Winter Cleaning: Both inside and out

Boker Tov:
Mark and I hope that everyone enjoyed their holidays, along with family and friends.
For Jews, the new year really began in September, the year 5771.
The month before is a time of reflection, of repentance, getting things right with our fellow men and women, with G-d. The new year is of course welcome with services and fellowship. And one cannot forget the apples and honey, for a happy and sweet new year. Then leads to Yom Kippah where we stand before the Holy One.
It is a time to look over our lives, seeing how far we have come, and how far we need to go.
For me, it is the learning of Hebrew and I am actually further in my studies. The other is to finish Mark's quilt. It is time that it is finished.
My mother started a tradition years ago that I have adopted. In Januray, I start going through stuff, decluttering our home. We do this during Rosh HaShanna as well. But like life, we tend to slowly start allowing things to start coming back in.
But this year there is a twist.
On Fox and Friends, there was a story about getting rid of 50 things that aren't work in our lives. This includes negative thoughts, negative people.
People?
People.
Life is too short on this side of heaven to hold onto stuff we are not using. It is draining our lives, resources and space.
Negative thoughts. You can't drive forward when your foruc is on the rear window. You can't recieve what G-d and Life have for you if your arms are full of stuff.
I can't get back into my favorite pair of jeans if I am not willing to lay off the pototoes.
The "I can't" "I am old/young/ fat/thin" "I'm not smart enough or have enough money," etc have held many a person from living their best life.
We can lose weigh, we can go back to school, we can find love.
I can learn hebrew.
Negative people. Those dear souls that sit on our sofa all day long, watching the telly and eating us out house and home. The person who has nothing nice to say, but fill the air with their doom and gloom. You what I am talking about. All they bring to the table is drama and more drama. All that is missing the bowl of popcorn and the bottle of coke.
I always this of vampires: those dark creatures of death that drink your life blood.
Time to put the silver cross into the coffin and nail that sucker shut.
So this week Mark have I have started the process of weeding out and declutterung our lives. And by doing so, we welcome all the fresh and new G-d has for us.