Everything in our life is undergoing constant change. However, we want some things to stay the same to give us the sense of stability. So sometimes we'll hang onto things that are no longer a part of our lives to give the illusion that things in general are remaining the same. It's a false comfort. This causes a congestion in our home, office, or life. Things get stuck. This creates tension. We end up feeling worse. Clutter busting illuminates the situation so it can be fixed.
I was working with a family last week. They had a home office that used to be an active part of their life, but was now overstuffed with things that were no longer being used. There were old computers and monitors and books. It was a clutter dead zone. Next to that room lived their two daughters. It was too small a space for them both. They needed to have their own rooms. Because the old office space was being ignored, the current need couldn't be taken care of.
I talked with the family about the situation. At first they didn't even want to go into the old office. I nicely encouraged them with the idea that maybe they could make their home more peaceful by doing so. Once we got in there, they were overwhelmed with the stagnant feeling. But I quickly helped the family go through each item in the office. One by one it became obvious that most of the things in there were no longer serving them. They got more confident with each piece that went.
A lot of empty space was created. I noticed they were more present and getting along with each other. The youngest daughter went into the room she shared with her sister and got a handful of her clothes and came back to the office and put her clothes in the now empty closet. No one had a problem with that. It made sense in the moment. She got more of her things and transferred them into the new space. There was a fresh feeling in the room.