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!

Letting Go Experiment: Two Years Later

In June of 2006, I began my Letting Go Experiment - a personal project intended to last for one year. I was curious to see how my life might change if I released 365 "things" from my life - one per day for a year. Mostly, I released material things - household items, clothing, books, magazines, tapes and CD's, office supplies, unopened food packages. But here and there, I also released non-material items: habits, thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and the like. At the end of the first 365 days, I reported on what I had done.

Then, I decided to extend the experiment. I continued to log everything I released from my life for another four months and again published the results in my blog, Letting Go Experiment: Month 16.

The last entry in my daily Letting-Go Log is dated October 31, 2007. But I find that letting go continues to be both a theme and a practice in my life, two years after I began in June of 2006.

In the months between November 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008, I released the following from my life: a few more household items, a couple more magazine subscriptions, a commercialized celebration of the December holidays, 30 additional pounds of body weight (a total of 45 altogether), an entire wardrobe of clothing, sizes 14 through 22 (I am now a 12), except for a few pieces that were altered, some unproductive eating habits, and some prescription medication. And that's not all.

More important than all of these "things", the most challenging and worthwhile things released from my life during this experiment were non-material - all were forms of thought originating in my mind: limiting beliefs, assumptions and interpretations, negative self-talk, fears, resentments, petty jealousies and other negative emotions, prejudices, unrealistic wants and expectations, unproductive habits and behaviors.

What have I learned from this experiment?

1. I have too much stuff! Yes, even after 2 years of releasing material stuff from my life, I still have more than I need, and my physical space is still more cluttered that I would like it to be. A life of material simplicity is still a goal. Imagine how our resources might expand, or be preserved, if we all had this goal!

2. Letting go of excess material stuff also seems to result in letting go of excess and non-productive non-material thoughts and behaviors as well. This is excellent incentive for continuing to let go of the material stuff.

3. Letting go of "stuff" makes room for new (and better) "stuff" to come into one's life. [Read "stuff" as anything of value: people, relationships, things, work, play, ideas, emotions, experiences, thoughts, habits, beliefs, etc.] [Yes, it really does seem to work this way!]

4. Letting go involves what Buddhists call "non attachment". And I have found non-attachment to be a very challenging concept to put into practice - and a subject to explore further in another blog entry.

So, what about you, dear reader? What about the internal and external clutter in YOUR life? If you released some of the non-productive "stuff" in your life - both material and non-material - what room might you create for something new and better to come into your life?

Letting Go Experiment: Month 16

The Letting-Go Experiment I started in June of 2006 is now in its sixteenth month. When I originally began this experiment, I intended it to go for a year. The idea was born out of a desire to visually de-clutter my home, and especially my office, and to prepare for an eventual move. I simply did not want to have to move any unnecessary or unwanted stuff to a new place. The move still has not happened, and this is a good thing, since I still have way more "stuff" than I need or want.

From the beginning, the Experiment was intended not only to apply to material things but also to non-material things, such as thoughts, beliefs, habits, behaviors, and the like. It also covers things in the realm between material and non-material, such as body weight and subscriptions of various kinds.

In the non-material realm, I am happy to report that I have released 26 pounds of body weight (so far), 3 subscriptions, and some non-productive thoughts and behaviors.

Of the 464 "things" I have released beginning June 10, 2006, approximately 90% fall in the material realm. This means that I have released from my possession approximately 418 items. Why then, do my rooms, drawers, cupboards, and closets seem as full, and sometimes as cluttered, as they did when I began the experiment? [And the answer is NOT that I replaced them with other things, because for the most part, I did not.]

The answer came to me recently while watching Wayne Dyer's newest PBS show, based on his book Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao. I heard him mention this statistic: The old 80/20 rule applies to our possessions in that we only use about 20% of the material things we own. The other 80% are superfluous. This statistic blew me away, and reinforced my desire to stay with this Letting-Go Experiment.

Chinese Feng Shui practitioners tell us that the excess stuff we have around us blocks the flow of chi (energy) through our homes and lives. It uses up space that we could use for new things (material and non-material) to come in. It distracts us from tasks we need to do and from contemplation and other inner work. Suddenly, I could see why backpacking and old-fashioned tent camping have such appeal, as does the old Japanese way of living in wood-and-paper houses with minimal necessities.

All this was brought home to me about a week ago, when at 5:30am I was jolted out of a deep sleep by the fire alarm going off in our condo-ized apartment building. I am on the top floor, and the fire escape routes aren't great, so I quickly put on some street clothes over my p.j.'s, frantically searched unsuccessfully for my cat (who had hidden behind a heavy bookcase where I could not reach her), then grabbed my keys and purse and headed downstairs and outside.

Fortunately, this was a false alarm. But in that space of time before knowing that there was no fire, I thought about all I might lose. And very little of it mattered. First and foremost, I was alive, and my life mattered the most. The other things still in my apartment that did matter to me were my cat, my computer and business records (the heart of my livelihood), and my photos (especially old ones of past generations of family and new ones of my son's recent wedding). I quickly realized that almost everything else could be replaced, and that this was an amazing experiment in letting go. Most of all, I realized that although I appreciate and enjoy many of my things, I am not overly attached to any of them. In some ways, starting over from scratch held some appeal, like starting a brand new painting on a blank canvas - an opportunity for something new to be created.

Since that day, I have decided that this Letting-Go Experiment is no longer a time-dated project, nor is it any longer an "experiment". It has become a way of life. And I will continue to release unnecessary or unwanted stuff from my life - material and non-material - until I am left with the approximately 20% of "stuff" that really does matter in my life.

