My client sat dejectedly in her living room. "I can't believe I have all this excess stuff! How did it all get in here? I shouldn't have let it happen."
I said to my client that each thing in her home at one time served her. When she brought it into her home, she liked it. It seemed like a good idea. She wanted each thing. And then over time, things lost their luster for her. They stop serving her. The only reason they are still here is that she hadn't yet taken the time to ask of each thing if she still needed them.
I wanted her to let go of the belief that her clutter situation was her fault. Trying to place blame on herself was making her feel lousy. It was taking away her inspiration to do something about it. She couldn't clutter bust under that kind of heavy restriction.
Self-blame is a common motivating tool, but it only serves as a weakening lash. It hurts us, but doesn't move us forward.
The truth is that everything in our home and our life was acquired at one point because we thought it would make our life better. We sincerely believed that it would benefit us. Each thing, person, or situation we brought in to our life was our way in the moment of taking care of ourselves.
The missing ingredient in most of our lives is the regularly taking an inventory of our things and checking to see if the things we acquired are actually serving us. Are they making us happy? Are we enjoying them? Are they making our life easier? Or have we lost interest in them? Are they a burden? Are they taking up space and preventing us from discovering something that would be fresh and positive in our lives?