De-Cluttering My Life

Last Friday I spent a whole day with Dr. Carol Look (www.carollook.com) on “Clearing Clutter with Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).”   Held in New York City with more than 70 people in attendance, we discussed all the different ways we collect stuff.   The range of physical things we collect, buy, hold on to just in case we need it is endless.   Holding on to stuff that never seems to be useful is based more on filling emotional needs than a real need.  

I learned EFT several years ago and the more I use this simplistic, yet powerful technique, I find that I am, on a daily basis, reducing stress from my life.  

After spending almost 6 hours listening to others share how clutter affects their lives and tapping on their issues, along with my clutter issues, I came away with the desire to clear away the stuff and create a respectful space for myself.   

Today, I organized my business receipt files (which were lounging on my dining room table) and cleaned out old insurance policies in my files.  To top off my cleaning efforts, I organized the area behind my desk, threw out and filed away some of my ‘information.’   I actually tossed a lot of information because frankly, I can get what I need on the internet in a moment’s notice and by the time I read the information that is gathering dust in my apartment it will probably be outdated.

I learned that physical belongings are not the only stuff we collect.  We prop up our lives with old beliefs about life that don’t add happiness to our lives.  How about all the old stories we keep telling over and over again until they are worn out, boring and should be thrown out.

My apartment is crammed with books on professional and personal interests.  I love purchasing another new book…all the potential information that resides at my fingertips. 

Though my home is basically organized, there are pockets where papers seem to multiply and take over.  I hate to admit it but I am an ‘information junkie.’  I just love to get my hands on new information or potential solutions to business issues.  Are there any other ‘information junkies’ out there?

Yet I know the basis for this purchasing behavior is more emotional because I don’t use all of the information, rather I acquire it.  I will initially start to read what I had purchased, but before too long, I will put it in a neat pile and it will sit patiently waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

That’s another aspect around clutter that I learned at the conference.  Indecision is clutter.   Sitting in our ambivalence without effort to resolve the conflict only clutters up our minds and emotions.    How many of us have decisions we need to make and we stick the issue in the back closets of our mind and find ‘other’ things to do to divert our attention.   The clutter is still there…hasn’t gone away…until we take it out of the closet and DECIDE what to do with.

So what pearls of wisdom did I learn?  Get rid of everything that isn’t useful to me today and don’t hold on for the potential of someday needing it.   If an item is beautiful, brings a smile to my face, and makes me happy, then I keep it.  If I’m not happy, get rid of my old beliefs and find new thoughts that will add joy to my life. 

Happy De-Cluttering!

Pat
“To fully enjoy the ‘richness’ of our lives, we need to stop long enough to visit with ourselves.”
(Pat Brill)

Tags: clutter, junk, messy

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