Beware the Return of Devil Winds: Week 3

This week I was able to continue advancing in most areas, but did have a relapse in staying up too late and not being able to rise early to exercise. Also forgot to write the weekly compass. On the postitive side I was able to knock off more To Dos, including starting this reflective blog.

Speaking of relapses, they say the Devil Winds that brought us the wildfires could return this week, though they will be cold winter winds this time. They also discovered that nearly all the recent fires had a human cause. The electric company failed to trim trees near power lines. The high winds blew them into the branches starting the blaze. Neglect and taking short-cuts ended up affecting us all.

Related to neglecting the little things and which can result in a future crisis, we have been trying to clear clutter in our home, a thankless, tedious task. It is very hard to let go of things and set personal limits. Strangely this week on Oprah they had a segment on the Secret Life of Hoarders. Over the years a woman had accumulated 75 tons of junk in her house. She couldn't bear to part with anything. Of course, Oprah and friends helped her clean out her home, but the interesting thing was when they tried to get to the root cause so she won't repeat the behaviour. In her case she thought she may have been filling a void caused by the death of close relatives, but it was probably a deeper tendency she had her whole life. Her husband said he noticed how cluttered her room was when they were dating. Ultimately they said a cluttered mind = a cluttered environment. This is an glib answer. How do you unclutter your way of thinking when it's so deeply ingrained? It takes time and patience.

The part that really struck home was when they interviewed her husband. They asked why he didn't put his foot down. There were two reasons: 1. it happened so gradually over time that it simply became the way they lived their lives, 2. he didn't want to drive a wedge between himself and his wife. This is a problem for so many of us. We want to do something about a situation, but we can't stand the thought of creating conflict. It's easier to simply withdraw into ourselves, making things worse down the road. This is called the Distancing Spiral.

Making a schedule and a To Do list is one thing. Making a fundamental change in our way of thinking (paradigms) is another oder of magnitude.

The Devil Winds will surely return. Will we be better prepared next time?