If you could only keep 20% of your material possessions, what would you keep? Or, if you were exiting a burning building and could only bring with you what you could carry [excluding people, whom we will assume will also get out safely], what would you bring with you?

Food for thought.

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Although this blogsite is not set up to be interactive at this time, please feel free to email me with your comments:

Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com

Mega-Goals, Mini-Goals, and Office Organization

Sometimes the goals we set for ourselves are small and very doable in the allotted time frame. Other times, the goals we set for ourselves are huge - complex and often time-urgent. These I call Mega-Goals. Usually a Mega-Goal involves a big life change. Examples: deciding what to do after graduation, selling and/or buying a home, relocating to another part of the country, beginning or ending a significant relationship, changing jobs or careers, preparing for retirement.

When faced with a Mega-Goal, it is easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged. And the typical response to this kind of overwhelm, in addition to frustration and fatigue, is often either to procrastinate or just shut down and back away from the project altogether.

This feeling of overwhelm is something I experienced recently at the end of my year-long Letting-Go Experiment. I had completed my 365-day experiment of releasing one material or non-material item per day. I felt very proud of my accomplishment. However, my major reason for starting this experiment in the first place was still staring me in the face. My office! While the other rooms and storage areas in my home now had been relieved of their excess clutter, my office had not.

I need to begin this story by saying that, typically, organization is one of my strong points, my skills. I like my living space to be clean and uncluttered. The state of my office for the past couple of years has been atypical.

One room in my small home is totally dedicated to my office. While once there had been a futon in my office to accommodate overnight guests, this was now long gone. On every wall, there are bookcases, filing cabinets, or desk surfaces, and all overflowing with stuff. There are also several extra storage bins and boxes jutting out into the room. While some of the clutter involves having too many books, magazines, and working notebooks, most of it involves - what else! - too much loose paper!

Piles of paper cover every surface in my office. Mail - a lot of mail!- (most of it junk, but occasionally something valuable), computer printouts, files waiting to be filed, notebooks full of notes from various conferences, and all sorts of miscellaneous bits and pieces of paper - scraps with important notes or phone numbers. My numerous filing cabinets (I count 15 filing cabinets of various sizes) are crammed with paper, which is one of the reasons why there is so much stuff on the surfaces.

When the computer first became the primary home office tool, one of the selling points was that it would cut down on paper files. In my experience, this has not turned out to be the case. After two or three disastrous computer crashes involving total wipe-outs of my C-Drive in a three-year period, I no longer depend on back-ups. Despite the fact that I do an automatic nightly backup of my C-Drive onto a separate drive, I still keep my important documents in paper form as well. I also print out lots of information from the Internet for my personal or professional research, because I'm not confident that I'll be able to find it again on the web if I go to look for it again down the road.

So, ever since I began my Letting-Go Experiment, in June of 2006, I had my eye on the ultimate prize - a clutter-free, highly functional office. The year came and went and the office was still cluttered and dysfunctional (and my business reflected this in some ways). So, I decided that de-cluttering my office would become my summer project. Well, not my "summer project" at first. My first goal was to complete the project in one week in June. I barely made a dent that week. Then the deadline was changed to the end of June. Then, the end of July. And a few days ago, I re-vamped this deadline once again.

Why? Because this is a project that kept throwing me into overwhelm. Every time I began, one thing led to another, such that nothing really got completed. I might work on the project for several hours and then feel as though I had nothing to show for my efforts. Office organization was on my To Do List every day, but I began to find myself procrastinating. I'd do anything else rather than tackle my office - clean out a closet, take a walk, do errands, read a book, take myself off to a movie, even pay bills (something else "painful" but yet less painful than organizing my office).

Finally, I decided to coach myself through this situation. If I were working with a client who had this challenge, what approaches might I suggest?

First, I asked myself, "Other than the obvious physical mess, what else might be blocking your efforts to clean this place up?"

Eventually, I got to the underlying emotional block. For the past year, I have been thinking about re-designing my business and taking it in some new directions. But I wasn't ready to make the decisions or the changes. So, my energy has been conflicted and scattered, and my office was reflecting this. And, I was hanging on to all my stuff, even things that were seriously outdated, "just in case" I might need them in a new endeavor. However, even though I now recognize that I am in transition in my business, and still have not made any firm decisions, I have come to understand that I cannot function well in chaos and I need to get my "career house" in order.

Next came the understanding that this office project is a large and complex one. I had been treating "de-cluttering my office" as a mini-goal, where in fact it is a Mega-Goal. I began to understand and accept that I could not complete this project in one day or one week or even one month unless this were a full-time job (which it cannot be).

So, then I did what I would encourage my clients to do with this Mega-Goal: I CHUNKED IT DOWN. [This is the main tip in this article!]

On my computer, I set out my Mega-Goal (De-Clutter and Organize My Office). Then I began breaking this Mega-Goal down into mini-goals: projects I could accomplish usually in 30 to 60 minutes - a few might take longer. I looked around my office in a circular direction and identified, listed, and defined each mini-project. Next to each, I put a check-box so that I could easily check each one off as it was completed. Altogether, this project chunked down into 50 mini-projects!

Almost immediately, I felt a sense of relief, and a relaxation of the muscles in my neck and upper back. I did not have to do everything at once. And I could experience a sense of accomplishment for each mini-goal along the way: 50 wins instead of just one!

