Clutter busting is looking at all the things in your life and seeing if they are actually part of how you live your life, or not.
What sometimes gets people stuck is wanting something to be a part of their life, or thinking that a thing, person, or situation should be a part of their life, and it isn't.
But I keep my clients coming back to, "Do you love using this thing in your life?" I want them to see if it actually fits in their life as it is. To drop the fantasy and see what's real.
I try and use this same way of thinking in my own life. Sometimes I notice right away when something is no longer important to me.
And then there are those things that take a while to notice.
Last night was one of those delayed responses. It involves a leather-bound book that has collages of things I would like in my life. It sits by the edge of my bed. I used to read it before I went to sleep. But for a while it's been ignored. I'd lost interest.
Last night my girlfriend pointed out that the book of pictures and collages I'd made seemed to no longer be a part of my life. I noticed that I reacted by wanting to hang onto the book. At the same time, I knew that I wasn't going to read it anymore. There was a tug-of-war going on.
Then it came to me: I love creating things. It's fun for me to use my imagination and make things out of scratch. Then there's a short lived period where I enjoy this thing I made. And then I lose the connection to what I created. This book and I were no longer a pair, but I kept it hanging around. I'm sure this intruded on my quality of life. It probably affected my sleep, among other things.
So I picked up the book and put it in the trash. I felt a tremendous fresh feeling of freedom. It was like something heavy had been lifted off of me.
I thought it was funny that this book had been ignored for months, and that I sometimes complained about it (clutter red flags!) and I hadn't thought to let it go. And then I remembered how I tell clients that clutter busting takes the time it takes.
All I know now is that this morning I feel great!