A New Motto For My Home

Last week I was perusing a magazine at work.  I think it was Better Homes and Gardens, or something along that line.  I read an article about decluttering your home.  Granted I have read hundreds of articles about decluttering my home.  And each one makes it seem so simple.  I just need to organize, figure out what to sell, take pictures of the things I treasure to put in a photo book so I can throw the actual item away...a closet system, a filing system, baskets, binders, labels...it can all be a little overwhelming and in the end I just throw in the towel without much effort.  This article was different though.  It was like the author was speaking to me personally.  As if she knew my life and my home and my energy level.  I felt like she was taking me by the hand and offering me hope.  I know the physical keeping of a home might not seem so spiritual or important, but as a woman living in a home filled with chaos and disorder I can tell you for certain it has an impact on your soul.  Without realizing it the house begins to close in and you forget how to breath deeply and fully.  The brain has so many distractions bombarding it that thoughts lose clarity and a sense of defeat takes hold.  I have found myself not even maintaining a semblance of order.  Things stay where they are dropped.  Papers are shuffled from one spot to another but never where you need them.  Piles of things that might one day be useful sit waiting for their day to come.  And chances are when that day comes, they will be buried, unable to be found and a substitute will be bought.
The house and all the things in it are beginning to possess me rather than the other way around.  And what do I do to combat it?  Two words...retail therapy.  That's right.  I go out and buy MORE stuff to take my mind off the stuff I already have at home.  I buy stuff to organize my stuff.  It would be a vicious cycle if there were room to cycle.  Instead it becomes a pit of quicksand.  The light, hopeful, joyous, free me is buried in possessions.  Too overwhelmed and exhausted to fight it. 
And then this article came to me like a breath from Heaven.  And one line in particular jumped off the page at me.  And has been percolating in my subconscious since.  And tonight as I lay in bed it clicked.  And gave me the energy to get up and go clear the counters of my kitchen.  This is the quote that has started a revolution in my home:

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

William Morris

And that, ladies and gentlemen, has caused me to see my home in a whole new light.  And to be able to look at each individual THING and be able to KNOW what I should keep and what I should toss.  I am so excited about this! Little by little, step by step, I am reclaiming my home!   So thank you, Bill Morris for sharing your insight.  It has changed my life.