I also gave myself a different timetable - a minimum of one mini-project a day. Some days, I only have time for one, but I can always find a half-hour to do a little one. Other days, I have time for two or three, or a more time-consuming one. A few, like sorting through old piles of mail, I can do while watching TV at night. So now, I have a more realistic and reasonable time goal: 50 days. Most likely, I will be done ahead of schedule.

Coaches often work with clients on creating SMART goals, these being ones that are:
S = specific
M = measurable
A = attainable
R = reasonable
T = time-related

Chunking this large goal, which was not SMART, into 50 mini-goals that are SMART, is already making all the difference.

So far, I have completed 5 of the 50 mini-projects, or 10% of my goal. Slowly, surfaces long-hidden are reappearing, and I am finding things I thought I'd lost. On the first day, I uncovered a refund check for $73.09 - found money!

And, best of all, my business is beginning to pick up. By about 10%, I figure. This would not come as a surprise to a Feng Shui practitioner, but it did to me - a very pleasant and welcome surprise. I can't wait to see what my business looks like in 50 days!

What is your next big project or Mega-Goal? How are you going about it? It gets much easier if you take it one small chunk at a time.

If you have had experiences similar to this one, I would enjoy hearing from you. And if my story has given you some ideas about how to approach a project that seems overwhelming to you, I would love hearing about that too.

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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

Year-long Letting Go Experiment Has Ended! Or Has It?

June 10th, 2007 marked the end of my 365-day Letting Go Experiment. During that time, I released from my life, on average, one material or non-material item each day - or a total of 365 items!

Here's how I set up my experiment:

1. I kept a log, and recorded what I released and where it went.

2. I defined "items" as "mostly material things, but could also mean habits, behaviors, limiting beliefs, subscriptions, services, or even pounds of body weight".

3. I defined "Letting Go" as "selling, giving away, or disposing of the item, or stopping the beavior on a permanent basis".

4. I created a set of "rules" or guidelines:

A. Material items include: furnishings, household items, clothing, books, cosmetics and toileteries, weekly or monthly magazines, unopened food packages (or opened food packages that were sabotaging my healthy eating habits).

B. Material items do not include: daily newspapers, mail, junk mail, miscellaneous office papers (unless these are whole files, filled notebooks, or a full trashbag of said papers), most opened food packages or spoiled food, any normally disposable item (e.g. disposable razors and the like).

C. A pound of body weight does not qualify as an "item" until and unless the weight has been off for at least a month and is in connection with an intentional weight reduction program or process.

Now, for those of you who are interested in the details of this experiment, here are some stats I gleaned from my log, in terms of categories of items released:

*Books: 26
*Magazines: 66
*Cassette tapes: 31
*Papers/Paper Goods: 17
*Household items: 31
*Clothing & Accessories: 101
*Cosmetics/Sundries/Medications: 25
*Food & Supplements: 30
*Children's Stuff/Games: 4
*Office Supplies: 8
*"Big-ticket" items: 2
*Pounds of body weight: 10
*Other non-material items: 14

Perhaps the most interesting results are the non-material ones. The ten pounds of body weight are the result of my first six weeks on Weight Watchers. I have now let go of five more pounds, with quite a few more to go. Other releases included closing two credit card accounts and one magazine subscription, removing my name from a mailing list, and resigning from a project that was not working for me. Perhaps the biggest "letting go item" for me was releasing any residual feelings of anger or upset I may have been carrying towards my mother. (This was described in a previous blog, Letting Go Experiment: Month 11.)

This experiment brought me two major insights. The first one may not be a surprise to some of you: the physical act of letting go of clutter or other extraneous material items also had the effect of helping me to clear my mind and to release non-material attitudes, beliefs, emotions, behaviors, and the like that were also no longer serving me. I find that I have released some non-productive thoughts, expectations, beliefs, and behaviors that I haven't even recorded in my log, and this has truly been the best benefit of all.

The second insight is that although 365 items sounds like a lot of stuff, it's really not. I live in a relatively small space, and yet when I look around, my space does not appear any different than it did a year ago when I began this experiment. [And I have not added anything to replace what was released.] There are lots more books, magazines, tapes, kitchen items, clothes, knick-knacks, and stuff in storage closets still to be released. And one big project has not yet been started - the de-cluttering of my office. This is my next big push.

Most of all, letting go of all this stuff has given me room to breathe more deeply - both metaphorically and physically. I feel it in my body as a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual release. In general, my attitude this year has become lighter, more relaxed, more peaceful, more joyful. My health has improved, as have other areas of my life.

And so, I have decided to extend this experiment for another year, or as long as it takes to truly clear the material and non-material clutter from my life. Stay tuned!

I hope the sharing of this experiment has inspired you to let go of the "stuff" in your life that is no longer serving you. If you would care to share your letting-go experiences, I would love to read them.


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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

Letting Go and Suze Orman

What does letting go of material clutter have to do with creating wealth? Here's what I learned from Suze Orman.

The other day, I picked up and began reading Orman's book The Courage to Be Rich: Creating a Life of Material and Spiritual Abundance (Riverhead Books, 1999, 2002). I didn't get too far into it before I encountered Chapter 3, The Courage to Make Room for More Money. Immediately, Orman began introducing the concept of clearing away material clutter in order to make room for more abundance of every kind, including financial abundance. Because her discussion fits so well with my 365-day Letting Go Experiment, I paid particular attention to this chapter.

