One Wipe At A Time

Seemingly small actions can open up big spaces

Photo by Josh Miller via Unsplash.

I cleaned my windows today.

It was long overdue. I had meant to do it before the weather got cold, but I never got around to it. For months, every day that I looked out of those windows, I thought about how much nicer the world outside would look and the world inside would feel if only I cleaned them.

Over the wintry weeks of these past few months, I’ve gradually been clearing other spaces in my home. Each time I clear a space around me, I feel like I’m clearing some of the space inside me, too.

I have a long way to go before I’ve pared myself down to keeping only what I truly want and need. The letting-go process, for me anyway, is an incremental one. Periodically though, something truly wonderful happens: the collection of small changes I make accumulates to a tipping point where I can finally see how to make a bigger change and let go of something that I couldn’t quite release before.

Years (or even months) ago, I would have put myself under more duress to progress faster. I would have felt overwhelmed at the magnitude of how much there was to go through (in and around me), and I would have felt muddled and stuck trying to find my way. It would have been torturous and thus no small wonder why I’d avoid having to take action for as long as I could.

Instead, today at 2 pm, I cleaned my windows. I had looked at the weather forecast all week, and this was the warmest day. So I promised myself and I planned. And when a dear friend from the Netherlands surprised me with a call on my mobile less than 15 minutes from the appointed hour, I simply invited her along to keep me company.

When we were finished, my virtual window-washing witness and I stood back and admired the unobstructed view and the increase in light streaming through the windows. I could tell that she felt their uplifting effect, too.

I know the weather will turn very cold again soon enough. It is still winter in NYC, after all. But it doesn’t matter: I’m prepared now. When I look outside, I see more clearly.