October – Month of Declutter

I like new beginnings. They have promise, are optimistic and I can make new plans. I like planning. I declared this month a Month of Declutter.

                                                         

I have moved house three times in the last 15 years. Each time it was an opportunity to get rid of no more needed or loved things. Being a hoarder I had difficult time saying goodbye to things I have owned for many years. Moving to a much smaller house it was absolutely necessary to leave some of the things behind. I did that, but I could have been stricter with myself. Anyhow, I already have too many things again.

I remember my old friends who came to Europe from India. They taught me new things in few fields of life. One revelation was that a thirty something old man may not know how to do his shoe laces as he was not called to do that himself until coming to Europe where servants were no longer available. I am still not sure if he was not pulling my leg. There was another lesson relating to not having possessions. Prem, was the name of our new friend, maintained that having few possessions gave him freedom and that made him happy. Coming from a country where too many people remembered their parents loosing their homes including all things in them during the war, I had a real problem in accepting this pearl of wisdom. It was many years ago and I was just building my new home and accumulated rather than simplified. Now, I would like to have less to feel free of clutter. The message came home after many years. I realised that I have too much of almost everything except for friends, love and money. One can never have too much of those, maybe with the exception of money. I feel the weight of that unwanted abundance and want to travel lighter.

                                                                          

My plan is to go though my wardrobe, all cupboards, shelves and drawers and tidy things up. How much I will manage to dispose of, I am not sure. I need to be gentle with myself. I may discover old treasures and wake up few memories. It will be fun.

                                          

Today is the day two of my de-cluttering project. I have gone through some drawers, found few tops I had forgotten about, but no revolutionary simplification in sight yet.

There is another part of my life in a need of de-cluttering. I want to spend my days better, more productively and on things that are important to me. I want to have a feeling at the end of my days that I have done things that matter to me. As a certified life coach, I should not have any problems. I have made a list of most important “projects” and there are ten of them after the first go. Hmm…I may know how to lead others in achieving good balance in life but I do not know how to apply my coaching knowledge to myself. I need a coach!

Before I organize my coaching support I will make one change in my imperfect daily routine. Over time I have accumulated few gurus. I learn from recently departed Wayne Dyer, very much alive Brian Johnson, Rich Hanson, Terry Patten…

I like doing courses lead by Coaches Rising and this takes some reading, listening to recordings, writing and reflecting. All of that takes a lot of time and before I manage to go through my in tray, it is the middle of the day already. As a part of my decluttering project I decided that I will go through one self-improvement item and delete the rest, not even thinking that I could file it for later.