Orman talks about how clutter in our lives creates obstacles to financial wealth in a variety of ways:

--First of all, the material things we have purchased that we do not use represent money that was not spent in a carefully considered way - i.e. money wasted.

--Second, the clutter takes up space that could be used for other things. And consider the money that some of us spend to store items that we are not using in a storage facility.

--Third, clutter distracts us from what is important in our lives. And it slows us down.

--Fourth, clutter usually leads to messy financial practices - misplacing bills and not paying them on time, misplacing currency that lies scattered around the house, misplacing or losing important financial documents, not keeping checking, savings, and credit card accounts current and reconciled, not paying attention to credit card rules and terms, not paying attention to investments, or creating and building debt.

Orman proposes a exercise she titles Four Steps Towards Clarity (pp 52-55). Briefly summarized, this letting-go exercise goes as follows:

1. Go through your home, garage, etc. and find at least 25 items that you are willing to throw away - just discard completely. And toss them.

2. Go through your house again looking specifically for money - loose change and bills - that might be lying around, or hidden, or lost. Look in places like drawers, countertops, pants pockets, unused purses, in and under furniture, etc. (I found a $2-bill in an old purse. Orman says that most people end up finding much more than that.) Collect all that you find and put it in one container that you would think of as your jar or bowl of abundance. Place that abundance container near the area where you pay your bills.

3. Go through your house a third time and find 25 more items that you no longer want or use but that are still in good condition. Give those items away to a place or to a person that could really use them and would appreciate them.

4. Go through your house a fourth time and identify all the items that are especially precious to you, things you would never part with. Take time to reflect on these items and appreciate them.

So, embedded in this exercise is a process for letting go of at least 50 material items from your home. If you're not up for releasing 365 items in a year-long exercise, you could easily do this exercise and release 50 in one day. Suze suggests getting your entire household in on the exercise, including the kids.

I like this exercise because Orman takes us beyond the mere act of discarding things by encouraging us to think about how we sometimes waste money by purchasing things that we don't really need or don't serve us well - the clothes that never really fit right or flattered us and just sat in the closet, the food that sat in our refigerators until it spoiled and had to be thrown away, the gadgets that never worked right but we never returned or had repaired, etc. She also encourages us to really appreciate and prize the things that have served us well or are precious reminders of our past or are symbols of things we prize now or aspire to in the future. She teaches us to respect our money by using it wisely and well.

How could clearing out the clutter in your home open up the space for more wealth to flow into your life?

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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

Letting Go of Fear

I want more LOVE in my life! More love shared with family and friends and perhaps even with that Special Someone I have yet to meet. More love of the work I do. More love of humanity, the earth, nature. More self-love. More love of LIFE!

As I meditated about what, if anything, might be blocking the flow of love in my life, the answer came to me: Fear. Yes, F-E-A-R (False Expectations Appearing Real).

Now, as the process of letting go and clearing the clutter out of one's life goes, releasing long-standing fears comes pretty high on the list of challenges.

Fear of what, you might ask.

We all have our own pet fears, generated from past experiences of one sort or another. You have yours; I have mine. Mine come, as most do, from childhood experiences, and the most obstacle-producing ones come as a doubled-edged sword: a fear of rejection and a fear of being trapped. These equal-but-opposite fears have created some real challenges in my life; they sometimes create a tremendous push-pull tension between the desire to engage and the desire to flee.

Then there are the bodily-harm-what-if-I-die fears, which, for me, mostly take the form of a fear of heights, thus preventing me from sky-diving, free-falling, bungee-jumping, tightrope walking, cliff climbing, trapeze flying, doing roof work, completing a high ropes course, painting above the first story of a building, hot-air ballooning, or flying in an airplane. This is mostly OK with me, as I have very little interest in any of these activities, except perhaps for hot air ballooning, which seems divine, and flying which I have done on occasion, both for business and for pleasure, despite my fears.

In terms of blocking our relationship to anything or anyone in life, Fear inserts iteself between you, or me, and the Other, and creates a host of barriers including guilt, anger, caution, doubt, distance, anger, withdrawal, judgement, misinterpretation, miscommunication, mistrust, refusal to cooperate, isolation, and inability to be intimate or to commit.

What might it be like, I wonder, to live a life free of most fears - especially those that are made up in our minds, have no relationship to the present moment and therefore are not real? How does one go about letting go of Fear? You can't just put it in the trash or give it to Goodwill or sell it on eBay or at a yard sale, now can you?

Then, I remembered a book I had read in the 70's, pulled it out of my bookshelves, and read it again. The title really says it all: Love Is Letting Go of Fear (by Gerald G. Jampolsky, original edition published by Celestial Arts in 1979).

Amazon.com describes this short (131-page) tightly written book this way: "An inspirational classic since 1979, LOVE IS LETTING GO OF FEAR remains one of the seminal works in the transpersonal movement." I agree that this book is a classic, every bit as wise and as timeless as it was when it was first published 28 years ago.

After devoting some pages in this book to exploring the ways in which fear inhibits the flow of love, Jerry Jampolsky provides a series of 12 daily lessons, which can be reviewed in a few minutes each day and repeated day after day until they become integrated into your life. These lessons are based upon some of the teachings contained within The Course in Miracles.

Some of the lessons are:
--Giving and Receiving are both acts of love.
--Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
--Letting go of judging anyone or anything is a way to inner peace.
--Staying in the moment almost always eliminates fear (fear is almost always based in the past or the future rather than in the present moment).
--Changing how you think about things is the key to letting go of fear.

