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Renovation Anyone?

I had an unusual dream the other night. It was about a client who was upset that she had changed the design of her project and felt like she had made a mistake in doing so. Now the project was built, and what was she to do? We were talking over the phone and I could tell she was struggling to get her words out without getting emotional. I thought this a little odd but didn’t have any real judgment about it – I just listened.

As she spoke she got more and more upset and she began to cry. Finally I said what to me seemed like the obvious. I said that she really didn’t have to get so distraught, there was nothing a sawzall and a nail gun couldn’t fix. And you know what? In that moment I said that with 100% conviction. Like talking to someone who was sad it was dark in their room and me saying to them then just turn on the light. She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after that and then the dream ended.

I mentioned the dream to Meg the next morning and she laughed. Meg in her line of work helps people to make better choices and become happier in their lives. She said if only it was that easy to renovate ourselves just using a sawzall (reciprocating saw) and a nail gun – instead of battling through all our beliefs and learning the latest spiritual and psychological techniques to gain awareness. That got me to thinking about how easy it is to renovate an external structure and how hard it is to renovate ourselves – those internal structures that we no longer enjoy. Fear, anger, jealousy, hatred, judgment, lack of self esteem…etc.

With a sawzall in hand you can cut apart just about anything – wood, metal, roof shingles. By cutting these things you can alter the way a structure looks, remove it and make way for a new change. Change the size of a door opening perhaps, add a sidelight or maybe a transom. Let some more light in. More glass, more transparency.

With a nail gun you can start to put it all back together. No more endless swings of a hammer to wear you out. Just throw a coil of 12 penny framing nails in the gun hook it up to the compressor and wow! Things get put back together quick and easy. Usually too they don’t come apart unless you got a sawzall…

See how that works? What if we don’t like part of our inner experience? What if we worry excessively about what people think of us? So what?! Grab that sawzall, load in a big saw blade and go to town! Things might get messy and be a bit stubborn to cut out but eventually the transformation will happen. Once you’ve removed that old structure go get the nail gun. Build a new structure for yourself, but make this one exactly how you like it. Make it yours. Renovation is taking something existing and transforming it into (hopefully) something better. Using what’s already there but making it more comfortable and inspiring.

I think I’m onto something here. Maybe I should set up a booth outside Home Depot and offer a demonstration of how to rid oneself of an old point of view. How to instead build something wonderful and unique for yourself and then invite people in to see how cool it looks! I could even give away a free tool to each person who stopped by the booth.

Yes! A free shop vac to deal with the inevitable mess that renovation creates. And at the end of the day it’s SO satisfying to vacuum up all the crap our little project produced.

So enjoy! No need to stress! Go grab your favorite tools and express yourself!

Happy renovating!

And don’t forget to watch my upcoming TV show on PBS - This Old Belief System, or the one on ABC – Extreme Inner Makeover.

Humm, I do kind of have a bit of a soul patch like Ty does…but maybe it’s more like chin spinach actually. Nothing a set of clippers couldn't fix.

Time to go to work.

J

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