Tech Debt Is a Spiritual Block: We Need a Digital Cleanup

I spent 7½ years in the Army as a computer specialist. That was a long time ago, but what I learned back then still echoes today—especially now that everything’s in the cloud.

I know firsthand how storage issues can slow things down, disorganize systems, and create a never-ending need for more space. And the more I look at how we’re hoarding data, images, accounts, and half-finished projects online, the more I see the deeper pattern:

We’re not just storing files—we’re carrying unprocessed energy.

We talk a lot about minimalism, mindfulness, and decluttering our homes. But what about our digital spaces? The endless stream of AI images, social media posts, forgotten accounts, and files we’ll never open again? There’s a new kind of clutter building up—one that lives in the cloud, but weighs heavy on the soul.

Digital Clutter Is Real Clutter

Even though it’s invisible, digital hoarding is still hoarding. Those thousands of AI-generated images you’ll never use? That Facebook account you opened in 2012 to save a game? Those half-written emails and screenshots on your phone? They’re still there—taking up psychic space.

It’s like walking into a storage unit that never stops growing.

You stop wanting to look.

You stop wanting to create.

The mess becomes a block.

The Cloud Is Not a Sacred Vault

We treat the cloud like magic. Like a limitless, weightless space where our data can live forever. But someone has to maintain it. Someone pays for the servers. And someone should be thinking about how much of what we store is actually necessary.

Just because it’s digital doesn’t mean it’s harmless.

This is how landfills happened in the physical world.

Now we’re recreating them online.

Hoarding Is a Sign of Unprocessed Energy

Why do we keep everything? Why don’t we delete?

Because we’re afraid.

Afraid to lose something important.

Afraid that deleting a mistake might erase a part of ourselves.

Afraid we won’t ever create anything better.

But the truth is: letting go is part of the creative process.

• Not everything needs to be kept.

• Some things are meant to be composted.

• Mistakes aren’t trash—they’re training.

The Spiritual Weight of Tech Debt

In IT, tech debt is what happens when you skip maintenance, cut corners, or keep stacking new systems on old ones. Eventually, it slows everything down. Makes everything fragile. And someone has to pay the price.

We have a similar debt building up in the psycho-spiritual realm:

• Overstimulated minds

• Disorganized inner worlds

• Fear of stopping long enough to clean house

This kind of clutter doesn’t just slow your hard drive—it fogs your intuition.

We Need a Culture of Digital Composting

It’s time to rethink what we save. What we let go of. What we consider “precious.”

Creativity is a living thing—it thrives when there’s room to breathe.

We need:

• Platforms that let users delete

• Artists that honor white space

• Tech leaders who understand that saving everything is the same as valuing nothing

And maybe, just maybe, we need to ask ourselves:

Why are we still hoarding yesterday’s drafts?

The Sacred Power of White Space

One thing we don’t talk about enough—outside of artist circles—is the importance of white space.

For those of us who live in creative flow, white space isn’t just a blank canvas. It’s sacred. It represents freedom, possibility, a moment to exhale and start again. It’s what clears the static so the signal can come through.

White space is a trigger—a signal to the subconscious that the channel is open.

It’s the silence before the music.

The pause before the insight.

The breath before the brushstroke.

But when your space—physical or digital—is filled with clutter, chaos, and a million half-finished drafts, it jams that signal. The channel gets clogged. You can feel it. You sit down to create, but there’s noise in the background—energetic interference from all the unprocessed and unfinished things still hanging around.

Let me tell you a little story:

My son used to push back hard when I’d ask him to clean up his room. He was in that teenage phase—didn’t want to hear anything from me, especially not about his space. But years later, after he moved out and had his own place, he came by one day and said, “Mom… you were so right.” He’d just finished straightening his room, lit some incense, organized his hats, and for the first time, he felt how different the energy was. It just clicked.

That’s what I’m talking about.

