(Photo Credit – Studio Choo Florists)

Ready to roll up your sleeves and practice a whole new way to de-clutter?

We’ve done a lot of prep work in this series to make sure your Spring Clean goes deep — and sticks. We’ve discovered your Big Why’s, identified some clutter (both obvious and not-so-obvious), and ditched the “de-cluttering” mindset for the far more empowering and exciting “editing” process.

Today, it’s time to get in there and get practical!

So … how do we actually DO this “Editing” thing?

Many of us get stuck before we even begin. We start sifting through all of our “stuff” and the overwhelm sets in. Every object holds the possibility for paralyzing indecision: how do we know if it’s truly serving us — or holding us back?

How can we make the best decisions about…

what needs to stay,

what needs to shift,

and what needs to go?

To support you through this tricky but oh-so-rewarding phase of your Spring Clean, here’s a handy set of questions. It’s a condensed and simplified version of the exact editing process I use with myself — and with my clients.

My Elegant Editing Process

 When faced with any “it” you’re not sure how to deal with, (a knickknack, a piece of furniture, artwork, clothing — or even an activity, relationship, or belief) ask yourself these 4 questions:

1. Does it function?

Functionality is beautiful, my friend! So … does it work? Do you use it? Is it broken, trash, or an unnecessary duplicate? Does it fit in your  home? If it’s a piece of clothing, does it fit on your body?

2. Do you love it?

Life is just too short to surround yourself with things you don’t love. Ask yourself: when I interact with this, does it feel blah, dead, and boring — or vibrant, beautiful, and alive? Does it make me feel better or worse when I see/touch it? Is it serving me, or blocking me? Remember: only you get to decide what’s beautiful to you!

 3. Does it represent who you are and where you are going?

Maybe you loved playing the flute in your high school jazz band, but now it’s collecting dust in your closet. Perhaps you’ve kept some mementos from “the one that got away,” and you breathe a heavy sigh every time you see that shoebox. Or, let’s say you’ve committed to a new, healthy eating regimen, and that ice cream maker just tempts and mocks you each time you see it.

Everything in your home reflects an image of who you are back to yourself. Click to tweet.

Old, blah, and outdated stuff turns your home into the unhappiest house of mirrors. Over time it can become a scary “fun” house that we can’t seem to make our way out of. It’s so hard to change and grow when we are surrounded by old, blah, and outdated versions of ourselves. Let these things go — make room for who you are and who you’re growing into. Trust me… it’s going to feel amazing!

4. What does your body say?

Our minds might get tangled up, and our emotions can pull us in opposing directions, but our bodies are often the clearest source for a “yes” or “no” in this process. If you’re stuck debating “pitch it or keep it,” hold the object in your hands (or gaze). Clear your mind. Tune into your body. Do you feel more or less alive? There’s your answer!

Emotions will arise as you edit. Sometimes tough ones.

This is perfectly normal … and you will get through it! I promise. If you encounter big emotions, take it from me: you are not alone or crazy — you are, in fact, incredibly brave.

Remember: your space is intimately connected to who you are, who you’ve been, and all the stories that make up your sense of self. It’s absolutely understandable for big emotions to come up as you edit your space. They might be connected to a specific event or phase of your life … a dream you outgrew … an image that’s shifting.

It’s common to feel guilt, grief, fear, scarcity, money issues, and much more as you work through the deeper aspects of Editing.

This is big stuff. Your emotions are a huge part of this process. So pay attention to them. Honor them. Feel your feelings.

A few suggestions for working with your emotions:

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(Photo Credit – Studio Choo Florists)

So you’re hip to the idea of a spring cleaning — not just to tidy things up, but to reconnect to your precious heart and desires. You’re ready to squeeze every ounce of personal transformation you can from this process. You’ve identified some clutter — in your home and in your life — and you’re ready to clear it out, and make way for new + beautiful things ready to emerge.

Awesome! Ok. At this point (even though you may think I am crazy)…

I beg of you: Please don’t de-clutter!

