Aparigraha and clutter...

As I look out into the cluttered room I had been saying I would clean up for months now, this week's homework assignment of looking at Aparigraha comes to mind. Aparigraha is the last of the five yamas of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga and deals with the concept of non-possessiveness, non-grasping or non-greediness. In this day and age it is also extended to clutter and hoarding, a common theme in modern lifestyles, or at least mine. 

This is the shelf near my bed that I have been planning to have as my yoga book center since teacher training started... (and we are already in week 6 so that was 12 weeks ago!).

So it seemed to me that should be the first place I decluttered in keeping with Aparigraha... A shelf that held all my yoga books, close to my bed so I could grab a book and read in bed easily... and not have everything buried by gardening books and other junk that could just as easily be in another room.

Most of these books are for the training. Some of them I had before and others I have gotten since as other people have suggested them. I also have a few on my Android Tablet where I have my Kindle reader. 

Ok so that was the 1% tip of my house nightmare... my goal has been a little every day and that keeps getting put aside. My intention now is to keep that promise to myself... A little each day, even 10 minutes... do something every day to make the clutter go away and bring back my happiness within this house.