Eliminating Clutter

Self-Awareness 101 Episode 33: Eliminating Clutter

In this episode Willard discusses how unfinished business can be a drain on our energy and how eliminating clutter can allow us to create a space to attract what we desire into our lives.

< EP 32: Toxic Shame                             EP 34 How To Forgive Others >

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When I began my journey, there were several suggestions I was given that became tools for how to create positive change in my life. First, I was told that if I was "stuck" and not able to move forward, a cathartic experience would be to start with making a physical change. They told me, "If you want to change something in yourself, change something about yourself. Shave, get a haircut, do these small types of things that create momentum for inner change."

Over the years that idea expanded as I realized that many times the key to creating change was eliminating clutter in my life that would allow me to free up the resources to create the change I desired. Have you ever heard other people talk about eliminating clutter when its time for them to move and transition into a new part of their life? What many people will do is they will go through their house and clean out their closets. They’ll clean out their attic, or their garage. One reason is so that they can begin creating momentum, but an underlying reason that many of them don't even recognize is that they by eliminating clutter, they are freeing themselves to attract what they desire into their lives. We don't realize how much energy is attached to things, to possessions. For everything in your life there is a combination of mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, and financial energy that is attached.

What we're talking about today is eliminating clutter. And sometimes it can be as simple as cleaning out a closet. Sometimes it can be as complex as getting rid of an entire home. A little over a year and a half ago, I moved my 83 year old mother in to live with me because three years ago she knee replacement surgery that turned out quite bad. Over a three year period she had eight operations on her left knee. The complications were of course unseen, but the end result is that this forced her out of her home. The reason she could no longer live in her home was because of the way her house was constructed, it was an old two-story country farm house that was not handicap accessible; she couldn't go live there by herself while she was going through the healing process. Because she kept having more surgeries, and recovery never came as we thought it would, she didn't live her house for three years. To give you an idea of her connection to this house, this was her childhood home; the house itself was 107 years old. As you can imagine, because she had not lived in it for three years, the house fell into serious disrepair.

When we made the decision to move her in with me, we still had hope that in time she would regain mobility and be able to move back to her property. But it became obvious after her first year of being here with me that was not going to be the case. So we had to take a look at what we were going to do with this property. The house was a four hour drive away from where we now lived in New Jersey, and as we looked at the situation we saw it was a drain in many ways. She was expending a huge amount of mental and emotional energy on it, thinking about it every day, and I do mean that it was on her mind every day. She would wonder if the pipes were freezing or if there were animals getting into the basement. She would worry when there was a storm; she would worry about someone breaking in. As for me, I was expending energy because I took on the financial responsibility for making the mortgage payments and taking care of the taxes. And physically I would have make the four hour drive there, and the four hour drive back every month, just to check on things for her.

I really never thought about how these kinds of things were taking time and energy out of our lives until we really sat down and looked at it detail by detail. We had to make a decision. At this point, the house was falling into serious disrepair, and because of the physical condition of the house and the whole downturn in the economy that was going on, the house was now worth less than what was owed on it. For both of our sake we needed to look at eliminating clutter in the form of our energy that was being sucked out of us by the house, we needed to explore if was she going to let go? Not just physically let go of that property, but mentally and emotionally so she could embrace the rest of her life. While she held onto the attachment to the old house, she was not opening herself to create new friendships, or find peace that New Jersey was now her home. She simply couldn't do that while she was still mentally and emotionally holding onto the old property. So we came to the decision to let that property go.

It's a very cathartic experience. And I don't want to make light of it, it was a very major decision and the experience was not easy for either of us. Many of us attach a significant amount of meaning to material things. And it is hard to remember at times that the reality is the meaning is held in our memories and our hearts. We need to remember that the memories and feelings are always inside of us, not connected to something outside. Many people will never let go of a home, or a car, or a musical instrument or sometimes even a relationship because of the attachment they have to the those things thinking that if they let them go they will lose the memories and good feelings. We need to remember that those feelings stay with you.

We need to recognize that we can't move into the future without eliminating clutter from our life, and letting go of those things that we had so much attachment to in the past. You can't become a new you, when you're still holding on to all those things.

So what I invite you to do is if you're in a place of transformation in your life, I invite you to take a look around and ask yourself, "What are some things I am holding on to, that if I were to begin eliminating clutter, will open up a space in my life, to allow something new in?"

Maybe it is something as simple as cleaning out a closet. Maybe it’s getting rid of a car that has just been sitting in your driveway. Maybe it is letting go of a relationship that does not serve you anymore.

Eliminating clutter is about opening yourself up. It’s about letting go of the mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial attachments to that clutter and making yourself free to accept new things in your life.

So I look forward to hearing how this physical experience, of eliminating clutter from your life, manifests itself for you in other areas.

I look forward to hearing from you. I look forward to your results.

Take Care.

< EP 32: Toxic Shame                             EP 34 How To Forgive Others >

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