My phone client described her place as, "It's too full. It's stacked to the gills."
She didn't know how many boxes were stacked in the room she was working in. She also didn't know most of what was in the boxes.
I
could tell by her voice that she had been long overwhelmed by the walls
of boxes. She said they extended out into the hallway and made it
difficult for her to walk by.
She said, "I was scared
so I didn't go through these boxes on my own. Actually I avoided this
room altogether. I'm still scared."
I said that she can
be scared and still begin. Actually starting has a way of loosening a
person up from the stuck scared stiffness of living with the clutter.
I
wanted to help her let go of the attachment that had kept her
hanging onto these things for so long. So I told her that all the
boxes were trash. I meant they were of no value to her as they
were. They were terrorizing her in her own home. She didn't know the boxes' contents so in
a way, there was nothing in them. It was as if they were already thrown
away.
These things were her enemies. It was important
to hear the truth of what was happening so she wouldn't have the
illusion that she needed these things.
Then we began.
I
said it didn't matter which box she picked. She randomly chose one and
told me what she found. It was filled with things she didn't want
anymore. She decided to donate them to a church charity.
She got on a roll. She was surprised at how easy it was to let go of things she no longer wanted, loved or used.
At one point she got a little stuck. So I said, "It's okay to say no to things because you can't hurt stuffs' feelings." She laughed and we kept going.