Community Spotlight : Claudia Bhagaloo
Recently, during a mentoring session with Nancy I shared my experience of decluttering and how it has impacted my whole life . Nancy ‘suggested’ that others might benefit from my experience and asked me to write this article. Of course I said YES, there was no other answer …LOL…
How difficult is it for you to declutter?
Attachments
Someone once said, ‘if you don’t use it, or it doesn’t bring you joy, give it to someone that will’. I use this rule to purge. It works.
Sentimental items are without a doubt the most difficult things to deal with when decluttering. Emotions around objects can be incredibly strong, as we link feelings and memories to those physical objects. It is enormously helpful to use EFT/tapping skills to gently release these attachments and come to a place of gratitude for the object and recognition that it is not needed in order to experience the feelings.
Once I tapped my way through these unhelpful attachments, I decided that I would give away everything that I have not used in years and everything that did not say ME.
Challenge Your Thoughts
It took me a long time to just decide to give them all away to a local women and children shelter. This process of unburdening of physical objects brought me many insights. One of the most powerful was the realization that I was basically unconsciously waiting for me to go back to
being a heavier body weight because ‘hey who am I to just feel great, look great and enjoy it’. I also recognized that I just plain liked a lot of the things that I could not actually wear. And another thinking pattern of ‘I’d better hang onto this just in case I will need this – and this – and that and that and that and that…..?!
Ring a bell???!!!
How EFT helped
My Tapping journey started in February 2018 with NeftTi’s DISCOVER the POWER of Conscious EFT professional training and I have been absolutely involved since. Over the years I have worked on myself using different healing modalities that I practice.
I have been a Reiki Master and Axiatonal Alignment Practitioner for the last 5 years. On top of all of this Conscious EFT just accelerated everything like a Tsunami…there is no stopping IT. With my EFT process in general and my decluttering process in particular, I’ve been on a
mission to let go and start fresh.
I definitely did not know what that was and what it would look like at the end but let me tell you it has been the BEST two years of my life on so many levels I can’t even pronounce literally. I still have challenges, after all I am a mother, wife, daughter, friend and practitioner of few energy healing modalities. Even so I have a ‘blissed out’ feeling even as I deal with them.
The Decluttering Journey
I started the decluttering process one day when I told my husband that I would not be cooking because I wanted to put a FEW things away to give away to a shelter…that day I came up with 20 garbage bags – 14 from my stuff and the rest from my husband and kids.
My 10 year old daughter has also decluttered all her clothes by herself. I’ve decluttered with my 6 year old son many bags of his toys. Throughout all this time I have done tapping as I was exhausted and drained for going through thousands of items of stuff.
This decluttering journey started on February 2019. At the moment, I am still giving away, right now I think I am at about 40 big garbage bags over the year!!
It’s truly been a great journey.
At the shelter they would tell me how great the need is for all of this thing and how appreciated the donations are. This acknowledgement motivated me to keep going with my decluttering.
Allow yourself to realise this is a challenging but rewarding experience, it was for me.
The spirit of giving
I suggest that you do some quality research before passing your items to charity. Some charities only take specific things (for example, no electrical goods) and you don’t want to be turned away after the difficult and emotional process of sorting through, loading your car and driving to the charity shop.
You may not want something or have room for it, but perhaps you can offer it to others in the family. Remember to check with your immediate family first before sending off the object!
I have saved piles of stuff for my mother and friends to come over to choose what they wanted, and I have donated to Value Village items that they would not take at the shelter.
Letting Go
To hold onto your connection with something, create something new that retains its sentimental value. Perhaps you can take a picture or store the energy in an item that you are keeping. OHhh I have created so many more new joyful experiences: new luxurious master bathroom, closets in all bedrooms, my amazing sparkly soothing office and much more.
Most of all be kind to yourself. Take time, acknowledge that this is one of the hardest things to do, accept help and reward yourself when you make progress.
OHHHH as I have done this, words cannot express what a tremendous healing experience this has been for me and continues to be.
These are a few of the tips that were really helpful to me:
Tip #1: Go into a space with a fresh set of eyes
It is easy to become blinded by clutter. Items that have been in your home for a long time but are no longer useful can sometimes become invisible to us. Try going into a space with a fresh set of eyes. When you see items that you no longer use, you can safely part with them. Easier said than done, this is where tapping made a huge difference in my parting with things.
I have blessed everything and parted happily with the intention that it will serve someone else.
Tip #2: Ask yourself if you are the best user for an item
If you are going through your things and you are wondering whether to get rid of them, then ask yourself whether you are the best user for that item. If you are, then keep it – but if not, give it away to someone who would make better use of it.
Tip #3: Lose the guilt
One of the biggest challenges we have as humans when we declutter is feelings of guilt. This is especially true if you have something that was given to you as a gift – by your mom for example – that does not exactly suit you. You hold on to that item, not because you enjoy it but because you feel guilty getting rid of it.
Here is a secret. If someone gives you a gift, they probably like you – maybe even love you – and want you to be happy. Your relationship with them does not depend on any item.
Tip #4: Always be decluttering
Here is an easy rule to remember: ABD – or Always Be Decluttering.
Whenever you are in a space, challenge yourself to be finding things that you don’t need anymore.
Decluttering can be an emotional challenge for several reasons, not the least of which is that the task can seem overwhelming –
especially if you have a space that has not been decluttered in a while. If you start small, and use some of the tips listed above, and use your EFT/tapping you will be on your way to a much more peaceful and less cluttered space.
Feeling Blessed,
Spread Kindness everywhere you can, and BE INVOLVED.
Claudia Bhagaloo