Cleaning Your Clutter Can Change Your Life
Love this excerpt from the book, "LIGHTEN UP. Free Yourself From Clutter" by Michelle Passoff.
“Are you ready to clean up your clutter?”
Successfully cleaning clutter implies that you are making move in your life. Each effort you make brings you closer to your true heart's desires. But change often brings discomfort as you move away from what you know. Although being clutter free seems like a good idea, ask yourself if you are really ready to do the work and make the change.
Throughout the clutter-cleaning process you will be asking yourself many, many questions about what is and what is not relevant to the life you really want to be leading. Honesty is a key ingredient to success. The dream of being clutter free can come true, and the information and skills in this book can help make it happen if you take the steps. But you've got to be ready to act.
After giving a lecture on clutter, I was approached by woman who wanted help dealing with the many piles of magazines she had stacked in her apartment. I gave her some ideas, and then it occurred to me that if she wanted to get rid of her magazines, I could help her. I had an all-day workshop coming up in just a few weeks and needed magazines for the Collage Exercise that I do during the class. I offered some free on-site counseling and said that I'd be willing to take her magazines off her hands. She hesitated and then declined the offer. She is not a horrible person because she did not seize the opportunity to receive the gift of clutter cleaning; she just was not ready.
In another instance, Jim asked me to help him because his bird was cluttering his life. Jim loves birds-exotic birds. He and his wife kept theirs in the second bedroom of their two bedroom apartment. But they had just had a baby and did not want the baby and the bird sharing the same room.
I said, "Jim, have you thought about putting the bird in the bedroom with your wife and you?" "Yeah," he said, "we thought of that, and we decided that we don't want the bird to be in your room.
I then suggested, "Jim, have you thought about putting the bird in the living room?"
"Yes," replied Jim. "We thought about putting the bird in the living room, and we decided that we didn't want it there either."
"OK," I said. Then I asked, "Jim, do you have a terrace or balcony in your apartment? Perhaps you have another place to put the bird?"
"No, there is no other place to put the bird," he replied.
Having looked at this situation from every angle, I finally asked, "Jim, have you thought about getting rid of the bird?" "No," he retorted.
"Well, Jim," I said, "the moral of your clutter-cleaning story is that when you want to make a change, something has got to give. You cannot change and stay the same simultaneously."
Cleaning clutter can forge change in your life, and change usually is an unsettling prospect. The question is whether you want to be unsettled by having clutter or upset by not having clutter.
“Are you ready to clean up your clutter?”
Successfully cleaning clutter implies that you are making move in your life. Each effort you make brings you closer to your true heart's desires. But change often brings discomfort as you move away from what you know. Although being clutter free seems like a good idea, ask yourself if you are really ready to do the work and make the change.
Throughout the clutter-cleaning process you will be asking yourself many, many questions about what is and what is not relevant to the life you really want to be leading. Honesty is a key ingredient to success. The dream of being clutter free can come true, and the information and skills in this book can help make it happen if you take the steps. But you've got to be ready to act.
After giving a lecture on clutter, I was approached by woman who wanted help dealing with the many piles of magazines she had stacked in her apartment. I gave her some ideas, and then it occurred to me that if she wanted to get rid of her magazines, I could help her. I had an all-day workshop coming up in just a few weeks and needed magazines for the Collage Exercise that I do during the class. I offered some free on-site counseling and said that I'd be willing to take her magazines off her hands. She hesitated and then declined the offer. She is not a horrible person because she did not seize the opportunity to receive the gift of clutter cleaning; she just was not ready.
In another instance, Jim asked me to help him because his bird was cluttering his life. Jim loves birds-exotic birds. He and his wife kept theirs in the second bedroom of their two bedroom apartment. But they had just had a baby and did not want the baby and the bird sharing the same room.
I said, "Jim, have you thought about putting the bird in the bedroom with your wife and you?" "Yeah," he said, "we thought of that, and we decided that we don't want the bird to be in your room.
I then suggested, "Jim, have you thought about putting the bird in the living room?"
"Yes," replied Jim. "We thought about putting the bird in the living room, and we decided that we didn't want it there either."
"OK," I said. Then I asked, "Jim, do you have a terrace or balcony in your apartment? Perhaps you have another place to put the bird?"
"No, there is no other place to put the bird," he replied.
Having looked at this situation from every angle, I finally asked, "Jim, have you thought about getting rid of the bird?" "No," he retorted.
"Well, Jim," I said, "the moral of your clutter-cleaning story is that when you want to make a change, something has got to give. You cannot change and stay the same simultaneously."
Cleaning clutter can forge change in your life, and change usually is an unsettling prospect. The question is whether you want to be unsettled by having clutter or upset by not having clutter.