What?? Have I lost my marbles? No. I have a completely different way to think about “de-cluttering” and trust me: it changes everything.

Don’t De-Clutter. Edit.

I don’t know about you, but the word “de-clutter” always has a major “ugh” factor in it for me. It sounds boring. Exhausting. Daunting and tedious. Like a long, painful process of agonizing over what to keep and what to toss. It’s no wonder why so many of us put it off — easily finding something “better” to do, every time. Sound familiar?

Thankfully, I was introduced to the concept of “editing” years ago and I never looked back.

Here’s how to start making the shift:

 De-cluttering is about your stuff. Editing is about YOU.

De-cluttering removes the things you (or your Mom or someone else) think “shouldn’t” be there.  Editing breathes spaciousness, fosters flow, and sparks conscious evolution.

De-cluttering beckons my inner rebellious child who doesn’t want to clean up her room.  Editing invokes my clearest, most creative and motivated self.

De-cluttering is draining. Editing is exciting and empowering.

De-cluttering is all about removing objects. Editing is multi-dimensional. From this place, you may remove whats no longer is serving you, but you also might add in spices of vitality and sweeps of beauty.  You could rearrange the furniture to create more flow or upgrade certain items to provide greater ease, support and joy.

De-cluttering places a magnifying glass over all the stuff and dust of your home. Editing places you at the center of the process. It helps acknowledge that your space and all the things in it are an extension of you. Beautiful, alive, ever-changing you.

Don’t just deal with your space.

Shower it — and yourself – with loving attention.

When I was introduced to “editing” many years ago, it truly changed everything for me. Back then, I didn’t want to deal with my space — it felt too overwhelming. But I did want to deal with me.

Editing placed me back in my power — at the center of my story — and from this vantage point, working with my space became a natural extension, an empowering creative process and an opportunity that created big shifts in my life.

Editing is the real, vital process of aligning your inner and outer worlds — in ways that support who you are now and who you are are growing into be.

Edit to move forward. To be more present and clear. To create greater flow and vitality. To let go of what’s no longer serving you and to fill your space with what you love.

 Editing your space is an act of self -care and self -creation.

– Click to Tweet

What are your thoughts?

In the comments below, I would love to know… Does “editing” feel different to “de-cluttering” for you? Does it change how you relate to the task of spring cleaning, to your space, to yourself?

Ready for more?
The next post in the Make Room to Bloom Series is right HERE.

If you found this useful please share it with your family and friends to spread the love. (Believe it or not their spaces affect you too! But more on this another day.)

If you’re not already, be sure to subscribed to my newsletter (at the top right of this page) so you don’t miss a post! We have a beautiful growing community and would to have you join us!

Sending love,
Rebecca

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(Photo Credit – Studio Choo Florists)

An overflowing junk drawer. Stacks of papers and piles of clothes. That closet that obviously took a tornado ride with Dorothy.

Some types of clutter are blatantly obvious. But like everything in your space, clutter isn’t merely physical.

Your home is the physical expression + reflection of your inner world: your emotions, the personal meanings you attach to things, and all the routines that make up your life.

A cluttered home indicates + perpetuates a cluttered life.

– Click To Tweet

And if your home is a metaphor for your life, then clutter speaks volumes about what’s going on inside of you. We’ll get to the causes and sources of clutter in a moment. But first: why should you care? Well, it turns out: clutter isn’t just an eyesore. It can have some pretty serious consequences.  Clutter:

• Drains your energy (sometimes when you don’t even know it)
• Holds you in a state of distraction, overwhelm, irritation, or stress
• Contributes to burnout, stagnant creativity, or writer’s block
• Keeps you stuck in the fear of what might happen if you let go (of stuff or habits or even people)
• Represents underlying emotional issues you may be avoiding
• Keeps you from noticing or dealing with big, scary, important issues
• Blocks you from living your biggest, brightest, most beautiful life.

