Spiritual Teachings from our Garage Sale

Uncategorized Sep 27, 2022

A few weeks ago, we had a garage sale. After we moved, we realized that although our new place is more spacious, it has less storage than our previous home, and so it was time to let go of another round of stuff. 

We were just going to give it to the Goodwill, but my parents were also doing a big clearout, so we agreed to do a garage sale together. 

Whenever I do anything in life, I set an intention. It’s important to let the Universe know what you would like to happen. Of course, you can’t be attached to the outcome, but it’s good to get clear on what you would like, and most importantly, on how you’d like to feel. 

The last time we had a garage sale, we made over $1000, so I set my sights high. My dream goal for this year’s event was $1500 (never mind that we didn’t have that much stuff to sell; we had a couple of big-ticket items and it’s good to dream big). When setting intentions, I’ve learned to not worry about the how; you just want to focus on the what and the feeling you want to feel. In this case, I wanted to feel satisfied and to have more space in our home. 

In addition to getting clear and dreaming big, another important key for intention-setting is to indicate: This or something even better. Prior to the big day, I wrote out my garage sale intention, plus the key statement above. 

On the day of, I realized a few things. 

1- I don’t really like garage sales. (Noted.)

2- I learned a lot from my son. Oakley was extremely masterful at welcoming people in, so I observed carefully. When people arrived, he said hi, told them that everything was ‘make an offer’ and then he asked them if there was anything they were looking for in particular. He’s a natural!

3- We were not going to get anywhere close to my dream goal. 

Fortunately, I had indicated in the ad that we would be done by 3pm, so at least it didn’t last that long. 

Around 2pm, one of my parents’ neighbours came by and asked if we would be willing to donate some items to a Ukrainian family who was moving into the neighbourhood. 

Jackpot! She left with almost everything we had to offer. 

That’s when I realized that it was all worth it and that something even better than making $1500 had happened. 

If we would have just taken the stuff to the Goodwill, we wouldn’t have been able to help out the Ukrainian family. Instead, we felt good, the neighbour who asked felt good, we cleared out lots of space, plus we barely had to take anything to the Goodwill once we were done. It was a win-win-win. It was also super fun to load up the neighbour’s car with our dishes, toys, games, books, and anything else we thought would help. 

I did indeed feel satisfied, but not in the way I thought it would happen. Life surprised me with something I hadn’t even considered. Ta-dah!

To summarize the golden nuggets:

  • You can learn spiritual lessons in any situation if you look for them
  • Set intentions to gain clarity and to practice asking for what you want
  • Release attachment to said intentions by knowing that you’ll be a-okay whether they happen or not
  • With any intention, also say or write: This or something even better
  • Trust that life knows best and that it will give you exactly what’s needed in every situation; it may not be what you anticipated, or what you wanted, but it’s always designed to help you grow

There you have it; the spiritual lessons from our garage sale. 

May you have a fabulous week chock-full of expansion and delightful surprises.

With gorgeous love and delicious courage,

Christina

>Creator of Courageous Self-Care

>Enjoying have less belongings

>Grateful for the tasty garage sale snacks my mom made; they really helped me get through (have you ever had rhubarb muffins? So good!)

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