So, in the abstract, Love is Letting Go of Fear. How does that translate to everyday life?

Here's an example from my life: I am working on a new work project for a client - a project I want very much to love and commit to. But those pesky fears are raising their nasty little heads and getting in the way. They have names like "fear of scarcity" and "fear of loss of control". I am a work-in-progress on this one. My intention is to work through and release these fears and have a joyful work experience. Time will tell.

What fears might you be ready to release? Perhaps Jampolsky's book could be your coach? What have you got to lose? No, a better question would be, what do you have to gain?

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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

Letting Go Experiment: Month 11

As of May 10th, I have completed 11 of the 12 months in my year-long Letting Go Experiment. The BIG 365-day milestone is coming into view. And although I may be about to cross the finish line on this particular marathon experiment, I doubt that it will really be over for me on June 10th, for I still have a lot of letting go to do.

In the 11th month, about a third of the 30 items to be released were unopened cans and jars from my pantry that went to a food drive. Another two lines on my daily log were taken by the first two pounds I lost on the Weight Watchers program a month ago.

Another line went to my giving up the use of a brand of deordorant/anti-perspirant which I have depended on for years. This was letting go of a long-standing habit, as well as a material item. This product is very strong and is highly effective, but contains aluminum. I have heard for years that deodorants/anti-perspirants containing aluminum are not healthy for us, but have refused to do anything about it. Finally, I listened, tossed out my "old faithful" brand and replaced it with a healthier non-toxic, though less effective, brand. I think this move is allowing my body to release some toxic waste via my lymph glands, and thereby helping to cleanse my body. Old habits die hard, but I can tell that releasing this one will be worth the struggle.

This month, I still have a significant number of backlog lines that have not been filled, which is another way of saying that I am behind on my letting go of material items. But I am not sweating this (note the pun, re the above), since there is a significant rummage sale coming up in June, and I will be gathering all sorts of items to donate to that event.

As with other recent months, the most significant letting-go experiences have been, and continue to be, in the non-material realm. The most significant one of these is the letting go of fear. This is a BIG topic, and will be covered in a future blog.

Another non-material letting-go occured yesterday, on Mother's Day. This was the day when I released any remaining negative feelings I may have been holding toward my own mother, who passed away on September 2nd, 2003. It was suggested on one of Oprah's shows last week that we do more than give or send cards to our mothers, but that we actually write letters - letters that detail our appreciation and gratitude for all they do, or have done, for us. Although my mother passed away four years ago, I decided to write her a letter. And on Mother's day, I did. In that letter, I finally was able to see and accept her as she really was - with all her gifts and flaws - and not as I wanted her to be. I was finally able to take responsibility for my share of whatever breakdown there was in our relationship, and to not only accept and appreciate her for who she was, but also to accept and appreciate who I am - and to forgive us both for disappointing each other. What a HUGE letting-go this has been!

So, how about you? What have you released from your life this past month? What would you like to release in the near future? How will you do it? What's stopping you, if anything? And how will you overcome any resistance you may be feeling?

Remember the Nike ad: Just DO It!

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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

Letting Go Experiment: Month 10

Recently, a friend who has been following my letting-go experiment in this blog said to me, "Wow, when this year is up, you will have released 365 things from your life. That's a lot of stuff!"

My friend is clearing her home (and barn) to move and was wondering where she would find that many things to let go of. I have found that it's really not that hard. At this point, I have released nine and a half months worth of stuff - approximately 285 items, about 95% of it "material" (as opposed to non-material items such as beliefs, habits, behaviors, negative thoughts, body weight, and the like). And yet, when I look around my home, it still looks as full of "stuff" as when I started.

There's a lot of "stuff" we accumulate that we never seem to use - in closets, drawers, cupboards, cabinets, and in boxes stuck away in attics and garages. Feng Shui practioners tell us that this excess "stuff" blocks the flow of energy in our homes, even if it is out of sight. [To me, there is a parallel between this blocked flow of chi energy in the home and the blocked energy we experience from excess stored fat that many of us carry on our bodies.]

What this experiment is revealing to me is that I accumulate much more "stuff" than I need, use, or really want. As I think of this, I begin to understand the correlation, for me, between accumulation of material things, accumulation of body weight, and the inability to accumulate money in savings. And I think, "Well, if I don't even notice or miss the 285-plus items I've released this year, then clearly I'm over-consuming "stuff" just like I've been over-accumulating stored energy in the form of pounds."

This month, material things I have released include more weekly magazines, some costume jewelry, a few small knick-knacks, a phone, and a lot of foodstufs from my pantry and refrigerator (including some unopened items that count for this experiment). But again, as in last month's report, the biggest victories have been in the non-material realm.

For one thing, I joined Weight Watchers this past month (hence the clearing out of foods in my kitchen) and have already let go of about 5 pounds. Although these lost pounds do not "count" in my experiment until they've been gone at least a month, they will show up in next month's count. But it's not just pounds I've lost, it's also some non-productive habits, a lot of resistance, and some developing health issues that seem now to be fading away.

What have you released from your life this month? I'd love to hear your story.

I leave you with these words of wisdom: Spend Calories; Save Money!

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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

Letting Go Experiment: Month 9

I am discovering that there is a correlation between letting go of material things and letting go of mental and emotional "stuff" - ideas, beliefs, habits, patterns, automatic reactions and feelings. This month I am definitely behind in letting go of material things, but I've had some interesting experiences in the non-material realm, the most recent being in this past week building up to the release of my monthly e-newsletter.

