I’m in a reckless relationship with my closet.
I toss mud-licked ankle boots ungraciously onto its dusty floorboards.
I cram blouses and sweaters onto overcrowded racks, and then make the excuse that wrinkles in shirts are fashionably back.
I attempt to color code, but I lazily have mixed my navy attire with my moody blacks.
There’s a graveyard of bugs that I have left untouched by my collection of heels that have yet to make an Austin debut. These former daring darlings are now sad friends I ignore with a quick and final push of the creaky closet doors.
And yet…even with the doors sealed and shut I can still sense the overwhelm of a clothes kingdom rioting in crinkled mayhem, and this feeling leaks from the closed white doors out into the tidy little universe of my bedroom.
Then there are the daily miniature eruptions of frustration and battles that ensue whenever I rummage and desperately search for an article of clothing that has gone surprisingly missing…because it’s fainted to the bug debris littered floor or has been bullied into silence and pushed back out of sight by a bulging sweater of a cousin and I’ll only catch sight after the tenth frantic scan.
After these daily fights, the sheer creative joy I experience for styling together an ensemble wilts, and there’s an invisible accessory of guilt that sticks to the fetched clothes.
I feel sheepish for mistreating my belongings with such half-hearted respect. Thankfully, the Valentine season spotlights in rose-tinted hues the need for a makeover in how I choose to intentionally move and perform my daily to-dos.
I’m yearning to playfully adore, to show deep reverence, to mindfully move and poetically speak from an intentional space of vibrant affection.
I’m craving a life that shimmers in replenished love-fueled mindfulness.
I seek to express and embody my love languages through glistening, purposeful action and intentional stillness.
And this embodiment and intentionality of practicing love begins with cleaning my closet.
Actually, it all begins with a quest for a graphic pale blush tee with black curvy font that reads: Do What You Love. Love What You Do.
I’m holding a fashionista vision of light colored jeans, this shirt paired with hot pink and velvet red shoes, but damn! I can’t find this coquettish tee!
In mid-search I have an epiphany: I could reorganize my closet to make life easier for me.
If you’re rolling eyes, that’s fine. I did too. I had grown accustomed to this struggle and had resigned this rustle of irritation to be part of the morning routine.
I hadn’t broken free of my rut to consider there could be a more efficient and effective way. This simple task of organizing my shirts would contribute to enhancing greater ease to ripple and travel throughout my day.
This cleaning, clearing, creation of space is an act of self-love, a Valentine made tangible, and this closet makeover will change the dynamic feeling, the energy existing within my room.
I no longer want to be reckless with my things, my belongings. The very small universe that I am in charge of is worthy of respect and reverence.
I do find the tee. She is shyly hiding in between a rainbow of wrinkled bright pink shirts and maroon long-sleeved tees.
Do What You Love. Love What You Do.
This translates to cleaning the closet, too, because I want to curate and create and consciously infuse affection, admiration, appreciation into my day-to-day moments, into the very skin of my fingertips, and into the yoke of intention forming my words.
I want a life rich in vibrant awareness and intentional choosing to show, move, speak from a golden core of love.
I’m wholeheartedly intrigued into adopting and transmuting the everyday routine into moments infused with vibrant presence. Mundane chores and even stressful errands can be transformed into acts of self-love, self-care, adoration, reverence.
These daily decisions are love letters addressing and respecting our needs, and supporting our intricate wiring.
The creation of channels of ease weaved into everyday routines are powerful acts of self-care, self-love, self-allowing, because we are working with ourselves, we are acknowledging and helping ourselves out, and are strengthening and deepening our own befriending.
I believe cleaning my closet is an act of befriending.
Tidiness is an act of reverence.
I choose to adore and enjoy all of my belongings, and in affirming that I have enough (because…I mean, you should see my closet…) I affectionately respect my clothes, my shoes, even and especially my precious keepsakes of feathers, sea shells, perfumes. I practice appreciation for my belongings by mindfully taking the time to place away, to hang up, to maintain a fresh and creatively invigorating nest.
I choose to wash my dishes right after I cook or eat as a treat to my future self.
As a mindfulness cue, during my morning routine, I choose to give thanks for all my makeup, my products, especially my all-natural deodorant, to help keep me present in the ritualized motions of getting ready for the day.
I choose to snuggle into my favorite faux fur coat when I go to the grocery store to add a kick of flair and confidence to the weekly errand, and I choose to practice gratitude for the money I have to pay for my keifer, Weetabix cereal, and sourdough bread.
I choose to befriend my phone, too, so when I wander onto social media I do so when I am alone and am in an energetic sound space to actively engage by reading and cheering on friends with purposeful likes or loves.
And I choose to loudly play The Dirty Dancing soundtrack as I sway into rearranging my jeans, because I believe in making chores enjoyable with podcasts or reruns of beloved TV or a playlist that makes me think of Patrick Swayze.
I wear the Do What You Love. Love What You Do. tee as I clean, and this reorganization project occurs at the most curiously perfect time. A surprise text from my always and forever Valentine, my Aquarius Queen of a sister, is coming to visit…like this week!
The cleaning, clearing, and creation of space becomes a Valentine for her. She’ll now have space in this freshly uplifted closet world to place away her belongings, her clothes. I’ll rearrange a shelf in the bathroom so there will be a tidy place for her things, too.
I love being a hostess, of showing that I care by preparing my space to hold the both of us, and by clearing things out, I’m also securing and ensuring emotional and mental room for me to be attentive and listen and embrace her Austin time with mindfulness and peace.
Replacing recklessness with reverence, my closet and I now happily coexist and swirling together an outfit for Valentine’s Day is done with exuberant ease.
Do What You Love. Love What You Do. A love-kissed mantra to inspire the implementation of everyday Valentines into 2018.