A Third Pause in Lent

Compartmentalised!

When that word came into my mind, this picture from Lakeland Limited also popped in! We have some of these drawer organisers, and they are really great, and would be even better if we didn't have twice as many items as pockets...
The word 'compartmentalise' was introduced to my thoughts by Elizabeth Rimmer on her Lúcháir blog. She mentioned that the Pause in Lent 'brings together some strands of my thinking that I tend to compartmentalise - always a bad sign'. I hope you don't mind me quoting you there, Elizabeth - you really got me pondering!
It does seem to me that what the Pause in Lent is doing for me is similar - seeing the connections between different things that are important to me, instead of putting them into separate little boxes!It's good to have the contents of my kitchen sorted and compartmentalised, but how easily I seem to have decided that my family, my work, my faith, my emotions, my health, my blogging, my friends, my environment, etc, etc are also separate from each other and seem to get put into separate 'boxes' in my life.

Denise's recommendation of the book 'Simple Abundance' has been part of what's helped me to remember that each of these things is part of a bigger picture, rather than a separate element which has no effect on other parts of my life.
Denise can tell you more about how Morning Pages, which are a part of the Simple Abundance concept, help you to clear your mind of clutter and actually put down onto paper (and then forget/burn/otherwise destroy) the outpourings you'd normally bottle up. I'm not actually finding that I'm pouring out pages of misery or vitriol, quite to the contrary, but if I do have something bugging me or upsetting me, I'm finding that I can write it down and begin to see it in proportion, either to be left behind or dealt with. I'm beginning to see how the things I turn over and over in my mind are linked to how I face and deal with all the events of the day. There's no specifically religious idea behind the Morning Pages, but as my Big Picture includes Jesus, I find him here too.

j

So, instead of the compartments, I'm feeling freer to let God into all aspects of my life, and let him have a little look at the bits I'd rather hide - a bit of resentment here, a bit of laziness there, a bit (a lot!) of irritability there...

j

And it's not an unpleasant experience. It is very releasing.