The Full Moon Rises - Haiku - Day 218 - Ecotrain Question of the Week - 'What is the value of letting go? What have you let go of recently and how has it changed your life?'

The full moon rises
surveying our wand'ring souls
bathing us in love

As most people who know me already realize, letting go is a major theme in my life, and has been for most of my adult life, beginning with my earliest forays into meditation and yoga, at ages seventeen and eighteen respectively.

Thin in no way, however, makes me an expert, and letting go in any real sense is something I still find to be quite challenging, particularly when it comes to facing the myriad of boxes containing the things I inherited from both parents and my older sister.

And a big part of the challenge is in just managing to open one box, as I know from the start that each box will contain a flood of memories, some lovely and some painful, but exhausting in their emotional toll.

As Stephen Pressman said in "The War of Art," for a writer, writing is not the hardest part. The hardest part is the simple act of sitting down to write.

And so, as I described in my post yesterday, in response to a winter coat drive at work, I took the step of finally going through a large bag of winter clothes that I've been meaning to donate for well over a year.

In the end, I kept out three things for myself - a purple "Turtlefur" neckwarmer, and two scarves, one of which I put back before I finished, and the other of which I'm thinking of doing the same. Only the neckwarmer is a definite "keep."

And, in ridding myself of the baggage of clothing I'd already known I no longer wanted, I freed up space in my closet, and ultimately finished sorting and organizing everything in the closet that wasn't actually hanging or on the upper shelf.

Granted, it's a small space, but it's done, and it's a solid beginning. And it opened up space in our lives and our home that have been stagnating for far too long.

In my post fromthe day before, I spoke of yet another opportunity to contrast someone throwing his stuff my way, and my refusal to take it on, with the lovely and expansive soul throwing light and love my way who followed, and to whom I returned the favor to him in like kind.

I am reminded of when I first took the Silva Method, in the mid-1980s, and first heard Dr. Tag Powell describe his visualization of a protective tennis racquet to maintain high energy and a good attitude.

The basic visualization is simple, whenever someone goes on the attack, simple visualize a tennis racquet between you, and use the racquet to deflect the negative energy they are throwing at you back toward them. Just because someone is throwing crap our way does not mean that we have to accept it as ours.

One of the things I have learned about myself is that, if I am handed (or, God forbid, make) a list of a hundred things that need to be done, I feel beaten before I even start, and I'm far more likely to procrastinate and read a book or surf the web.

It seems impossible even to begin.

I find that I need to keep my lists simple and concise, and in doing so, I am much more likely to get things done, and in doing so, to keep my momentum going.

My goal from now, moving forward, is to take the zillion or so boxes in both houses, which are likely closer to a hundred and fifty or so, and simply tackle them one by one.

Each evening upon coming home, If I triage a single box, sorting into basic Keep, Give, Sell and Donate piles, we will gain needed space and funding, bringing to light those beautiful and meaningful belongings we wish to make a daily part of our lives, while letting go of the dross that brings neither pleasure nor value, and is draining our energy and holding us back.

By tackling - and finishing - the dejunking and organization of my closet, I have not only gained space and a sense of accomplishment, but the knowledge that by accomplishing a similar amount each night, we will regain control over our living space and make it into the home we really want in a relatively short period of time.

I am looking forward to living in a real home once again, rather than a live-in storage space surrounded by boxes, and I know that Marek is looking forward to it even more than I. This, to me, is a truly worthy goal.

The photo above is quite interesting to me. Taken two nights ago, before the moon was quite full, it resulted in a green orb near the bottom center of the photo, and to the left of the orb and below, there is a distinctive set of glowing eyes, interesting to me especially because I used no flash in this photo. And just in time for Hallowe'en.

From the height of the eyes, my guess is that it is either one of our resident deer, or possibly a raccoon or opossum, clinging to the trunk of a tree. I have no idea what caused the green orb. This was taken Monday evening, 22 Oct 2018, with my Samsung Galaxy S8 Note.

The next two photos were taken tonight, during the full moon, and the wispy clouds combine to create an interesting atmosphere. If you look closely, you can see a trace of the ring around the moon, forming from the heavy mists. We had heavy fog early this morning, and I'm expecting the same tomorrow morning.

This post, and all those from now until the end of 2018, I am dedicating to the work of #tarc and #yah, aka @rhondak's nonprofit dog rescue and @sircork's charity @youarehope.

Half the liquid proceeds earned from my posts will be evenly split between the two organizations.

The photo above was taken by me a couple of weeks ago using the camera in my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 smartphone. Hopefully this lovely praying mantis has been merrily feasting on yellow jackets.

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