Tisha Morris - Clutter Intervention: How Your Stuff Is Keeping You Stuck

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Clutter Intervention: How Your Stuff Is Keeping You Stuck 2018 by Tisha Morris.

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First e-book edition 2018

E-book ISBN: 9780738754468

Cover design by Shira Atakpu

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Morris, Tisha, author.

Title: Clutter intervention : how your stuff is keeping you stuck / Tisha

Morris.

Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications,

[2018]

Identifiers: LCCN 2017044487 (print) | LCCN 2017047378 (ebook) | ISBN

9780738754468 (ebook) | ISBN 9780738753263 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Storage in the home. | Orderliness. | House cleaning. |

Personal belongings--Psychological aspects.

Classification: LCC TX309 (ebook) | LCC TX309 .M67 2018 (print) | DDC

648/.8dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017044487

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my mom and dad.

I am forever grateful for your role in helping me
create a foundation of what home is.
Wherever I go, you are with me and I am always home.

Acknowledgments

The decluttering process is not just about letting goits a discovery of whats truly important to you. The years leading up to writing this book were filled with both. In 2012, I sold everything and drove cross-country to Los Angeles to start over. Since then, Ive moved six timeseach with new considerations of what to keep and what to let go of.

The impetus to writing this book, however, was the sudden passing of my mom. When I looked at the things she left behind, I began to see our stuff through a different lens. I began to see how we fill our homes and our lives with fillers. We are living amongst our own cover-up.

What are we covering up? Its unique to each of us, and the journey is yours to discover. You will find your authentic self at the bottom of the pile. And what is most enriching to you will rise to the surface and be mirrored in all areas, especially the people in your life. It is those people I would like to acknowledge.

Thank you to everyone at Llewellyn Publications, especially Angela Wix. I appreciate the continued support beyond words.

I want to give a long overdue acknowledgment to Theda Day. You have been an unwavering fan, friend, confidante, catalyst, and general coconspirator to this crazy life. Most of all, you have been my witness. Thank you.

I also want to thank my soulstice sister, Kellen Brugman, for sharing this journey with me. You blazed the trail and then walked with me during the best and worst of days.

I also want to thank my sister and familyLeslie, Bobby, Joshua, and Ericafor being a rock when I felt like sand.

And finally, I want to thank Rachel Lang for picking me up on that fateful day at the airport when I truly needed picking up. You continue to show up when I need you the most. Your support, encouragement, and love are unending, and I am so grateful to have you as a partner. I love you and all your kitchen gadgets with all my heart. One day I will write a love story and it will be for you.

Until then, I write about spaces and how we can use them to heal our life. I want to thank youthe readerfor investing your time and energy in reading this book. I think you will find it life-changing. I hope so. I want you to live out your wildest dreams. Go forth and let go. Create space for your true loveyourself.

Contents

Your Home Is a Mirror: What Are You Projecting?

Identity Crises: Who Am I?

Stuck on You: Past Relationships

I Am What I Did: Past Careers and Jobs

The Glory Days: Past Associations,
Accomplishments, and Stories

What Could Have Been: Unhealed Wounds
and Unresolved Grief

Too Much of a Good Thing: Overcompensation
of Identity

To Keep or Not to Keep: Common Cover Excuses

The Digital Clutter Crisis: Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

Clutter Clearing Step-by-Step: Roll Up Your Sleeves

Introduction

In 2010, I released my first book, Feng Shui Your Life: The Quick Guide to Decluttering Your Home and Renewing Your Life , which dealt primarily with the practicalities of decluttering. After releasing past relationships through my own decluttering process, I understood and appreciated the power of releasing the past and wanted to share the benefits I experienced.

In my subsequent books, Mind, Body, Home: Transform Your Life One Room at a Time and Decorating With the Five Elements of Feng Shui , I explored all facets of feng shui and the nuances of energy in our spaces. I enjoyed the break from writing and teaching about clearing clutter and honestly had no intention of revisiting the topic. That is, until January 2016, when my mom suddenly passed away.

I grew up in a neat and orderly home. I learned organization and proper decorating by example from my mom. Home was always a place of pride, from decorating tours to entertaining friends. In fact, I often wondered why the topic of decluttering had become such a big part of my work. Anytime I facilitated a feng shui workshop, regardless of the intended topic, it inevitably came around to questions about clearing clutter. Ive always been conscientious about my stuff, making routine donation drop-offs. Usually, you teach what you most need to learn. What did I need to learn?