I have been writing and sending out an electronic newsletter (LifeWork Letter) once a month for a year and a half now. And in all that time, no newsletter has come out late (i.e. after the month is over) - until now. This time, my March newsletter came out in April.

Now, I am usually very good about keeping to schedules and doing things on time. And I used to get anxious and upset if I thought I might be late for anything - a party, a date, a movie, a meeting with a client, a newsletter release. This time was different.

I attribute this difference to the letting-go "practice" I have been doing since last June. This time, as I got close to my end-of-the-month release deadline and found myself in a time crunch, I was able to let go of this deadline and of the anxiety and stress it would normally cost me to do this. I accepted the reality that getting this done by March 31st would be very stressful, and would require a significant loss of sleep, and so I just let go and said to myself, "Oh well, this month the March issue will be late - so late that it will come out in April. How can I turn this lemon into lemonade?"

My first idea was to bring the newsletter out on April 1st and call it an April Fool's joke. That seemed like good "lemonade" to me. I could have fun with that. But then, I had an important family committment on April 1st, so that plan didn't work out and the newsletter finally came out on the 2nd - almost at midnight.

So where's the "lemonade"? Well, for one thing there will be two newsletters in April, and this will be a great opportunity for me to continue my exploration On Being a Peaceful Warrior in a Part 2 issue. In addition, this letting-go experience has been a great lesson for me, and now I hope for you also.

Perhaps you'll have the opportunity to say "Oh, well..." and just let it go!

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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

Letting Go Experiment: Month 8

I must confess that this month I am about 15 items behind in my one-a-day letting-go process. But that's not a problem, because I tend to let go of items in batches, as I go about sorting through closets, shelves, drawers, and other stashes of stuff. The hardest thing to let go of this month so far has been my subscription to Poets and Writers, a magazine that intriques me though I never seem to get around to reading it. Perhaps I'll pick it up again in a year or two when I have more time to devote to writing.

The best thing I did for myself this month in this Letting-Go Experiment involved a purchase rather than a discard. I have a huge problem with the rapid accumulation of junk mail that seems to land on my dining table, which is close to my front door. A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a shredder designed especially for the quick and convenient disposal of junk mail and other papers with personal information in them - mail that could compromise one's privacy. Well, I put this handy dandy shredder right near the table where I have been dumping my mail each day, and now I immediately go through the day's mail and run all the junk through the shredder.

What system do you use to handle your junk mail? How could a shredder help you conquer your clutter?

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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

Letting-Go Experiment: Month 7

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

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!

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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

Letting Go Experiment: Month 5

I have now completed a little more than five months of my yearlong letting-go experiment. This month I have not been rigorous about letting go of one item or behavior each day, and there are empty spaces yet to be filled in my daily log.

However, I have noticed lately that some changes are taking place in my mental attitudes. For example: I sing in a choral group, and since August we have been preparing for a holiday concert that we finally presented last weekend. In the past, in rehearsals, I have been very concerned with getting the notes right, being on pitch, making all my entrances, not making any mistakes. As a result, I have been nervous and uptight, and rehearsals were, for me, exhausting and not much fun.

But this time, I let go of all that - the need to be right, the expectation of perfection. I just immersed myself in the music. I let myself go, diving into the singing with enthusiasm, holding nothing back. I was willing to go for it and make mistakes. The result? I sang better! I actually made fewer mistakes, and when I did make one, I just treated it as a learning experience and moved on quickly. I came home from rehearsals energized rather than drained. I experienced what it meant to make a "joyful noise".

I notice this internal or attitudinal "letting go" happening in other ways too. What I am learning from this experiment is that when you begin to let go of the clutter in your outer, material, life you also find yourself, almost without realizing it, letting go of your inner mental clutter as well.

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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

Letting Go Experiment: Month 4

It has now been 4 months and 9 days since I began my year-long letting-go experiment. I am still managing to find one thing per day to release from my life. I am now one-third of the way through this experiment, and I am still nowhere near being clutter-free, though this is my goal.

This past month, the focus of my letting-go project was on clothing. In an earlier Blog (Letting Go - Clearing the Clothes Closet), I described my criteria and strategies for approaching this task. This past month, half the items on my daily log were items of clothing. Other items included foods, suppplements, a few books, a couple of summer outdoor decorations, and some miscellaneous household items.

Letting go of the 15 clothing items was an interesting process. A few pairs of pants did not fit well, and I chose to have them altered rather than give them away. Some items easily fit my criteria and were easy to release. However, a few were not so easy to part with. For example, two top quality professional suits were ultimately donated to a women's Dress for Success clothing drive, after some resistance and a bit of internal dialogue. Normally, I would have held on to these suits for a long time because they were expensive to purchase and I felt that I "should" wear them. However, with each of these items, something was preventing me from wearing them - size, color, fit, or how I felt in them. When I realized that someone else could really use these suits that were languishing in my closet, it became much easier to part with them.

This month, I also learned two more things:

(1) Making a purchasing mistake is not a reason to hang on to an item that is cluttering up your space. Either return it, sell it, or give it away.

(2) "Should" is not a reason to hang on to anything, whether it be a material item or a habit or behavior.

I am already about one-third of the way into Month 5. So far, the theme seems to be foods and eating habits. Tune in at the end of Month 5 (mid-November) to read more about it.

