I had a good two weeks of working with clients on the West Coast. I got to enjoy helping lots of people let go of their clutter. I never get tired of helping people get unstuck. It makes my heart happy to help people feel free again in their living spaces!
One of my recent clients had a basement full of stuff. There was no room to walk. She rarely ventured down there. It had a thick, stagnant feeling. Everything was covered with dust and pet hair. I could see that it was hurting her to live that way. Like a lot of my clients, she felt things strongly. It was hard to see her in pain. That's one of the main incentives that I feel when I'm there to help.
I asked her for trash bags. She went and got a handful and brought them downstairs. She said when we originally spoke on the phone, she couldn't imagine that we would actually be tossing things. That's how it is when things are stuck in your home. It can feel impossible that it can get better. But I know from working with lots of people that the clutter situation always improves because I help people start the process, and then the momentum takes over.
I said, "It takes a strong toll you, to live this way. It wears you down. It makes you weary. It damages the relationship you have with your home. But we'll fix this by taking an honest look at the things in your home. We'll let go of anything that you no longer like, that's no longer a part of your life. You'll become friends with your home again. That's going to make you feel so much better."
I side stepped a lot of the things on the floor and found a stack of record albums. I asked if she listened to them and she said no. I asked if she could let them go. She surprised herself by saying yes. I moved from one item to the next. There were boxes with lots of papers. We went through them and most of the papers went. Pretty soon we had filled our first bag.
I didn't have to ask her many questions. She got the idea of what to do and began looking at things and deciding yes or no on her own. She said that she was surprised that it was so easy to toss things, and she was worried that she might not be able to do it after I left. I said that was her old way of thinking that was speaking. Things would be different after this experience. I asked if she could feel the momentum of her power of decision making getting stronger in her. She said yes. I said that's a pretty good indicator of the ways things will be.
When we were done, we had filled five big bags of trash, and had a stack of items to donate. She emailed me the next day and happily described how she went through the rest of her house and tossed many more things. She wrote, "Somehow I have been given new powers of discernment. It's like breaking through fossilized rock formations of emotions and fear."