Making Friends with Where We Live

When you're feeling stuck amidst clutter, the connection you have with your home is broken. You don't know what to do because the conversation with where you live has stopped.

When you approach the space in your home as a living thing, you re-open the connection. It becomes easier to work with your space when there's a relationship.

I was working the other day with a woman who felt that her space was against her. She said, "My home feels like my enemy." I said that's how she was feeling, but probably her home liked her. She said, "I doubt that." I suggested we start going through her things and find what she didn't care for anymore. She relented.

As the time passed and she began letting go of clutter, she started feeling better. She said, "I'm starting to feel like my home's my friend."

Thank you!

Thanks for the donations I received this weekend! I appreciate you helping me get the word out there so people can stop suffering in their homes. It's empowering to remember that it's our space and we take it back by letting go of what's no longer part of our lives.

I wanted to share with you my clutter busting video. It takes you on the clutter busting front lines. I hope you find it inspiring!



PS I'm planning on driving from Phoenix to Chicago this week. If you live in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Denver, Omaha or Lincoln NB, Des Moines or Fairfied IA, and would like to set up a clutter busting session with me while I'm on the road, send me a message at brooks@clutterbusting.com.

Helping Spread the Message!

Hi. It's me. The blog. I asked Brooks if I could write today's post. He said, "Sure."

I wanted to say what a delight it is that you read me and that you find the info useful! I hope the things Brooks continues to write and place in me are equally helpful to you in the future!

Also, Brooks is kind of shy about asking, but if you've been helped by these blog posts, I've placed a donate button just below. Please donate any amount you'd like. It will help contribute to keeping these posts up and running, and it will help spread the message of clutter busting to others in need.

Thanks for listening. Congratulations in your efforts to take back your space!

Phone Clutter Bust Special!

Phone clutter busts work! Rates are 1/2 price ($50/hr) if you schedule by 3/21, but only if at least ten people schedule. Tell your friends!

A Friendly Reminder

I've started on my trip back to Chicago and have stopped on the outskirts of Phoenix for a week or so to visit friends. Being out in the desert for me reduces things down to the basics. The desert is a role model for only keeping what matters.

While walking out in the desert yesterday I thought about how I sometimes side with other people's point of view rather than trusting my own. When I do this, my life doesn't flow well. I figured it's a habit I picked up, not being encouraged to trust what I felt as a kid. Once I got out on my own, I started to learn that there's a part of me that knows. But there's still a residue of old ways that aren't suiting me.

I thought, "It's hard for me to wear the clothes of things from the past. They fit terribly, no matter how much I try to ignore the discomfort."

I came upon a flowering cactus. I could feel the cactus wink at me and say, "You're enough."

Growing Up

My experience is that life is constantly changing. Even when I don't notice.

Sometimes my mind acts from the past. It hasn't caught up to what's happening in the moment. It usually takes running into an obstacle that makes me take notice.

Last night I was talking to my dad on the phone and he wasn't feeling well. I felt sad for him and it hurt my heart. Then I got the sense that I'm not a kid anymore. I've known that physically for a long while (I turn 51 next week!). But there was a sudden sense that I was older emotionally. I felt grounded. An immaturity fell away. It felt like a good fit.

The inner clutter is the hardest to see. It's so close that it often goes unrecognized. I was glad for the illumination.

Taking our Feelings into Consideration

I want to share an email a someone sent me about their clutter situation:

"I have two stereo pieces in which the CD part no longer works. The radio in one works and the tape and the radio in the other works but I feel so angry even looking at them. I want to discard them but hold on to them for radio parts. I want to get rid of both and buy myself a brand new piece...I know you'll tell me to get rid of them because they make me so angry every time I look at them."

I think it can help to see how we sometimes see that a thing in our life is clutter, but we still want to hang onto it. The stereo pieces made her "feel so angry." But she still held on. It's common that we hang on to something even when it hurts us. I think we tend to over look the discomfort.

If something's presence is hurting us, physically or psychologically, it doesn't have a place in our lives. That's the criteria.

P.S. My client wrote back today and said, "Donated one of the broken stereo pieces today which was a very good move. I imagined how it would feel to finally get the new stereo and be able to play my CD's again. It made me so happy. I'll be bringing over the other broken piece to the thrift shop this week and get something new. I realize there's always an excuse to keep yourself in the muck and mire of depression and lethargy. In this case it was that I couldn't afford to buy the new stereo but it's only a $60 portable, not a $1500 stereo."