The good news:
Clutter comes in many forms.
The bad news:
Clutter comes in many forms.
Most of the time, when we hear the word clutter, our minds immediately go to our physical spaces. We may see a vivid image of our basement, our garage, the extra storage under the bed and the overflow on the desk. This type of clutter is easily identified, but usually not so straight forward to deal with. It becomes much easier to clean up once you released the energetic patterns holding it in place. (You can talk to me about that).
Physical clutter can be shifted through physical attention and activity. You can see your progress, and there is clarity when you completed your cycle of cleaning up. Usually you will feel lighter, more energetic and joyous at the end.
What is more challenging is how to deal with the internal clutter. Internal clutter is the result of accumulated aspects in your emotional or mental life that you have not brought to completion.
Take a moment and tune into your mind. How many unfinished conversations are floating through? I should have said this or that, been more forceful, more witty or smarter. I should have stood up for myself with this person, voiced my opinion or truth clearly with that one and said: ‘no’ to so-and-so. We do this all day, carrying on imaginary conversations, trying to bring them to completion.
Most of the time it’s difficult. We are in fixed relationships with people, where we do not always feel seen and heard or valued for our contribution. In the moment it may be easier to withhold, to only share part of the truth, or we don’t want to bother, because we are afraid or bored or anything in between. We may not want to stir things up and feel more comfortable in the moment of letting things go unspoken.
While it may save you some angst in the moment, in the long haul you can be sure that your mind will not let it rest. These conversations are not complete, and your heart and your mind know it. While your heart may feel more compassion, your mind is like a dog with a bone: it won’t let go, playing out scenario after scenario, again and again.
If it would be just one scenario at a time, that would not be so bad. However, at anyone time, you probably have hundreds of these incomplete conversations playing out. Such a burden when you stop to think about that!
Emotional clutter is just as challenging. Emotional clutter accumulates when we do not express our emotions fully, but suppress them. I like to think of an emotion as a wave that travels through the body. It has a beginning, a crest and an end. The amplitude can vary greatly, however it has to move through the beginning, middle and end to resolve itself and naturally move into the next emotional wave. In order to stay in the flow of life means you have to complete each wave to allow the next one to arise.
How do you feel, watching the waves in the ocean? Is it easy to get mesmerized by the never-ending ebb and flow? Do you feel more relaxed and open, just witnessing?
When you easily get triggered into an emotional reaction like anger, sadness, guilt etc., you know that you are carrying some emotional clutter or baggage. So, how much are you carrying around with you?
Past accumulations of mental and emotional clutter can be released through Dyads, Energy clearing, EFT and many other practices. However, unless you become aware where and when you accumulate your mental and emotional clutter, it will just continue.
Whenever possible, I like to bring some humor into the situation. So, when there is a big wave of emotion, I’ll check: did I just dive under to avoid it, did I stay on top of it and feel it move through me or did I surf it to the beach? Preferably, I want to stay on top of it, noticing it’s arrival, the way it moves through and the relaxation of the letting go.
Whenever I feel the mental conversations starting to bother me, I take my chair, place it across another chair on which I put my imaginary replica of the instigator and have a heart-to-heart conversation, sharing how I feel. Sometimes it takes a few rounds to feel the resolution, but at some point there is a release in the mind and body that shifts the internal state to gratitude. That’s my green light, letting me know I am complete.
So, what’s your state of clutter? Mental and emotional?
Are you willing to look at it, sort it and let some of it go, so you can move into the New Year with more lightness in your step, more spaciousness in your mind and more flow in your day-to-day experience?
Let’s do it!
Let me know in your comments below how this topic resonates with you.
If you find some challenges in creating this change in perspective for yourself, let’s have a conversation and explore how I can support you in making this happen. Go here to book a free 30-Minute Discovery Call with me.