Awareness and Letting Go – Week 4

Awareness and Letting Go.  Yes, week 4 already and halfway through this session.

You may recall from last week that participants were asked to bring in items that they were struggling to let go of. Participants who bring in items present the item(s) and then the others ask questions of the item.

The first participant to share brought out a little bag of jewellery that was handed down to her by family members. She said it was jewellery that she wouldn’t wear and had no one else to actually pass it down to. She also had a silver pie server and spoon which would need to be cleaned with silver polish. She did not know who this came from and said that she would not use these. This participant shed a few tears as she felt the attachment to these items but also felt good about passing them on to a program that makes new items out of old jewellery and other items.  Often being able to donate to a good cause can help.

Another participant had an unopened boxed gift that had gathered a lot of dust and had been given to her from a young niece. It was a little wooden character that holds your glasses. This group member said she loved the gift because it was given to her by her niece but she won’t use it because she doesn’t wear glasses. After answering many questions she decided to repackage this gift and give it back to her niece at their next visit.

The third example was a gentleman who had a big pile of Shoppers Drug Mart gift cards. At first we all thought they were worth money but actually they had been purchased in order to receive more Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum points and they were used. Why he kept them is hard to understand, perhaps they had become invisible to him or he kept them as a reminder that he had purchased them. He did talk about how he can be lured in with marketing to try to get as many points as possible. In the end, he was able to discard all of these into the garbage bin.

Awareness is key in helping us with the letting go process

Individuals become very aware of their time, energy, stuff around them, triggers, behaviours, etc. This is always the first step in beginning to examine behaviours and habits and to start to be able to make some changes in their lives.  Awareness is key.

We always do a short grounding exercise after our break which really helps people to get calm and focused and ready for the next piece of learning. On this day we moved right into a Visualization which is about visualizing a room in your home and paying attention to what you see and feel. We then look at the same room with the clutter, not gone, but all organized and put neatly in its place. We had people answer a few questions after this and there were some great aha moments. One woman said that when she thought about her space all cluttered it was night time and when she visualized it all organized it was daylight and sunny.  Great metaphors for our space.

So, how did I do on my challenge of cleaning off my dresser? Well, I thought it would only take about 20 minutes but it did take more like an hour or so to do it properly. I did have to push myself to get off the couch and do it but I got into it after awhile. I was able to discard a number of lotions and potions not needed. I put together some bits of jewellery that will be donated to the Micro Enterprise Program at my work place. I felt I might as well clean off a second dresser as well which was not too cluttered. It felt so good to get this done and it really helped to see what I have and what I can be using. A big success.

My challenge this week is to clean off a small shelf in the bathroom.  There are little books at the back and while they are cute, its pretty cluttered and dusty.

Homework for this week is to pay attention to the trigger situations, feelings and thoughts, and behaviours that follow.

What are your challenges for this week with your de-cluttering projects?  Please comment below and thanks for following along with our group progress.