At one of my recent workshops, someone said, "You're giving us permission to let go of our clutter." It's funny, but we do need to be encouraged to let go of what's no longer serving us. Our tendency is to want to hang on. Our memories make it seem like the clutter's of value. We remember when it meant something to us, or when we thought it would make us happy. But the truth is, the stuff is sitting there and making us miserable.
I was working with someone yesterday in her bedroom. We went through all the clothes in her dresser. At first she was timidly picking through the clothes in one drawer. I sensed she was a little intimidated by her clothes. To help her get her power back, I took all the clothes from all the drawers and put them on a big pile on her bed. She laughed. She felt better being in a more powerful position.
When our stuff sits in its usual place, we feel awkward disturbing our stuff. We're used to seeing things a particular way and there's a resistance to change that makes us timid to remove things. But it's actually fun to take our stuff off its throne and put it in a pile that places us in charge. It's our home. If something in our home is not making our life better, we get to toss it.
The person I was working with quickly picked out the items she no longer cared for. "This makes me look frumpy." "I don't like wearing this anymore." She got rid of about 3/4 of her clothes. She felt good about her decisions. We put all the clothing she no longer cared for in two big trash bags for a charity drop-off.