Time to clean up: This grime isn’t mine.

Imagine, one fine day, you walk into your normally very clean and up kept bathroom and find it all smudged up, bathing in someone’s dirty leftovers. There is an undesirable amount of accumulated filth, a whole bunch of clothes is thrown in the grounds and your highly expensive toiletries seem to be floating in the muck.

A ghastly scene to even imagine!

What to do now?
The simplest yet most effective way out of this mess is to ‘clean-up’. Put on your cleaning gear, pick up the mop, and start cleaning. One corner after the other till your shining glory is restored. Don’t ever sit back letting that simmering slime engulf your mind in its dark hollow.

If you find yourself unable to deal with the mess alone, ask for help. Talk to someone (family/friend/colleague/neighbor), or take help from an expert (Never forget why professional cleaners are called professional). You must get rid of the smudge that has made your beautiful space all messed up.

I am really hoping we are getting to the very crux of it.

We care so much about a clean outside, yet have allowed our beautiful minds and souls to get all cluttered and messed up. A messy inside will always blur our vision, obscuring the beauty that lay outside.

Our mind is not a dumping station for discarded shit. Is it? Whenever you find yourself fighting these demons inside, don’t let them sit there unattended. The more they stay, the more they get used to it. Deal with them and throw the unwelcome guests out as soon as possible, whatever the effort it may require. Your mind’s peace and health is your responsibility, it’s ‘your space‘.

People will come and drop their dirt into your space from time to time. Someone’s grief, someone’s sorrow, someone’s guilt, someone’s shame, someone’s anger, someone’s frustration, someone’s despair, and on and on. Listen, be generous, help, give your shoulder to those who need to cry, or be someone’s punching bag for a while. Let them use your space when needed but never forget to flush away the muck as soon as they leave.

It’s not yours to keep.

Let’s say two colleagues had a fight and one of them comes to you for comfort and talks all balderdash about the other one. You personally had no opinion, good or bad, about that ‘other’ fellow till now. On top of that, s/he is not available to defend her/his side at present. Nevertheless, we let this agitated person’s fleeting and emotionally unstable thoughts shape our opinion about someone else. Even after s/he is gone, we retain so much of their anguish, hatred, and discontent inside us as if it was all ours.

This is where you should draw a line. Be there, listen and give some good advice in line with their current emotional state. They just need that conversation to lighten up their burden. Don’t welcome this discarded package inside. Dump it off, there and then.

This grime- dumper could come in many forms- an angry boss, the tired wife, the confused kids, the frustrated husband, the underpaid maid, some relative, a memory from the past, or simply some scene in the last movie you saw.
There is just no end to these constant bombardments on our minds, even in a seemingly happy daily routine. Make sure you make a fortress strong enough to resist them from making all the way through to your sacred space.

Yet, all of us know, no guard can be kept up all the time and we will have times and weak spots from where some of the muck will crawl in. That’s where you get up, clean the mess and refortify the gates as soon as possible.

When in doubt play safe. Sit back, think logically, and defeat all illogical and pure emotional belief by practical and factual arguments with your own-self. What you know vs. what that other said or believed. After all, it’s your space and your responsibility

Someday the long due self-cleaning may just seem impossible. But, you can’t let it stay, that’s for sure. Maybe all you need is a little help and that extra push to get ready for the task. Don’t ever shy away from asking for help- a friend, a mentor, an elder, a learned healer, or a professional therapist. They may not be able to clean it all for you, but will definitely help you do the same.

Your mind is your sacred space.

Your responsibility.