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Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com

Letting Go - Clearing the Clothes Closet

For all that I've been writing lately on letting go, de-cluttering, and organizing, you would think that I am an organizational consultant rather than a Life/Work Coach! There is a method to my madness!

This past weekend, I focused on my clothing. I went through my clothes piece by piece, trying on many things. I sorted through everything I own - outfits and accessories for all of the seasons. I made some rules for myself - some criteria by which I would decide whether to pitch or keep each piece. Here is my list:

1. Does it fit well? (If it doesn't, have it altered or let it go.)

2. Does it look good on me? (If no, let it go.)

3. Is it in my color palette? (If no, let it go.)

4. Have I worn it in the past year? (If no, let it go. Special-occasion clothes can be exempt, but clothes that don't fit anymore but might again someday are not.)

5. Is it dirty or in need of repair? (Clean it, fix it, or toss it.)

6. Is it in fashion? (If no, is it timeless? If still no, let it go.)

7. Is it relevant to my current lifestyle? (If no, let it go.)

and the clincher...

8. Does it bring me joy?

The results?

Although I was not brutally honest about all things, and did hold on to three pieces that do not fit now but that I still hope will fit someday, I still managed to let go of about 15% of my current wardrobe - all items that were taking up space but were never worn. About half a dozen items were good enough to be placed in a consignment shop. A lot more went to another resale shop as donations. Two bathing suits and a few items of underwear were tossed. One pair of slacks was repaired. Three items went to the dry cleaners and several more were washed. Three pairs of slacks were brought to a seamstress for alterations. And one pair of favorite shoes is about to go a cobbler for new insoles.

And one final result: Yesterday (Monday), I was filled with energy all day. I got many, many tasks accomplished. I felt lighter and freer. This was the result I was hoping for! May it last and last!

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Getting Organized

For the past few months, the theme of many of my blog articles has been on letting go and clearing up the clutter in my life. This all goes hand-in-hand with getting organized. Now, normally, I'm a pretty organized person, and most of the rooms in my home reflect this. But my office is another story. In this room, stuff piles up and often it takes me a long time to find the information I need to find. I feel frustrated and blocked. And this has been happening despite the fact that I have had excellent consultations with professional organizer, Nancy Black (www.organizationplus.com), and with Feng Shui and Nurturing Spaces consultant, Linda Varone (www.lindavarone.com), and I have implemented many of their suggestions.

As I have learned from professional organizers, Feng Shui practitioners, psychologists, and other coaches, this state of clutter and disorganization, particularly in a person who is not chronically disorganized, indicates that something else is afoot. In my case, it reflects the fact that I am going through some transitions in both my business and in my life in general. [More about this in the next blog article - A Transition Coach in Transition].

Two days ago, I attended a women's networking meeting in my area (North Shore Women in Business). The speaker was Marilyn Paul, Ph.D. Her topic: It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys. (Also the title of her book; citation below.) A gifted and inspiring speaker, Dr. Paul worked with us to address the underlying causes of disorganization and to develop a strong motivation or purpose for overcoming our blocks to change and then to doing the work of changing our habits.

Though this is a major oversimplification, Dr. Paul breaks out the process of organizing into three basic steps:

1. Get to "Ready": This basically means doing the psychological work of understanding what's behind the disorganization: handling limiting beliefs and other blocks, visioning the desired change, identifying the purpose and motivation for change, and then making a committment to take action. [This is where coaches really come in handy!]

2. Build Workable Systems: Develop ways to eliminate clutter and become organized that organically suit who you are. [This is where professional organizers really come in handy!]

3. Create New Habits: Start taking the new action(s) and keep doing it/them long enough to replace your old habits with new ones. [It is said that habit change of any kind requires a minimum of 21 days of doing the new habit. Often it takes longer. This is another place where coaches can help to solidify the change!]

There are a lot of concrete suggestions for handling these three phases in her book, and I cannot wait to complete it! Here is the full citation:

Paul, Marilyn. It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys: the Seven-Step Path to Becoming Truly Organized. Viking Compass/Penguin Group, 2003.

In terms of clearing clutter, here's a tip I overheard in a conversation after the speech was over: When going through your belongings with the question, "Do I keep this or not?", here are two questions to ask yourself:
1. Is this relevant to my life now?
2. Does this bring me joy?
If the answer to either of these questions is no, pitch it!

If you are dealing with issues of clutter or disorganization, what might be your first step towards change?

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Letting Go Experiment: Month 3

It has now been 3 months and 5 days since I began my year-long experiment in letting go. This past month has been more challenging than the previous two, and I must confess that there are a few blank lines in my daily Letting-Go Log. [I intend to fill them in, retroactively.]

This experiment has some similarities to the process of dieting. In dieting, the first few pounds, in the first few weeks, seem to come off fairly easily - a phenomenon reminiscent of the job practice of "last hired, first fired". These are the "excess water" pounds or the most recently added adipose pounds - they haven't been there long and the body hasn't become too attached to them. After this, dieting becomes progressively more challenging until you ultimately reach that place where, in your mind, there are just a few pounds to go. The body clings to these last few pounds most stubbornly. After that, I suppose - though I have never experienced this myself - if you keep going you enter the land of the anorexic and begin to let go of things your body really needs in order to function well and be healthy.

Well, in terms of this metaphor, I have passed the "excess water weight" portion of this letting go experiment and am into tackling the excess fat cells - still quite far from burning muscle or going anorexic. But even here, I am encountering a kind of emotional and behavioral resistance that reminds me of my dieting days.

