Palmer - Clutter busting your life: clearing physical and emotional clutter to reconnect with yourself and others

Clutter is so much more than the physical objects we cling to. Fortunately, Brooks Palmer is so much more than a clutter buster. The defenses, anger, and general dopiness we use to protect our tender selves are no match for his gentleness, humor, and insight. Through compelling stories and simple exercises he helps us identify and release our attachment to the stuff thats getting in the way of our happiness. Im beginning to think that Brooks might be able to clutter bust us all the way to world peace.

Clutter busting is a clever and useful term for eliminating everything in your life that does not serve you, including certain persons and relationship patterns. Clutter Busting Your Life is filled with interesting stories and useful guidance about replacing physical and emotional baggage with freedom and joyful relationships.

Both physical and emotional clutter can take up a lot of space. In Clutter Busting Your Life, Brooks Palmer provides inspiring examples, humor, and encouragement to help readers let go of clutter, along with small steps that can help people create a new and joyful life. If youre looking for ways to let go of clutter, then this book is for you.

Clutter Busting literally changed my life. Brookss gentle yet firm voice inspired me to act, to widen my eyes and take a fresh look around and undo pockets of clutter, not only in my closet and the trunk of my car but also in my heart. This book is filled with practical, useful wisdom.

I have needed this book for years, and I loved it! Brookss advice helped me clean up clutter, which gave me more time, energy, and creativity.

If you want to make your space into a transformative tool that supports your life and work, you need Clutter Busting.

Before I even finished this book, I had to start implementing some of the recommendations. By the time I read the last page, not only my home but also my family dynamic and my career were unrecognizable. It was like a miracle.

Text and illustrations copyright 2012 by Brooks Palmer

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

The material in this book is intended for educational purposes only. No expressed or implied guarantee as to the effects of the use of the recommendations can be given nor liability taken.

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Palmer, Brooks, date.

Clutter busting your life : clearing physical and emotional clutter to reconnect with yourself and others / Brooks Palmer.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-60868-079-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Self-actualization (Psychology) 2. Interpersonal relations. I. Title.

BF637.S4.P35 2012

First printing, May 2012

ISBN 978-1-60868-079-5

Printed in the USA on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to you. Thank you for being open to letting go of your false armor. Our hearts are more powerful than anything we hide behind to protect ourselves.

I never set out to write another clutter-busting book. When I finished my first book, Clutter Busting: Letting Go of Whats Holding You Back, I felt I had covered all the bases for every type of clutter. I meant it to be truly an all-purpose clutter book, the only one youd ever need. The gist of my message was: You are sacred. Your stuff is not. In that book I made clear that clutter is anything in your life that no longer serves you, and that when you get rid of that clutter, you feel better.

Then I went on a book tour around the country to promote Clutter Busting, and at every gathering people asked me questions about relationships. They understood how to deal with the clutter in their homes and offices, but they still had questions about clutter in terms of their relationships with others family members, partners, colleagues, and friends.

A common question was What should I say to my brother (or sister or friend or husband)? I hate going to his house. He has stuff all over the place. I want him to get rid of things, so what should I say so that hell do it?

Id answer, Nothing. Theres nothing you can do. You cant make somebody do something. I cant clutter bust someone in their home if theyre not open to it, and you cant either.

People seemed let down by that answer. I started to see that often another persons clutter becomes clutter for the person bothered by it. This dynamic extends to many situations. There is clutter within peoples relationships with others. Some people brought up the gifts theyd received: So-and-so gave me this thing and I dont like it, but I cant get rid of it. They feared that getting rid of the unwanted gift would upset the person or somehow be disrespectful of their relationship. That fear in itself became clutter because it interfered with the relationship between the recipient of the gift and the giver.