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As of January 10th, I have completed 7 months of my 12-month Letting-Go Experiment, in which I have committed to letting go of at least one thing (material item, behavior, practice, habit, etc) a day for a year. The list for that 30-day period contains several magazines and one magazine subscription. But the most significant letting-go activities were the ones related to my decision to downsize the Christmas holidays this year (described in the previous post, A Different Kind of Christmas).
Occasionally, I receive responses to my articles about this experiment, and this time I thought I would share one of them with you. This one was written by a family member and life coach living in Michigan:
I received your newsletter the other day, did a bit of poking around and discovered your blogs about your grand journey to let go. It struck a chord in me and I've thought about it several times since I read it. I, too, have a yearning to clear and simplify and it was inspiring to read about your experiences over the past several months.
I recently moved from a downtown office into a newly-created home office, and in the process got rid of several oversized, unneeded pieces of furniture, old files, etc. As you've found with letting go of some of your old stuff, it wasn't easy for me to say goodbye to a roll-top desk we've had for years (collecting dust and serving as a great storage place for anything that didn't have a 'home') and a Lazy Boy recliner that took up too much space but reminded me of an old chair I had growing up. Once they were gone I felt that both the room and I could breathe.
As I schlepped box after box of stuff from my old office, I made the vow that I would only put things I absolutely loved into my new office space. How fun looking at old books, doo-dads, etc. and hoisting any and all that had the slightest bit of negative energy attached. I am now working in a space that is lovely, and as I look around the room at the things on my bookshelves, etc., I feel a sense of delight.
Now, for the rest of the house. I, like you, struggle with the "what-if's" of so many things in closets, attics, basement, corners, etc. - what if I need it next week, month, year - and so I'm overwhelmed with stuff. I realize, however, as you've so eloquently spoken to, that this stuff and my hanging on represents the clutter in my mind, body and spirit, and it also shows me how much I am hanging on to old patterns and thoughts. It's time to clear, however, and like you, I yearn for clarity, simplicity, and a fresh breeze blowing through how I live, work, and play. Thank you for your inspiration to continue towards that vision.
Notice the parts of her sharing that I highlighted in boldface: I felt that both the room and I could breathe. and I feel a sense of delight. These are the true rewards and benefits of streamlining and de-cluttering your space and your life.
Do you have a story to share?
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Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Sunday, December 31, 2006
A Different Kind of Christmas
For me, in the past, the entire holiday season, from Thanksgiving right through the New Year holiday, has been stressful - full of deadlines, too many things to do, financially draining, tiring, too many expectations, too much food, too much stuff. Many of you, I know, have gone through this too.
This year was different. It had a lot to do with the year-long Letting-Go Experiment that I have been doing. This year, I decided to downsize and de-stress the holidays. And this year, I had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season.
Just what was different? Here's my list:
1. Entertaining - this was the first year since I was married in the 60's that I was not the hostess for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and one of only a few times that I was not the hostess for Thanksgiving or any other large holiday gathering. This year, I was a guest instead. Until this year, I didn't fully appreciate how much work it is to host one of these holiday gatherings. I just did it. The absence of doing it created a lot more time for relaxation and a whole lot less stress.
2. Gifts - after talking it over with friends and family, I pared my gift list way down. My friends and I mutually agreed not to exchange gifts, but to go out for celebratory meals or to the movies instead. My family and I agreed to cut down the number and cost of the gifts we exhange and to forego doing Christmas stockings. This made for a much less stressful Christmas financially. Some of the money saved was given to charity.
3. Christmas cards - in past years, I have sent out over 150 cards during the holidays, as well as writing and sending a Christmas letter. This year, I did not do the letter, and sent only a few cards (most of those late) in response to the ones I received. This is normally one of my favorite holiday activities. I love being in touch with people at this time of year, reading their news and sharing mine. But this year, I let myself off the hook in terms of deadlines. I decided instead to take time in January to be in touch with these people, at my leisure.
4. Christmas tree - this year, for the first year ever, I decided not to have a Christmas tree. I did put out a few simple yet festive decorations - a door wreath, a poinsettia plant, a pine arrangement, lots of candles. I thought I would miss the tree. Even thought I might give in at the last moment and put one up. But I did not, and, strangely, I did not miss it. And I certainly didn't miss the work of setting it up and taking it down.
5. Food and drink - in past years, I have overdone cooking, baking, and eating, and have gained weight. This year, I took the emphasis off of food and drink and onto other things instead. (And actually lost a pound or two.) I only baked once - the traditional Buche de Noel we have enjoyed in our family every year on Christmas Day. No cookies, candy, pastries, etc. If we needed them (and we usually didn't), I bought them. I had eggnog, my favorite holiday drink, only once - at someone else's home. Tomorrow, New Year's Day, will be an exception, as I participate in an extravagent New Year's Day Brunch at the Stage Neck Inn in York, Maine, which has been a tradition with friends for more than 15 years.
