(This is certainly not an original idea and I'm not sure where I first read this metaphor/simile but this is how it resonates in my life.)
Like a ghost on a mission I have a routine of haunting the rooms of this house. Sometimes I float through checking lights, doors and locks: sometimes clumsily knocking things around and sometimes stealthy like a ninja - quiet, quick, and completely unseen. One of my superpowers is invisibility.
I enjoy occupying the spaces I've made, rooms of particular purpose. Moving through each doing upkeep, cleaning and other work until the evening when it's time to attend to myself with relaxing rituals of inhaling/exhaling, movement and stretching, heat from the sauna and gloriously hot baths. It's therapeutic to dissolve into my surroundings, releasing tension and restriction.
The rooms I inhabit the most have collections of things that are homes for my overflowing spirit - similar to haunted dolls and dollhouses but not scary, just charged with my excess energy. I am putting away some of my magical things for a while, letting them rest. Like trusted allies I want to care for them and treat them with appreciation. Also these things are not for all eyes to see. I don't feel comfortable letting strangers into my home, my sanctuary.
Our 25 year old roof and windows need replaced so we're having people come to give estimates for those jobs. Most of them have been fine - not intrusive nor bringing bad vibes. The ones who are like us, who have actually done the physical labor and are honest and upfront, do not leave behind any negative energy. But there was one who left me feeling the need to sage the entire house and take a bath in holy water. On the surface pleasant, nice, polite, but the unclean spirit leaked out all over the house where he insisted on lingering in each room longer than necessary. I was uncomfortable with his presence in my most private areas - my bedroom and bathroom. Spiritual hygiene requires the rooms where we sleep and take care of our most intimate needs be guarded from intrusion by anyone with deceitful or other untrustworthy motives. After he left I decided to treat each room with a sage spray (didn't have any to burn) and before going to bed I burned frankincense and copal on the front porch to drive away and place a barrier against any loitering unclean spirits and energies.
I wonder how many people actually fall for sleazy sales tactics and how those who use them can sleep at night. How can they profess that they are "going to the kingdom of Heaven" after manipulating people with unethical practices? Of course, anyone's salvation is between them and God, but I am allowed to call out their bad behavior when they are trying to take advantage of me. I was not impressed with his attempt to justify his actions after I confronted him, very politely, with his unethical approach to sales. No sir, I don't think your CEO pays you so much that he can't afford to send you to the same house twice. If he truly valued his customers he would send you out as many times as necessary to satisfy their needs. And no sir, claiming your windows are the best available does not really make them worth six times more than any others (or actually better for that matter). And no sir, your presentation of your competitors' prices did not even make any sense when they were a fraction of the cost you quoted for your products. Is that really supposed to be some kind of flex? "Oh, look at me, I way overpaid for these windows that some guy claimed were the best available"? As if drastically overpaying for windows is going to give me some kind of status? No thank you. I'm old enough to better. And finally, no sir, I'm not signing your contract today just to get slightly less overpriced windows. (No sir, buying windows cannot really be compared to buying airline tickets. Besides, not even first class flights cost as much as one of your ridiculous windows.) That whole tactic of pressuring people with a today-only discount is the worst. I guess it works on some people sometimes, maybe enough to keep the practice going, but that just is not the best way to serve people and provide them with goods. It is greed, and greed is not good.
Be gone unclean spirit, leave my home and never return.
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