Chaos, clutter, treasures…a practiced leap carried her across the sea of clothes, books, notes and take-out containers littering the floor between doorway and bed.

My kids used to seriously do this!   Scary when I think about it now.  Their rooms were unthinkable territory for a Mom who worked 27 hours a day to keep house, home and business together.  I didn’t have time to do more than cook, “sort of” clean the sight lines and bathrooms and make sure they had clean clothes for the next day.  A sight line was the view from the front door.  I didn’t know about open spaces and clear minds back then.  I didn’t know about calming effect of solid life foundation either.

Now,  I know how to create my really comfortable, breathable, safe and balanced spaces.  My adult daughters are sorting it out for themselves.  But here is the secret if you choose to start small, practice often and enjoy your wins….just follow the recipe below.    HINT:   Start small, practice often, enjoy your wins and get brave enough to tackle the clutter monster!!!

So here is the recipe for de-cluttering physical space:

Step #1   Physically feel the space as it is now and imagine HOW you want it to be.  Note the difference.

HOW TO:

1. Stand in your cluttered space, notice how your chest, abdomen, head feel.  WRITE  the physical sensation down as a marker for later.  (fuzzy head, tight chest, butterflies in belly???)

2. Next,  visualize the space de-cluttered…looking good!   Again notice how your chest, abdomen and head feel.   WRITE this down too for comparison later.

        There may be an open sensation  that is actually breathing room in your mind.  Notice other physical sensations of groundedness and balance.  

Step #2   MOTIVATION…. Getting clear on WHY it is important to YOU to de-clutter!

 ASK this all important question  and WRITE your answer in your journal (check Journaling posts Nov 09) :   

What will change when the physical confusion of stuff is gone and I can REALLY   move and breathe is this space?    

Choose the combination of options that work best for you.

             1.       visualization of the perfect space  

             2.       vision boarding with pictures and  motivational sayings

             3.       creating a graph with time lines, tasks, and specific dates

             4.       getting a buddy keep you on task

             5.       hiring a team of professionals to do the work    

Step #3  

A.      Decide how you will dispose of clutter and plan to do it as soon as stuff has been bagged or boxed  

B.      Gather all the tools you need before you begin – do not give yourself a reason to stop once you are doing the work  

C.      Create your action plan using the method that works best for you, visualization, vision boarding, timeline graph with dates and goals, hiring a team of professionals

D.      Use your people resources freely – others like to  feel included in your life

E.       Celebrate your wins frequently  

Be emotionally generous to yourself – every step forward is a win and deserves to be recognized  

NOTE:    Signficant body sensation may feel like lightness in your head, bubbly joy in your belly, openess in your chest.  Take note of what you are feeling, so that you can return to that feeling whenever you need motivation.    

Make it EASY… practice on a really small de-cluttering project first and refine your method and skills on a second small project immediately (within a day or two of successfully completing the first project) . 

Do something that won’t take more than 20 minutes.  Go through all the steps above, just do it quickly to get a feel for it.  When successful, go on to a slightly larger project and when you are ready to tackle THE ONE let me know.

Good luck,  check back tomorrow for the NO GUILT Disposal of Treasures.   If you need me, you know where to find me.   Oh yes, please pass this along to anyone who might enjoy a change.

Enjoy InJoy

Sue Rumack, life essence coach

I AM…Change from Within

416-596-9771