So I’m trying to clean my desk today… Those of you who have actually seen my desk and the piles of paper growing to the left, to the right, on the floor, know this endeavor is more like dream-on sucker. But I seriously want to make space, make calm. Okay, I want to know where stuff is.

There are people in this world who can grab and jettison without pause or reflection. I am not one of those people. I have to look at every little scrap before I decide on its final resting place. I had barely begun my excavation when I found a couple pages of pithy quotes–nuggets of wisdom I had gathered over the years that I’ve supposedly used in my shows.

Well… Truth be told, this is the most quotable quote I use in my shows now: “Is it hot in here or is it me?”

Not exactly Thoreau… Or Yoda.

But I want to share these quotations with you because they are like little arrows pointing at a radiant moon. Don’t get stuck on the arrows. Look at the freaking moon.

Many moons ago I dragged my sorry butt to meditation retreats. You are supposed to do some serious “letting go” at these things. Not me. I collected experiences and quotes and wrote long discourses in my spiral notebook about what I was feeling and the ah-ha moments that would change my life. I wrote fast and frantic. God knows I didn’t want to lose THAT thought. I hauled my treasures home like I’d hit the jackpot on Black Friday.

Except it doesn’t work that way. Between the time I scribbled them down at the retreat and the evening I re-read them after dinner and Wheel of Fortune they had lost their sizzle, their pizazz, their power to move me.

And that sucks.

But it’s not all bad news. Something does change, change in my wiring. Something shifts. Little bitty cracks appear that let in some light.

THAT’S the treasure.

Not the words, not the stuff. It’s the sweet, potent residue they leave behind in our hearts. Something to remember as I fill up the Hefty Bags today.

Happy Thanksgiving!