Hopes and dreams or clutter?

As you look around at the clutter that fills your space, do you feel confused and puzzled about why it’s even there? Consider the idea that everything you have represents a dream.

It’s not just a bunch of grocery coupons, it’s the possibility of a week’s worth of nutritious, delicious home-cooked nurturing meals. Keeping the coupons, even when you don’t do anything with them, keeps that vision alive.

Those bank statements and endless invitations to get more life insurance, to refinance, to apply for another credit card? They’re part of the vision of a savvy, financially astute person with a handle on their finances.

It’s like we keep the props in lieu of taking the action. We have a craft room full of quilting fabric – the quilts are as good as made.

We have endless clippings and notes on our family history. But the work of turning it all into a story or a family tree is completely overwhelming. So we keep collecting and feel like progress is being made.

READ MORE >>> How to stop organizing overwhelm

Assembling the supplies is so much more exciting than sitting down and doing the work. When we see the supplies, our minds picture the finished products. We see the happy giftees full of gratitude and praise for our offerings.

Somehow we skip past the fact that we haven’t actually made the quilt and are no closer to doing so since the last time we saw the piles of fabric. We focus on the end result and omit the actual steps involved.

Could we retrain our brains to focus on reality? Oh yes, but feelings of guilt and regret aren’t half as exciting as feelings of joy and happiness and so we quickly return to the perfect fantasy where our house is decluttered, all our projects are done, and everyone loves the gifts we gave them.

What’s to do? Every day as you do your 20 minutes of decluttering, deliberately focus on those good feelings. Twenty minutes a day of decluttering soon gets paired with the happy feelings and before you know it, you’ve established a very productive decluttering habit.

READ MORE >>> How to declutter and organize

As the clutter abates, spend those daily 20 minutes quilting or sewing or writing or creating, and soon the smiles and hugs from happy friends and family will be happening in real time. You’ll be on stage living your life instead of shuffling clutter backstage. Talk about mindful!