Out Of Sight Is Not Out Of Mind

What’s in your house?

For years, I have asked myself, “What’s in your house?”

I use the question to discover what is currently available for use if seen differently and to reveal what doesn’t need to be in my house so I can throw it away or give it away.

On one of the year's first glorious warm spring days, I was cleaning up our yard after winter.

We had lived in the home for less than a year, and the yard was big enough for me to find areas and things I didn’t know were there, so I asked myself, “What’s in your yard?”

During my cleaning and yard visit, I encountered trash and treasure.

First, the treasure: I watched a garden show about a property completely paved in moss. It was glorious.

I ventured onto our property, thinking how wonderful it would be to have it completely paved in moss, but I couldn’t see how that could happen without years of work because I hadn’t seen any moss.

However, I discovered moss everywhere when I cleared the debris and leaf accumulation.

It felt as wonderful to me as if I had uncovered a pot of gold. Right under our feet, the whole time, was exactly what we wanted, already provided.

Then, the trash: Our property drops off into banks and slopes so that you can't see what is there when you are in the house or on the lawn.

The previous owners of our home must have thought that if they couldn’t see the trash, it didn’t exist.

In my first small clean-up with my granddaughter, we discovered the smashed remains of a garden gnome tossed over the bank into the stream.

Mr. Gnome sat at the garage door the week before we moved in. Instead of moving it, the past owners of our new home trashed it.

That was just the beginning of the trash we found.

What were they thinking?

That it was out of sight and therefore didn’t exist?

That no one else could see it since they couldn’t?

Of course, this is absurd because eventually, we would find that trash and know who put it there.

But isn’t this exactly what we do with our own thinking?

First, we don’t see treasures because we don’t look for them, but others may see them clearly.

Then the trash, or misperceptions, of our thinking “tossed over the bank” may be hidden from our sight, but certainly not to others who are paying attention.

Like the trash in our backyard, it still affects our lives.

Hidden treasures are a delight to discover. Trash may not be.

But just because it is out of sight, it is not out of mind.

Trash thoughts and ideas run our lives even more surely than trash pollutes our earth because they are hidden perceptions that filter information and blind us to what is really going on.

A treasure hunter goes looking for treasure because he expects to find it. Expect to find the treasure in your life, and you will discover what has been waiting for you all along.

You will also find trash. Don’t be afraid. Now that you’ve seen it, it has no power over you. It’s the hidden undealt with trash that is the problem.

Be a treasure hunter and treasure talker.

Let’s not join the popular pastime of trash-talking. Does it help with anything? Ever? No.

Don’t get caught up in trash talk, thinking, or acting. Avoid reading about it or listening to people who insist on wallowing in it.

Throw out the trash as you search because it is trash that hides the treasure.

Ask yourself, “What’s in your house?” You’ll be surprised at the trash and the treasure you’ll find.

Keep the treasures. Throw out the trash.

Remember, both in your house and in your thinking, that it’s the trash that is hiding the treasures.

Out of sight is not out of mind.