Declutter your life

I was struck by a fact the other day, it had actually been there buried in the back of my mind for some time, and something my daughter Grace has been doing brought it to the forefront and cased me to reflect on it more and more.
Since Khrys came home from college she has been nagging Grace to clean her room and organize. Khrys has always been a clutter free type of person, at least in her own room (don't ask e about the rest of the house.) Through this verbal sparring, Grace finally started the decluttering process. Last Sunday, Janet and I went through a utility closet in Grace's room and disposed of several boxes of "important" stuff that we hadn't looked at in probably fifteen years, and ended up taking a truck load to the transfer station (ie. dump). Grace has continued on and produced about eight bags of trash for me to dispose of on Saturday. When I asked where it all came from, she responded it was stuff important to her when she was little, and that she was not little anymore, so it was time go. There were toys that were broken, games missing pieces that hadn't been played in years, but up until now she just couldn't bring herself to part with. She has books she has outgrown she wants to give away to someone who would enjoy them. When she said this I felt hit up the side of the head with a two by four. Out of the mouth of babes, and she is so wise beyond her twelve years.
We spend so much of our time in our lives cluttered by the junk of the past, and it seems like the older we get, the more we are cluttered, because more has accumulated to clutter us all up. I look into my office and I see the stuff I just can't live without. I haven't used it in years, but just can't do without it. My bedroom is the same way, pants I haven't worn in years have to stay there because I may fit in them again (yeah right).
Don't get me wrong, memories of the past are a great thing and do have a place in our lives, but not all the junk we tend to collect as humans. We must remember our past, for it is a part of what has brought us to where we are today, and it is important to remember. A famous quote warns us that if we do not remember history we are condemned to repeat it. The danger my friend is when we dwell in the past, pining for the "good old days". When we do this we have a tendency to lose the future and all of its possibilities. We cling to what was and seem to miss the the possibilities of what is and what could be. We tend to cling so tightly to what we think is important that we miss the path to what is so truly important.
An analogy I was thinking of, is a driver on the freeway. Where he is at any given moment is the now, anything behind the car is the past and anything in front of the car is the future. He is looking for a particular exit, one that he knows will get him to his destination. To do this he must be looking forward, facing the future. If he spends to much time looking in the rear view mirror watching where he has been, he can miss that most important sign telling him where he is to go.
The same thing is true in life. If we spend so much time looking to the past we miss the important signs for the future, and let us face it, the future is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives, regardless of how hard we try to block it, not in the past. is it time to get rid of the clutter in your life, so you can get out of the past and start your journey into the future. Loosen your bonds on the past, how many bags of trash can you get rid of, so you can journey boldly into the future.