What other people call junk, I call rafts.  Stagnant, never used items are in your life for a reason….. providing clues to an attachment you’re struggling to release.  They may represent an old belief system, obsolete need, or unexpressed part of you that needs to be discovered. A wedding dress can represent a happy time in your life—or the hopes you had for your marriage; a shelf piled with your grandparent’s old dishes honors your family or the special love your granny had for you; a box of dusty, never opened action figures represents a dream you had of starting your own business.  Uncovering the reasons why you’re clinging to certain possessions can help you release the attachment—and find a better way to fulfill the goal conquer your clutter. Here’s how.

1. Keeping an item for sentimental reasons?  Ask, is this the best reminder I have of that person or time in my life?  If the answer is no—heave it. Keep only the most positive and energizing reminders of the past.

2. Unfulfilled dream? Give yourself permission to let go. Maybe you have a shelf of cookbooks because of an old fantasy you had of hosting elaborate dinner parties. But if all they’re doing is collecting dust, find other ways to express your social self. 

3. Companionship?  Sometimes it’s the very volume of stuff we are attached to—not the specific items themselves.  Clutter can fill a void—or provide a distraction from things we are avoiding thinking about.  If so, recognize this is an old expired need, and begin to picture , a distraction or obstacle if we think life for us is supposed to be hard. Idenitfy the old belief, and see if you can’t cha

Worrying about the clutter may be a distraction, If your clutter is providing comfort and companionship—ask yourself if that is an obsolete need.  What are you If you’re holding onto something because you think it might be valuable, find out! Have the item appraised, then ask yourself, honestly, if the potential value is worth all the space it’s hogging.