6. Relaxation and enjoyment - This year, I decided to enjoy the holiday season by doing fun, non-material things. I love music and singing, so I sang in a holiday concert and in our town's Christmas pageant. I took rides to see the colorful holiday lights, but left my own window candles and most of my other decorations in the closet this year. I did a lot of walking. I window-shopped in our delightful town of Rockport, enjoying the ambience of the season; I avoided the malls. I spent time playing with my granddaughter. I partied with good friends, yet let some social events go. Christmas Day at my son's house was low-key, relaxing, and fun. We de-emphasized gifts and food and played more instead, taking a beautiful walk in nature and playing the Disney version of Scene-It.
I can't think of any way to spend the holidays that would be more relaxing and less stressful than it was this year, unless we ignored them altogether (which can also be stressful) or went on a cruise where we were waited on hand and foot. (Well, maybe next year?)
I hope your Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa, and New Year's holidays were joyful, peaceful, relaxing and devoid of stress. If they were not, what might you do differently next year?
*************************************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
This year was different. It had a lot to do with the year-long Letting-Go Experiment that I have been doing. This year, I decided to downsize and de-stress the holidays. And this year, I had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season.
Just what was different? Here's my list:
1. Entertaining - this was the first year since I was married in the 60's that I was not the hostess for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and one of only a few times that I was not the hostess for Thanksgiving or any other large holiday gathering. This year, I was a guest instead. Until this year, I didn't fully appreciate how much work it is to host one of these holiday gatherings. I just did it. The absence of doing it created a lot more time for relaxation and a whole lot less stress.
2. Gifts - after talking it over with friends and family, I pared my gift list way down. My friends and I mutually agreed not to exchange gifts, but to go out for celebratory meals or to the movies instead. My family and I agreed to cut down the number and cost of the gifts we exhange and to forego doing Christmas stockings. This made for a much less stressful Christmas financially. Some of the money saved was given to charity.
3. Christmas cards - in past years, I have sent out over 150 cards during the holidays, as well as writing and sending a Christmas letter. This year, I did not do the letter, and sent only a few cards (most of those late) in response to the ones I received. This is normally one of my favorite holiday activities. I love being in touch with people at this time of year, reading their news and sharing mine. But this year, I let myself off the hook in terms of deadlines. I decided instead to take time in January to be in touch with these people, at my leisure.
4. Christmas tree - this year, for the first year ever, I decided not to have a Christmas tree. I did put out a few simple yet festive decorations - a door wreath, a poinsettia plant, a pine arrangement, lots of candles. I thought I would miss the tree. Even thought I might give in at the last moment and put one up. But I did not, and, strangely, I did not miss it. And I certainly didn't miss the work of setting it up and taking it down.
5. Food and drink - in past years, I have overdone cooking, baking, and eating, and have gained weight. This year, I took the emphasis off of food and drink and onto other things instead. (And actually lost a pound or two.) I only baked once - the traditional Buche de Noel we have enjoyed in our family every year on Christmas Day. No cookies, candy, pastries, etc. If we needed them (and we usually didn't), I bought them. I had eggnog, my favorite holiday drink, only once - at someone else's home. Tomorrow, New Year's Day, will be an exception, as I participate in an extravagent New Year's Day Brunch at the Stage Neck Inn in York, Maine, which has been a tradition with friends for more than 15 years.
6. Relaxation and enjoyment - This year, I decided to enjoy the holiday season by doing fun, non-material things. I love music and singing, so I sang in a holiday concert and in our town's Christmas pageant. I took rides to see the colorful holiday lights, but left my own window candles and most of my other decorations in the closet this year. I did a lot of walking. I window-shopped in our delightful town of Rockport, enjoying the ambience of the season; I avoided the malls. I spent time playing with my granddaughter. I partied with good friends, yet let some social events go. Christmas Day at my son's house was low-key, relaxing, and fun. We de-emphasized gifts and food and played more instead, taking a beautiful walk in nature and playing the Disney version of Scene-It.
I can't think of any way to spend the holidays that would be more relaxing and less stressful than it was this year, unless we ignored them altogether (which can also be stressful) or went on a cruise where we were waited on hand and foot. (Well, maybe next year?)
I hope your Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa, and New Year's holidays were joyful, peaceful, relaxing and devoid of stress. If they were not, what might you do differently next year?
*************************************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
Letting Go Experiment: Month 6
It has now been six and a half months since I began my year-long Letting-Go Experiment. This means that since June 15th, 2006, I have released almost 200 material or non-material things from my life. I keep a daily log of what I have released, and it is impressive. In fact, I have already released enough things so that my list is filled through mid-January. Yet, when I look around my still-full four-room apartment, I can hardly tell the difference. This says something about the amount of either clutter or excess unnecessary items I possessed last June and still possess today. I wonder what will be different when I reach the one-year mark in mid-June. Will my home look significantly less cluttered? Will my non-material life also be less cluttered? Perhaps I will need to continue the experiment for a second year?
