StrippingItBare

My daughter and I lost our home due to abuse when she was three years old. It's nearly a year later, and we still don't have a permanent home of our own, but we are richer than we have ever been. Losing my home and the majority of my possessions was, at first, a very traumatic experience. But once I got past the shock and feelings of loss, I got to a very unexpected place: clarity. Being stripped bare of all my "stuff", all those things that I once found to be important, I gained a certain clarity in my life. I laugh at what I once thought I needed, knowing that those possessions were mere trappings of a cluttered existence.

We as humans, have a thing about "stuff". Think about everything that you have...in your car, your basement, attic, storage facility, office, bedroom closet; how much of this "stuff" do you really need? Be honest. Most of your stuff is collected and hung onto with the small possibility that it may one day be needed. Why do we do this to ourselves, when inevitably, it only complicates our lives? We end up going out to get bigger boxes, build bigger closets, get a bigger storage space, or even move into a bigger house to accommodate all this "stuff." I think our stuff is sort of like a security blanket that we hold onto to get through life. We feel a need to surround ourselves with stuff to validate.....well, I haven't figured that part out yet, but in any case, I think if we are brave enough to confront our challenges without the security of what we've always known and open ourselves to the possibilities of the unknown great opportunities present themselves; in places that were well hidden with, yup, you guessed it---clutter.

I sustained a traumatic brain injury in 1998. I learned very quickly that clutter is a brain-injured person's worst enemy! It clogs up what limited focus you have, overwhelms you with the inability to see past it, and distracts us from our original goals. When I lost all the extra clothes that I knew I'd never wear, but hung onto anyway, thinking there would come a day where I might wear them, I felt a sense of lightening. I had boxes of stuff stored from the house I lived in before my accident, sure that I would have use for it "someday." I still don't know what was in those boxes! Nick knacks that once cluttered my shelves, begging for dusting and rotation for the seasons no longer had power over me. All at once, I was free!

Knowing that I could not only make do, but do very well without all that extra "stuff" gave me a sense of empowerment. I started seeing possibilities that the blinders of my trappings had blocked out before. I didn't have to work so hard to take stock in my surroundings, cause there was less "stuff" to processess. I realized that living clutter-free in a literal sense cleared up the feelings of being overwhelmed and distracted.

I got to thinking that if only we could clear up our minds as my circumstances had cleared up my physical trappings, that I'd find great possibilities there. I was right, and now because I'm applying the stripping bare strategies to my thinking mind; I'm creating new and exciting opportunities from myself using this new perspective.

When we are stripped bare of the things in life that we often feel are the most important, it is then that we realize we've been focusing on the wrong things the whole time. This misguided focus is often the reason we hit roadblocks that impede our path to success that seem to hinder us no matter which direction we take.

What we view as important and necessary throughout our lives, becomes so insignificant when we are stripped bare. While I don't recommend becoming homeless or literally getting rid of all your stuff, I do recommend that you make a conscious effort to get rid of all the clutter in your mind; the false beliefs that exist that convince you that you have to do things a certain way, or that you've only known certain paths to be available, and there must not be any others.

After the accident that left me with permanent disabilities back in 1998, I had to relearn a new way of doing things. Was it hard? You bet it was! There were days I wanted to hide in bed to avoid the grueling rehab that I knew awaited for me. But I also knew that I had a very limited time for my injured brain to be retrained, and so I endured. I had to learn new ways to overcome my new challenges.

Living with a traumatic brain injury is different. Difficult sometimes, but more different than anything. I don't have running movies in my head of memories or thought processes the way I once did. I have no conception of time, either. Where I once automatically retrieved time-related memories with ease, I now have to think about those memories in a different way to manually retrieve them. I have to ask myself questions such as, "Was I wearing long sleeves, or short sleeves? Were the leaves green or turning colors? What did the air smell like?" I depend on the rest of my senses to fill in the blanks where my injured brain leaves off.

Memorizing differently was for me, seeking out a new path that led me to my own personal success. When the way that most people do things didn't work for my injured brain, I had to readjust and head down a different path to get me to the same destination. Sometimes that path was longer, and sometimes there were some obstacles to overcome on this new path; but I found that by doing things differently, I was blessed with challenges that enabled me to see things I'd never noticed before. Using my other senses heightened my awareness. This new awareness brought new thought processes, and these thought processes brought me to discovering new methodology that I was able to successfully apply to all challenges that confronted me.

Clear your own path! Make your own way! Create new and innovative roads to success using what you have. Strip bare what you think you know and look for new possibilities born out of a different methodology.

For some, road blocks exist in others telling them, "there is only one way to do things", or that "So and so didn't do it like that, so you can't either", or my personal favorite when asking someone why something is done that way, "Well, that's just the way it's always been done; you have to do it that way." Baloney! I'm here to tell you that if I listened to all that garbage, I never would have made it to the level of competition that I did when I was a professional equestrian, and there would be no Canine and Abled, Inc. either. (I was told that such a program could not be built by a person with disabilities with no prior experience ;-)

Challenge yourself to throw out all the old preconceived notions that clutter your mind; strip it bare. Don't be afraid to follow your instincts and have faith in your own abilities; regardless of what others say. You are in the driver's seat of your life...don't ever let anyone else reach over to to take the wheel. Forget what you know and try to use that insight to see viable opportunities that exist, but can't been seen but for the clutter.

When we use this new vision to pick up things that flew below the radar in the past, we can effectively combat stress, enhance productiveness, and produce new and innovative solutions to whatever life, or the business world throws out way. This new perception leaves us open to explore the road to success, secure in the knowledge that we have the ability to pave our own way, and steer clear of inevitable hazards that will come to pass. We focus on confronting challenges head-on and learn from them in order to embrace the journey that we have primed for triumph!

I wish you well on your journey. Let life strip you bare. Keep focused on the prize, but don't be so rigid that you miss an opportunity to take the long way once in a while.

-Kimberly Carnevale