Yesterday's client hired me because he had a large amount of papers stacked in containers in his office. He was getting down on himself because he wasn't able to take care of them. Every time he'd put himself down about it, it felt like a jab to his heart which weakened him. The blame wasn't helping him take care of the papers.
The thing is, his mom died a couple of years ago. These papers began stacking up after her passing away. The grief had taken over and he wasn't as capable as he usually was. He was overwhelmed. This also kept him from noticing that the blame wasn't helping him move forward. I said, "This (the papers) is okay. It's not your fault. Based on your circumstances, it's natural. But today we can start to do something about it."
I sat down on the floor with him and we began to untangle the papers. We went through one paper at a time and figured that it either got tossed, or that it went in a new stack based on its category. I didn't want to even create a file for it yet. It felt best to keep it simple so he could make easy decisions. We we focusing on one tangle at a time, to loosen the situation.
As we worked, he shared some stories about his mother that made him smile. The untangling was helping his heart open again. When we were done, there were two bags full of papers being tossed. We then took the similar stacks and created files for each of them. He said it was wonderful to feel the open space in his office. I think he also meant the open space he was feeling in his heart too.