Clearing Out the Closets
You can ask my kids– I really don’t like clutter. I get all squirrely and irritable when the piles of books, papers, 
electronics, toys or whatever get too high and are spread too widely throughout the house.
I’ll be the first one to admit that it’s not just their stuff that adds to the feeling I get of being stuffed in to a space with too many things out and about.
When I reach my clutter breaking point, I generally huff around a bit barking out calls for tidiness and picking up after ourselves.
So clutter in my home is something that I have a difficult time tolerating. Clutter in my own mind is another matter completely.
I don’t know how many times I’ve bumped up against the stacks and piles of thoughts, memories and beliefs that seem to fill my mind to bursting at times…and I live with it.
Perhaps on occasion, you also feel that overwhelmed and filled up kind of sensation from all of the busy-ness that goes on inside.
I’m NOT talking about feeling filled as in “fulfilled” or satisfied.
I’m referring to the way you might feel after a long car ride in which you ate cookies and chips endlessly because there seemed to be nothing else better to do.
Even if you have never stuffed yourself with junk food in this way, you can probably imagine how filled in a dissatisfied way and maybe even a little nauseating this would be.
That’s the way that many of us spend the bulk of our lives.
No, I’m not talking about diet and food choices in this blog…
I’m talking about the clutter that a lot of us allow to build and build and build until all we can see is the clutter.
We feel trapped in that clutter-confinement and it can seem impossible to get out.
The answer is quite simple really: Clean your closets.
Your mind– including your emotions– is a lot like a closet that you’ve used as a depository for all of those things that you either don’t know what to do with or that you don’t have a place for.
Many times these are memories of experiences that we just can’t seem to let go of. They may be delicious and fabulous memories; maybe we believe we will never be that happy again.
They may also be painful or traumatic memories that we’d love to be rid of but, for some reason, we still carry them around.
Maybe, like me, every so often you get around to cleaning out your literal closets and other storage spaces for all of the things that you don’t use, yet you aren’t ready to part with yet.
It is such a free and clear feeling once the bags of items to be donated are piled at the door and that closet or space is somehow bigger and seems open to more potential uses. Sometimes those uses are merely to provide more openness to our home.
In exactly the same way, we can all feel freer and more open to possibilities when we clean out and clear the closets of our minds.
Take inventory of your clutter.
Let me be perfectly clear here…
The clutter that is piled up in our minds is not necessarily bad. These are valid and real thoughts, feelings, beliefs and perceptions of experiences that we’ve had.
I am using the word “clutter” in the most loving and non-judgmental way here.
The question that each of us might ask ourselves is this: “What am I holding on to that is holding me back from being the person I want to be living the life I want to live?”
More often than not, the obstacles that you face every day have some link to something from your past that is unresolved, some thought that you keep thinking and some belief that results from the habitual thought.
Whenever you feel overwhelmed, stuck or generally dissatisfied with where you are, take inventory of your clutter.
You might even close your eyes, breathe slowly until you are relaxed and then imagine that there is a actual closet that represents your mind.
When you look at the items piled (or even neatly arranged) there, what exactly are they?
What are the feelings that come up for you when you become aware of particular memories or thoughts?
You could challenge yourself to choose one item from your cluttered closet that you are ready to release.
Don’t try to let it all go at once. Instead, focus in on one thing at a time and encourage yourself to let it go.
One way to release a painful memory, for example, is to make a completion about it. You could come up with some type of ritual that symbolizes that memory (thought or belief) moving out of you. You might also take a specific action that helps you to make a completion.
Be gentle, loving and appreciative of yourself and that memory or thought as you release it.
Be sure to really notice how you feel after this cleaning. You may experience a whole range of emotions including sadness and grief as well as greater ease and freedom.
Celebrate that new-found space and freedom. Know that you are freeing yourself up to achieve your goals and open up to more of what you want in life.
