The essence of this project is unstuckness. In looking around my house with newly opened eyes, I realized what a monument it was to the past. I had once wanted to live in a house filled with books. Well, I had one! Enormous bookcases in most rooms, filled with reference books, novels read and unread ("But I'll get to it one of these days!"), finds from the library book sales, dictionaries for languages that I had thought about learning someday.
The question is, do I still want to live in a house filled with books? And the answer, I found during a consultation with my gut, is not so much anymore.
The books themselves started to feel like a trail of spoor through the wilderness. (Sorry to be so graphic, but the image really fits!) Half-digested interests, theories that had seemed delicious but weren't, even insights that had once been quite nourishing, still hung around. I began to feel that it was time to clean the literary litter box.
Now the guide for what to keep and what to pitch? Ah, that's tricky. Because the head keeps screaming, "Wait! You might need that! Wait! That was a gift! Wait! You were stupid enough to buy that in the first place, so by getting rid of it now, you prove that you're an idiot." (Well, the head thinks it's logical, anyway.)
So how to decide? Ah. J had said, consider each object, and notice whether it lifts your energy or drains your energy. If it drains you, you don't need it. Declutter expert Sue Rasmussen calls this "asking your body," and describes it beautifully here (it's audio #4).
It works. For me, it's been an amazing experience -- and I've discovered that I really don't have to come up with an elaborate rationale for throwing something away. Despite my early training, no one cares. D is happy to see space appear where there once was stuff. I presume that the people I donate the books to are happy to have them, or perhaps also happy to get rid of them.
And I'm happy following my gut, my instincts, my intuition -- whatever you want to call it. Amazing experience.
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments
About Me
- Beverly Feldt
- In our fourteenth year, Workplace Interactors are specialists in creating practice for workplace learning. We give learners opportunities to practice new skills before taking them back to the workplace. I'm the company’s writer. I often facilitate practice sessions, where my experience in theatre improvisation helps. I love the energy in the room when learners work with interactors.
No comments:
Post a Comment