The big thing I am noticing about this experiment is how the process of releasing material things from my life is carrying over into my life in other ways. Take Christmas, for example. This experiment had a big impact on how I chose to spend the holidays this year. Read my Blog article, A Different Kind of Christmas, to see how this experiment changed the way I experienced the holidays this year.
This extended de-cluttering activity is an aspect of Feng Shui in the Chinese tradition. In the eyes of a Feng Shui practioner, de-cluttering your environment allows energy (known as Chi or Qi) to flow more freely through your space, thereby unblocking the stuck places in various aspects of your life. The very act of releasing all the excess "stuff" from your life extends naturally from material items to non-material things, such as releasing extra activities from your schedule, unnecessary or toxic thoughts from your mind, excess pounds from your body, old behaviors and habits no longer useful, and other such "deadwood" from your life.
For me, letting go of material things is getting easier and easier, as I come to understand more and more that I don't really need most of the things I own. I like many of them, enjoy them, appreciate them. But I don't NEED them. As a young mother, I used to go camping with my family a lot. We camped very simply, with a small tent and the bare necessities - only what we could fit in the trunk of our car, for three people. (No RV, camper wagon, TV, bug zapper, etc.). I remember thinking then, "this is all we need for survival. The rest is just gravy."
The act of releasing all these things is also bringing me closer to the Buddhist practice of non-attachment. The purpose of non-attachment, in the Buddhist tradition, is to help us live in the now, in the moment, without attachment to the past or to the future. This also frees up our energy to respond authentically in the moment. As I let go of more and more things, habits, thoughts, behaviors, and the like, I am beginning to get much clearer about what is important to me and what is not. I am not yet at the point where I live consistently in the moment. I don't spend much time in the past. It is over and I have, for the most part, let it go. But I do love to live in the future, in a world of possibility. For example, I do play the Lottery, dream of winning HGTV''s 2007 Dream Home, and imagine myself as a successful published novelist. Letting go of the attachment to the future is my biggest attachment challenge.
What about you? What are you attached to? What is easy to release from your life, and what is more challenging to release? And how do you feel when you finally release a significant piece of Life's clutter? I hope that by de-cluttering your life and practicing non-attachment, you will feel freer, lighter, more spontaneous and authentic, more connected, and more joyful.
Happy New Year! Here's to a year of letting go!
*************************************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
The big thing I am noticing about this experiment is how the process of releasing material things from my life is carrying over into my life in other ways. Take Christmas, for example. This experiment had a big impact on how I chose to spend the holidays this year. Read my Blog article, A Different Kind of Christmas, to see how this experiment changed the way I experienced the holidays this year.
This extended de-cluttering activity is an aspect of Feng Shui in the Chinese tradition. In the eyes of a Feng Shui practioner, de-cluttering your environment allows energy (known as Chi or Qi) to flow more freely through your space, thereby unblocking the stuck places in various aspects of your life. The very act of releasing all the excess "stuff" from your life extends naturally from material items to non-material things, such as releasing extra activities from your schedule, unnecessary or toxic thoughts from your mind, excess pounds from your body, old behaviors and habits no longer useful, and other such "deadwood" from your life.
For me, letting go of material things is getting easier and easier, as I come to understand more and more that I don't really need most of the things I own. I like many of them, enjoy them, appreciate them. But I don't NEED them. As a young mother, I used to go camping with my family a lot. We camped very simply, with a small tent and the bare necessities - only what we could fit in the trunk of our car, for three people. (No RV, camper wagon, TV, bug zapper, etc.). I remember thinking then, "this is all we need for survival. The rest is just gravy."
The act of releasing all these things is also bringing me closer to the Buddhist practice of non-attachment. The purpose of non-attachment, in the Buddhist tradition, is to help us live in the now, in the moment, without attachment to the past or to the future. This also frees up our energy to respond authentically in the moment. As I let go of more and more things, habits, thoughts, behaviors, and the like, I am beginning to get much clearer about what is important to me and what is not. I am not yet at the point where I live consistently in the moment. I don't spend much time in the past. It is over and I have, for the most part, let it go. But I do love to live in the future, in a world of possibility. For example, I do play the Lottery, dream of winning HGTV''s 2007 Dream Home, and imagine myself as a successful published novelist. Letting go of the attachment to the future is my biggest attachment challenge.
What about you? What are you attached to? What is easy to release from your life, and what is more challenging to release? And how do you feel when you finally release a significant piece of Life's clutter? I hope that by de-cluttering your life and practicing non-attachment, you will feel freer, lighter, more spontaneous and authentic, more connected, and more joyful.
Happy New Year! Here's to a year of letting go!
*************************************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
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