And that’s exactly how I feel every time I go to MidJourney. The tool is brilliant—the output is stunning—but the space itself is cluttered and heavy. Drafts I’ll never use. Mistakes I can’t delete. 5011 lines of visual noise. It drains the excitement. It muddies the channel.

Sometimes the most genius creative trick is this:

Throw it all away.

Not the core idea—just the noise around it.

Come back with a clean slate.

A fresh page.

Let the white space do what it does best—call forth the next right thing.

White space is The Fool card. It’s the child mind. The moment before the masterpiece.

It says: “Anything can happen here.”

That’s not just poetry—it’s real. And it’s something we all need to protect, especially in a world that’s constantly trying to fill up every inch of our time, attention, and screen space.

What Our Waste Says About Us

Let’s be honest—this isn’t just about creativity. It’s about who we are becoming as a culture.

The clutter in our digital lives is only a reflection of the clutter we tolerate in our physical world. We’ve got entire continents of plastic swirling in our oceans. Landfills overflowing. Tech devices piling up like graveyards of innovation. And it’s not like we don’t know it’s a problem—this isn’t a secret. We’ve known. We’ve known for decades.

So why haven’t we gathered our brightest minds—scientists, psychologists, spiritual leaders, system designers—to form a real, worldwide effort to start dealing with this in a meaningful way?

Not to fix it overnight—but to commit to the work of healing the systems we’ve broken.

Because this isn’t just a logistics issue. It’s a psycho-spiritual one. We don’t throw things away because we’re afraid.

• Afraid we’ll need it again.

• Afraid we won’t find that spark again.

• Afraid that letting go of that notebook or photo or AI image means losing something wecan’t get back.

• Afraid of death. Afraid of the unknown.

We get sentimental over scraps. We get stuck in emotional memory.

But the truth is—there’s magic in release.

When you let something go in the creative space, you create room for it to return bigger, deeper, or entirely new. Letting go doesn’t mean losing the idea. It means giving it space to expand.

That’s the kind of mindset shift we need—not just on our hard drives, but in our policies, our homes, and our hearts.

This is the time to reclaim the beauty of space, of endings, of sacred nothingness.

And to stop pretending we can hoard our way into safety.

The Star card ft. Michael Jackson

 

I’m having so much fun reimagining tarot cards and exploring new imagery that feels incredibly relevant to the present time. For The Star card, I chose Michael Jackson as the subject, as his fame and success seem fitting for the card’s symbolism. His unprecedented level of stardom was something the world had never seen before and likely won’t see again. Traditionally, The Star represents growing popularity, fame, blessings, success, and exposure—but it also carries a shadow side, highlighting the pitfalls of such heights. We could never truly know what it felt like to be him.

Michael Jackson was multitalented and had an extraordinary work ethic. He poured his entire soul into his craft. Whether you watch him dance or listen to his music, there’s a profound depth in his performances that inspired millions, both in life and death. His philanthropic efforts were well-known, even though he rarely boasted about them. From songs about self-reflection and personal change to calls for activism and societal transformation, Michael took his influence seriously. He encouraged others to shine and make a difference in the world.

However, achieving the level of success that Michael did must have been an incredibly lonely experience. When most people rise to success, there are mentors and peers who can guide them through the process. Michael’s star, however, rose so high that there was no one else in that space—no one to help him navigate the complexities of such fame, and no one who could truly relate to his experience. That isolation, combined with the public’s intense focus on him, must have been overwhelming. Fame at that level can feel isolating, even dangerous.

The pressure Michael endured must have been enormous: lawsuits, investigations, rumors, relentless paparazzi, and even exploitation by people close to him. It had to be deeply painful. Yet, despite it all, he would get up, put on his dancing shoes, and give everything he had to his performances. By all accounts, he was a perfectionist and consummate professional—never resting on his laurels, always striving for more, and continually giving of himself.

