Time to De-Clutter Again!

Is clutter taking over your life? And I don't just mean material clutter. I also mean email clutter, schedule clutter, emotional clutter, mental clutter, and the like. Does it seem to you that there's always too much to do, and too little time to do it in? Does this put you into a nearly constant state of anxiety and stress?

As a Life Coach, I find this stressful overcrowding of our lives to be a major theme in my sessions with clients. Several years ago, I began to look closely at the idea of decluttering and simplifying our lives in all sorts of ways, so as to create more "breathing room" and more time for the people and activites we value the most. I was studying Buddhism at the time and begin a serious attempt at developing non-attachment as a mental, emotional, physical, and materialistic approach to my life and lifestyle. I decided to begin my practice by vowing to let go of at least one thing in my life every day for a year. I called this my Letting Go Experiment.

[Click on sidebar links titled Letting Go Experiment, Organizing, Planning, and Time Management for relevant articles, including monthly reports on my own Letting Go Experiment.]

It is almost five years to the day that I began my Letting Go Experiment which was supposed to last 365 days but actually lasted sixteen months from June 14, 2006 to the Fall of 2007. In June of 2008, I revisited this process in my article Letting Go Experiment: Two Years Later.

Today, in 2011, I find myself wanting and needing to clear out my life again. I have a great urge to downsize and simplify. This is the season of yard sales, thrift shops, flea markets, and used book sales, and I am getting ready to unload! I am also in the process of shedding an unneeded 22 pounds, as well as some thought patterns and emotions that are not serving me.

So, what about you? Is it time for you to streamline your life? Imagine what good might come of that!