You deserve so much more than this, my friend! But before we start throwing things out, willy nilly, let’s get to know this clutter beastie a little better. Here’s how I define it:

Clutter is anything blocking us from flow, spaciousness, and having room to play and grow. – Click to Tweet

That’s right – anything blocking us. Not just that tupperware drawer you can’t stand or those boxes of old tax files you’ve been meaning to go through for years. Clutter can be far less obvious …

Is your crazy-busy-hectic job covering up a lifelong dream? Is some unresolved grief drowning an artistic passion? Is stress overpowering a deep need for rest and relaxation? We can view all of this through the lens of clutter.

Clutter can exist on many different levels:

1. Physical.

Physical clutter is what most of us associate with this term — and it’s the most obvious. It includes all the “stuff” in your space, and all the extra weight you’re carrying around (in your purse or your belly). It’s also your time: those obligatory events you “should” show up to. It’s piles of projects that you need to physically do, but don’t enliven you or light you up.

2. Emotional.

This is the realm of feelings and relationships. Are you weighed down by unresolved grief, trauma, or shame? Distracted by loose ends of a tattered relationship? Spending time with people who no longer support you or doing activities you no longer enjoy? You might find physical representations of these in your home:  those ice skates you never use anymore because you tore your ACL, or mementos that trigger painful memories.

3. Mental.

This is the realm of thoughts, information, and beliefs. Mind clutter is an overflowing inbox, an explosion of papers, calendars, and whiteboards. It feels like stimulation overload, anxiety, indecision and/or a “gluttony” for information. When our information is literally scattered throughout our spaces, we can  feel “scatterbrained,” and creative focus becomes a struggle.

4. Spiritual.

This level is quite different from the rest, in my experience. I don’t think of “spiritual clutter,” per se. Rather, I’ve noticed that the spiritual level suffers when we have clutter in our lives.

Each one of us brings a personal understanding and experience to the word, “spirit.” For myself, I define spirit as being fully, lovingly present in my life. It’s remaining connected to my divine essence, my sense of purpose, and the things that truly matter to me.

I’ve learned from my own experience and through guiding clients that when we have any kind of clutter (body, emotions, or mind), it becomes incredibly difficult to connect with ourselves on a spiritual level. We just can’t stay clear, grounded, and fully present when there’s constantly something distracting, draining, or pushing us off-kilter.

You simply can’t be fully present + loving when there’s

too much “stuff” in the way.

So now I am turning it over to you….

In the comments below, I’d love to hear: What type of non-obvious clutter do you struggle most with? Did you identify a new kind of clutter that surprised you?

Ready for more?
The next post in the Make Room to Bloom Series is right HERE.

If you found this useful please share this page with your family and friends to spread the love.

If enjoyed this, make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter so you don’t miss a post!

Warmly,

Rebecca

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(Photo Credit – Studio Choo Florists)

Are you itching to do a spring clean? Feel super ready and rarin’ to go?

If so, you’re not alone.

That fresh energy of spring brings with it the promise of new possibilities and clean starts — inside us and all around.

The optimism is all but irresistible!

If you’re anything like me, once you get excited about something, part of you feels like a stallion — just waiting to burst through the gates. You can already see that finish line of a perfectly clean, clear, beautiful home. And you’re ready to gallop towards it at full speed.

But hang on just a sec. (Ahem, hold your horses!)

I love this big, passionate energy. It’s extremely important for this kind of work. But I’ve also learned how valuable it is to slow down, turn within, and do some deeper groundwork before bursting out of those gates.

Sure, you could dive right in. Throw on those rubber gloves. Start tossing things left and right. Wash, donate, recycle, lather, repeat. But I’ve got a better suggestion for you:

Slow down. Turn within. Honor your Spring Clean as an opportunity for deep transformation. It starts on the inside.

Because the “urge to purge” isn’t just about your stuff, right? It’s also about what’s going on inside of you. It’s about this precious and wild life of yours — and what you’re choosing to do with it. It’s about connecting with who you are, on a deeper level than ever before, and walking proudly out into the sunshine.

If we skip the vital, inner prep work of a Spring Clean, we might clean the surface without getting to the root of things: where and why our space feels stuck, stale, or cluttered.

