling us not to look at the current status in our lives and decide that are how we would be in the future. He stated that our current status in life are the reflection of the choices we had made in the past. So if we are unhappy about our current status in life, we have to start making different choices now.

Just as what Albert Einstein said, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If we change our choices, we can hope to create a new future.

Life has always been about making choices. Even if we refuse to make any choice, it is still a choice we made in not making any choice. There are times we may feel that we are not in control of how some situations are turning out and yes we cannot always control what goes on outside. But we do have the power to control what goes on inside us. Tap on that power inside us to make the choice.