This article has also been sent to Minimal Lifestyle by our respectful reader named Alfonso. We have the privilege to read it below:

CONQUERING SPACE INCH BY INCH

So many plans and projects.

So many urgent and important tasks and chores to do, not to mention responsibilities.

So much pressure to get them all done, well done, not to mention as quickly as possible.

And once those lists finished, there is a new set of lists waiting for us. And we know that a life where those lists don’t increase is utopic (maybe a good subject for a fictional movie).

From all the things waiting for me to be done, I still have problems to put what is important first. I still do what I like the most first and push back on line what must be a priority but I dislike or am afraid of.

For whatever reason, control looks particularly important for each of us. It seems like we prefer trying to control things outside of our scope more appealing and less scaring than focusing on taking control of our real property: our body, thoughts, emotions and actions.

Last month, I had to urgently clean up an area of my messy garage because of a service technician visiting us. As usual, I took all the stuff and relocated elsewhere in the house.

Everything went fine and the day after, I realized how good that section looked like and how good it made me feel. The next day the feeling was still there and I took the challenge to keep that space neat as it was for one week.

Things in life are so interlinked we just do not take enough time to observe the connexions.

No more than two or three days after that, we had a plumbing problem in the kitchen and suddenly we needed to use the sink in the garage to wash the dishes. Yes, you guessed it. The area I kept neat and available was the one we needed to wash the dishes.

Since the cause-effect situation was so close in my mind, I got the lesson right away. Now, I am taking 10 to 15 minutes each day to free some inches of my working bench in the garage. And keeping it that way.

If we are proprietary of some space (or a huge one), we are responsible for what is on it. We are responsible for what we put on or take out of it.

Believe me: between the feeling (both are good) of adding something new on that space and taking away something unnecessary from it, the latter last longer and it’s way satisfying.

The stars bright beautifully because there is so much dark space around them.