I want to thank everyone for reading this blog. You care a lot about yourself to want to find and remove the things that are in the way of you enjoying what's actually important to you now. I like sharing the insights with you that I get from working with my clients.
Here's a nice email I got today: "I seem to collect paper and books; all with the notion that I need the information; that I might need it someday; that I need to know all kinds of stuff. And yes, old memories, hurts, desires, and misinterpreted goals are all part of the reasons for keeping so much stuff. Looking at how much there is fills me with panic at times. I wanted to let you know, your book is helpful to me, and your work is appreciated."
That's great that you are aware of the clutter situation and how it is making you uncomfortable. The panic is an alarm going off inside of you to let you know that something is amiss. In the same way you get an upset stomach when you eat something that is not good for you, your body and mind are telling you that something is not working.
The need to acquire information, the need itself, tells you that you will feel better if you get the information. The need causes you pain because it makes you bring things into your life that are not serving you. The obsessive quality of the need tricked you.
The amazing thing is, you see this and that means it has started to lose its hold on you. Now you can try and experiment with letting go of some of the papers and books and see how you feel. You can look and see if you feel some relief as you let it go. It's worth taking a look because you'll start to feel better.