I am getting much better at quickly disposing of daily newspapers and junk mail, but still tend to hold onto magazines and "gray-area" mail (items I want to look over someday, but not now) too long. I still have a strong resistance to letting go of any books (and I've got LOTS of those!) unless I happen to have duplicate copies. I am getting better about letting go of clothes, though I still have many items in my closet that I have not worn in over a year. [To my credit, however, are these items on my list for this month: 2 almost-new and expensive pant suits that I am donating to a Dress for Success clothing drive this week. They are well-made and ideal for some business situations, but either they don't fit well or the color doesn't look good on me. In past years, I have held on overly long to items like this. They sit in my closet, unworn. Because of this experiment, I am able to cut this cycle short and let go much sooner.]

The things I am having the most difficulty letting go of, this month, are non-material. This month, I celebrated a milestone birthday, which has generated some fear, worry, upset about aging, and resistance to change. [Yes, even Life Coaches go through passges and transitions and encounter these issues. That's one reason why coaches have coaches!] Letting go of fear, worry, and resistance to change tops the list of challenges for me this month in my year-long Letting-Go Experiment.

I have thought about these challenges in letting go, and have identified three things that are helping me through this process:

1. I know (from previous experiences) that times of transition and change are also the best opportunities for growth, deepening wisdom, and fulfillment. This gives me hope and the confidence to continue.

2. In this experiment, I find that I feel lighter and clearer each time I let go of something I no longer need or want. This motivates me to do more of the same.

3. I have a wonderful coach who is supporting me through this transition.

What fears, worries, resistances, limiting beliefs, or other blocks to fulfillment are you experiencing right now? And what strategies are you using to move through them?

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Letting-Go Experiment: Month 2

Yes, I'm still at it - this experiment of letting go of one item or habit or "thing" per day for 365 days.

I don't always release exactly one thing a day. But I do let go of one thing FOR every day of the year. This means that I may forget to do this for a few days, but then when I do pick it up again, I release several things at a time. To date, I have let go of 60 (out of 365) "things" - some large and some small.

I still keep a log in which I record the item assigned to each day. This log shows six days not yet accounted for. So, today, I will be looking for up to six items to let go of and add to the log.

This month, I added some new categories of released items: unused cosmetics thrown out, unecessary health supplements to taper off of and stop taking, and two inhertited art pieces to be sold at auction - an oil painting and a framed and signed Grant Wood lithograph. The oil painting sold a few days ago. This is the first released item that has brought a monetary reward.

In doing this experiment, I never expected a monetary reward, though I am delighted to receive it. The reward I envisioned was, and still is, an environment free from clutter. In a stripped-down, clutter-free environment, I expect the simplicity to foster a sense of peace, tranquility, and clarity. And, according to Feng Shui theory, it will also create an increased flow of energy, or chi, and with that, an increase of creative energy, as well as room for new things, new opportunities, to come into my life.

Already, I can tell that these rewards are coming to pass. More about this in future blogs.

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Letting-Go Experiment: Month 1

It has now been a little more than a month since I began my experiment in letting go of the extra "stuff" in my life. As I suspected, the first 30 days (June 11 - July 10) have not been too difficult, though I do admit to feeling temporarily stumped a couple of times.

I keep a running list of what I let go of each day. In the material stuff department, it has been a mix of small, inexpensive or used stuff to moderately priced or brand new stuff. Most items were used or old. A few were brand new. Items ran the gamut from magazines, to clothes, games, books, household items, and office supplies. The biggest item was a pair of cross-country skis, complete with boots and poles, that I purchased in the 1970's but only used a handful of times. Some items were tossed and some were given to charities. Nothing was sold. In the non-material department, I closed two store charge accounts and cut up the cards. It's possible that I've also let go of a couple of pounds, though these are not yet official let-go's.

And here's what I've learned so far:

1. I get overwhelmed by the amount of paper stuff that comes into my home each day - mail, newspapers, magazines and catalogues. If I can't, or don't, get to it right away, it piles up and up, creating clutter and confusion in every room in my apartment, especially in my office. It clogs my energy and my clear thinking. I am beginning to understand the importance of dealing with that paper stuff each day it arrives, and not letting it stack up. A professional organizer once advised me to handle each piece of paper mail only twice. First, either scan or read it. Second, either toss it or file it where you can easily find it again. I have tossed several trash bags full of paper stuff in the past month, and I still have a large stack of stuff to file. But I've made a start.

2. Letting go of stuff is not all that easy - at least not for me - even when surrounded with a fair amount of stuff I never use. For example, my daily newspapers sometimes pile up for days or even weeks before I read them, if I ever do. Yet, it takes an effort to throw them out if I haven't read them, because I might miss something important. And I haven't yet let go of my newspaper subscription (which is up for renewal next month). A few days ago, I threw out (recycled) all my back copies - more than a month's worth of mostly unread newspapers. Then I made a pact with myself to read each newspaper the day I receive it, and/or to toss it that same day. Already, I am breathing more easily. This, I can manage!

I have piles of magazines around that I haven't read yet also. Yet, I maintain those subscriptions too. In both cases, I say to myself, "I'll get around to reading these soon," but somehow I rarely do. There is something about the printed word - whether it be newspaper, magazine, book, or the papers in files in my office - that often seems too valuable to discard. If I were to admit to being addicted to anything (in addition to chocolate), it would be to the printed word, and especially to books. I suppose this warrants some further contemplation.

The experiment continues. Check back in mid-August to see how Month 2 went.

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