A recent article I read in The Daily Telegraph, talked about a growing group of well-educated city dwellers who are becoming known as freegans. These are anti-consumerism people who practice dumpster-diving, searching for everything from food to treasures in a dumpster.

How many of us are attempting to find our treasures beneath a pile of rubbish? It can sound like a crazy thought for most people, but the reality is that is exactly what a lot of us are doing! And it may not even be happening at a conscious level.

We may not literally be climbing into a dumpster and digging around for our treasure but the analogy here is that we have allowed our lives to become filled with rubbish—emotional, physical, spiritual garbage that we tote around with us every day. It weighs us down and feels like an enormous burden but still we laboriously carry it around because we can’t find a way to take out the trash. Then from beneath this heavy load we seek to find happiness, love, a sense of peace—and wonder why nothing in our lives seems to be going right.

Trust me on this, I am not preaching. I am speaking to you from the bottom of my own dumpster-diving excursion. As a TV newscaster/on-air personality in the United States, I have had my fill of trash that has complicated, cluttered, and literally obliterated my path to success on several occasions.

I too have allowed internal garbage to build up in my life. I have even found that it accumulates from the inside out. Negative thoughts and wicked condemning words that I tell myself, fill me up. Despite thinking that these messages may serve as conscientious criticism, they lack a necessary loving approach to truly create change. These messages do not empower me. I forget or sometimes am left powerless to dump the rubbish! We wouldn’t think of letting our physical trash accumulate like this.

We take out the trash from our kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, and garages, and put it neatly into a garbage can outside. We then feel clean and clear. But when it comes to making an internal sweep of the clutter and trash polluting our minds and our souls, we slam the door tightly—locking the rubbish inside.

The garbage inside is our worries, fears, grudges, anxieties, feelings of hatred, guilt, and unforgiveness. And like all garbage, this mixture rots, becoming even more of a mess.
If you look at the outside of a banana that’s starting to spoil, you see that its beautiful yellow color is marked with black spots. But if you’re really hungry and it’s the only banana in the house, you might tell yourself that the spots aren’t too dark. When you peel it, though, you see the true impact and depth of the spoilage. By the time the rot was visible on the outside of the banana, it had already wreaked havoc on the inside. This is what happens to you when your emotional pain remains unexpressed, unpeeled, and unacknowledged.

When we acknowledge our emotions but not let them run—and ruin—our lives, we find that we can root out the feeling or emotion that may be limiting successful behavior.

What is your emotional rubbish doing to you? How deep are the scars of sibling rivalry; a major fight with your spouse; a confrontation with a co-worker; a hated job; a mind-set that whispers, “I am not good enough”?

When we’re stuck in bad times and buried beneath emotional garbage, it’s hard to ever imagine that good times are ahead.

Good moments seem to wear out and slip away quickly, while the bad times and the self-defeating emotions that come with them, such as worries and fears, are built with heavy-duty batteries—you’ll wear out before they do. Not only do the old worries and fears keep going on and on, but there’s an endless supply of new worries in the world.
You can choose to feel better. You don’t have to remain buried beneath your rubbish.
One of the most inspiring statements I’ve ever heard is so grounded in reality that it’s often overlooked— “When bad times happen, remember this too shall pass. When good times happen, remember this too shall pass.”

Life is about change; whether it’s good times or bad, the circumstances will eventually change. If you don’t want to deal with change, get in the box; after you’re dead, you don’t have to deal with change or stress. However, while you’re alive, choose to really live. Welcome change and challenges as an opportunity to grow and develop into the person you intend to be. Don’t let the fear of change rob you of a fulfilling life. You do matter in this world; why not live fully and richly?

Getting there is a process—a journey into the fantastic opportunity to explore our feelings and emotions and rid our lives of that which is not serving to better ourselves.

Recognizing the important role you do play in this world is the first step to becoming a catalyst for success. Our challenges as well as our rewarding experiences in life often touch not only us but those we know or may never know. An action you take today can fuel a response in another person close or even far away. This is the power and proof that you matter in this world.

So when rubbish starts to build up and you feel overwhelmed, find comfort in taking out the trash and clearing your head; this will reveal treasures. The steps that get you to where you want to be lie in what you create in the present moment. Catch your thoughts right now. Are you thinking about a problem or a solution? Are your thoughts centered on what you want to make bigger in your life? Or are they dwelling in confusion, frustration, worry, fear, anger? Where your thoughts go so too does your life.

Right now, in this moment, you can change your attitude, your life, and the experiences you will have in the future. Through your spiritual faith and your persistent, diligent efforts to keep a vigilant eye on your mind’s thoughts, you can create the life you desire that is absent of the rubbish that’s held you back.

Perhaps the most effective approach for me has been to write down affirmations and visions of the life I intend to live. The energy that I invest in visualizing the outcomes creates a transparent view of where I am today and where I wish to be. My desires are realized with such swift speed that I am amazed nearly every time I make this effort. It is what all successful people do to create greatness in their lives. They believe. They see a vision. They determine to get the rubbish out of their lives. And then they make room for their true treasures. They take out the trash daily and sometimes multiple times throughout a day—so that their lives are not buried beneath rubbish!   ###

Available Now:  Phoebe Chongchua’s book about making room for success in your life, If the Trash Stinks, Take it Out!