So let’s dig a little deeper and do the real, inner work needed to harness the energy of spring, release what’s no longer serving us, and move our space — and our life — forward.

Here’s how I like to start:

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Doing a Spring Cleaning

1. What’s Happening in Your Space?

I know, this one sounds obvious. But before you dive into the cleaning, it’s so helpful to take a few moments and get clear about what’s really going on. Grab a notebook and a pen and take a tour of your home.

Note the areas of your home that need some loving attention. Write down everything that feels outdated, cramped, messy, or dull. Look for the obvious and the not-so-obvious. How do you feel when you’re in each area of your home? Are there some areas that make you irritated or depressed? Do you ignore parts of your space — like your closet, your desk, or That One Drawer?

If you get overwhelmed or upset during this process — it’s OK! Take a deep breath. This is part of the process. We’re just gathering information, here. We can’t shift things we don’t let ourselves see, so the more clarity you can get here, the better.

2. Why is Your Space Like This?

Unless you just moved in yesterday, your space didn’t get this way overnight! Acknowledge the narrative that has brought you and your space here. Review your notes from Question #1 and identify what each space represents to you. What changes + challenges, transitions + accomplishments, highs + lows in your life made these spaces how they are?

Remember: Beautiful Living is not about having a shiny-happy-perfect-pulled-together life. It’s about being real, not perfect. It’s about getting messy, getting clear, cleaning things up, and making a beautiful new messes again. It’s about flowing and growing and changing, not about some unrealistic, static ideal. Truly. I promise.

So please, just acknowledge what’s brought you and your space to this point. Have you neglected your kitchen because you’ve been busy working on a new business? Have you avoided your closets because you’ve dealt with some loss that makes them hard to look at? Be gentle with yourself, here, and find reasons to celebrate along with your reasons to shift.

3. What Do You Want to Make Room For?

If we don’t know what we’re moving towards, it’s all the harder to find the motivation to let go of what’s not working. So … why aren’t you content with the status quo? What tender young sprouts are struggling their way to the top of your life? What do you want to welcome into your life and your home?  Sleep, relaxation, health, intimacy, creativity, safety, abundance? How would you feel if your space supported who you truly are what what you truly need? And speaking of that — what do you truly need?

Get clear here. Ask yourself if you’re ready to change. Connect to your commitment to doing something different, and inviting something new in. Open yourself up to letting go of what’s in the way. There may be fear, here — around losing the things that have made your space the way it is now, or even around letting in how good life can get for you!

Let’s Spring Clean with a purpose!

What new things are you ready to make room for in your life?

Click to tweet – Inspire the conversation among your friends!

Remember: this is about turning what could be a mindless series of tedious chores into a mindful practice of self-love. So treat yourself as you ponder these questions. This isn’t about shaming yourself for a messy home! It’s about getting real, right-here-and-now, about the life you want to live.

Take Action …

In the comments below, share and declare the purpose behind your spring clean this year, and one fresh new possibility you want to make room for.

Ready for more?
The next post in the Make Room to Bloom Series is right HERE!

Reach out for support if you need it! If you brush up against some mega resistance or big emotions, take a break, call a friend, or learn more about working with me.

If you enjoyed this post, please share this page with your family and friends! 

And if you’re not already, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so you don’t miss a post!

Sending love,

Rebecca

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Meet my new friend and collegue, April DeMarco!

April is a gifted artist, an innovative jewelry designer, an inspiring teacher and an all around fabulous woman! April and I have such a connection both in our bubbly personalities and the philosophy behind of our work.  It is so wonderful to connect with someone who truly believes in power and importance of Living Beautifully.

I am excited to share our engaging dialogue with you!

In the video below, we talk about the power of our surroundings, using beauty as self care, art, jewelry so much more!

April navigates her creativity in awe-inspiring ways and her work is truly amazing!  If you are in the market for some gorgeous and meaningful new jewelry, then she is your gal. Check out all the beauty she is regularly creating over on her site…. CovetAndAdorn.com

Click On the Image Below to Watch and Enjoy!

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