What's Right Now

My client was showing me the boxes and piles of things in her creative room.  She had to be careful not to trip over things. She was anxious and uncomfortable. She said, "There's so much junk in here! It's like a log jam! I can never get anything done!"

Even though she was overwhelmed by the things in this room, she didn't want to go through them. A part of her still wanted to hang on to everything.

I said when we're feeling overwhelmed, we get frustrated because we can't function like we want to. We have the energy, but not the capacity to take action. Frustration is like panic. In that erratic state, a part of us wants to hang on to everything because we think it will bring us stability. It's like a drowning person hanging on to anything to keep from going underwater.

I told my client that she wasn't drowning. She was okay. I was speaking to the quiet and aware part of her that had been drowned out by the loud panic.

Just then, her cat walked in front of her computer screen (we were on a Skype call). I asked if she likes her cat. She said, "Yes!" I pointed how simple that was for her. I suggested we go through the things in the room, asking, "Do this support me or not?" and if there was a certainty "Yes!" like she had with the cat, she would keep it, and if not, she would let it go.

My client thought about this for a moment. She said, "I just thought, 'What if I got rid of everything that isn't right now?'"

I said yes. We began.