Out of nowhere, I had a feeling to submit my headshot and try and get an acting agent again. It's been a number of years. An agent in town said she was interested and asked me to come by. I did. It was a terrible audition. I'm not good at pretending I like a product. I'm pretty lousy reading something off of paper and acting spontaneous. Suddenly, I remembered how much I didn't care for that old lifestyle. It was a nice reminder that I did the right thing leaving that behind a ways back.
The doubly wonderful thing that happened right after this was one of the people whose home I'm staying at in Phoenix is a teacher and she invited me to come in and entertain her forth grade kids for twenty minutes. I came in the next day with just my guitar and an open mind. I had a blast making up stories. I got the kids involved in coming up with songs. We all had a great time.
The contrast between these two experiences was palatable and exciting. It made me realize it's the contrasts that make life a rich stew. The crappy things I live through make the nice things stand out.
I also realized that life itself has a big hand in the clutter busting process. Life has a way of illuminating the clutter so it becomes very obvious to me. The pain of trying to do something that doesn't fit me becomes very clear and matter-of-fact . I used to think it was a cruel aspect of life because it was painful. But now I see it as compassionate. Life cares and wants to help.