Including the shadow of his inner child in the imagery of The Star card felt particularly poignant. Michael had been famous since childhood, and his career never slowed down. It’s remarkable that he endured so much scrutiny, false accusations, and misunderstandings over decades. I can’t help but wonder: What would child Michael think watching adult Michael at the height of his career? And what would adult Michael say to his younger self?

If I were to pull Michael Jackson as The Star in a tarot reading, here’s how I might interpret it:

Positive meanings: Fame, celebrity, popularity, the fulfillment of a childhood dream, inspiration, performance, dance, theater, exposure, and unprecedented success.

Challenging meanings: A persona or mask, external pressure to perform, feeling under a microscope, lack of privacy, a need for grounding, perfectionism, loneliness, disconnection from others and self, a desire to return to authenticity, or “selling out.”

I hope you’re enjoying these reimagined tarot cards as much as I am! If you could reimagine a tarot card, which one would you choose? Would you feature a celebrity, or would you keep the characters more general? I’d love to hear your thoughts! 

Make Room For The Unexpected!

 

One of the biggest barriers I see with people trying to manifest money is that they’re too intense about it. They hyper-focus on it, and that kind of energy is repellent. Let’s frame it this way: imagine money is a woman named Cheryl. You like Cheryl and want to pursue her, maybe take her out and see where it goes.

You take Cheryl out, have a great time, and drop her off. But then, every time she turns around, you’re blowing up her phone—texting, calling, constantly talking about how much fun you had and how excited you are for the next date. Cheryl doesn’t want to see you anymore. You’ve become a pest, and your energy is pushing her away. Some people even take it to an obsessive level. Now, take that same energy and apply it to money manifestation.

If you’re this intense about money—talking about it constantly, obsessing over affirmations, creating vision boards, wearing money-themed clothing—you’re turning it into something unattainable. You’ve made money into a celebrity, and it doesn’t like you back. There are people out there who seem to attract money effortlessly—it flows to them. If you’re a die-hard fan of money, but it doesn’t like you, then you’re doing something wrong.

Why Letting Go is Crucial

In all manifestation work, there comes a time when you need to let it go so the process can unfold. Think of it like planting seeds. You plant the seeds, cover them with soil, water them, and wait. You don’t keep digging them up every day to see if they’ve sprouted—that would ruin the process. You check in occasionally to see if they need more water, but mostly, you let them do their thing. Manifestation works the same way. After you’ve done your affirmations, vision boards, and other practices, you need to back off and give space for things to align.

Overpowering Energy Blocks Manifestation

Many people trying to manifest money or big goals are too overpowering—they’re constantly on top of it, obsessively monitoring their progress. This blocks the natural flow of energy. You need to give the universe space to work with you. Once you’ve done your part, step back. Trust that the process will guide you. When you let go, you’ll start noticing breadcrumbs—small synchronicities and clues leading you toward your goal.

Here’s a story to illustrate this: A woman wanted to manifest a new car. She did all the work—affirmations, vision boards, everything—but after a month, she felt stuck and hopeless. So, she decided to let it go. She put her vision boards and affirmations away and stopped worrying about the car.

One day, she went to the store to grab her usual sub sandwich and root beer. While there, she ran into a friend who was buying a lottery ticket. The friend encouraged her to try it too, even though she didn’t usually gamble. She decided to spend $5 on a ticket. She didn’t win the jackpot, but she did win $35,000. With that money, she bought a new car.

The lesson? Letting go created space for her manifestation to come through in an unexpected way.

Take a Step Back

If you feel stuck, try this: put your vision boards, affirmation cards, and manifestation books away. Let go of the outcome and give yourself permission to breathe. Create space between you and your desire. This detachment allows you to notice opportunities and synchronicities when they appear. When you stop forcing it, you’ll be more alert and ready when it’s time to take inspired action—whether that’s buying a lottery ticket or following another unexpected lead.

Manifestation isn’t about controlling every detail; it’s about aligning with the flow. Sometimes, letting go is the key that opens the door!