Does letting go of a thing also let go of the memory of that thing?
A philosophical question for sure! I’ve been in the process of letting go of things for a little while now. After living in the same house for over 25 years many things have accumulated. My being a book lover, lifelong learner and photographer have not helped.
Here are a few things I’ve learned about our stuff.
You may ask, why let go of anything? Well, I like my stuff. I’m a bit of a paper collector. Letting go of clothes, knick-knacks, etc. has not been too bad. I won’t say easy, because I am a sentimental person. But books, school-related papers, greeting cards, and photographs have been hard. Can you relate?
Books –
My Best friend Z – a minimalist who likes empty spaces and has helped me in the past gave me this advice. “You can keep 200 for yourself.” She suggested that I write down the titles of the ones I resist letting go of and give the books to someone you know will use them. Then give the rest to a charity.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. This book helped me in its methodology. The author breaks our belongings into categories and has a system for helping you discover what to let go of. I found it helpful.
Cards –
Dr. Joe Dispenza. Recently I heard a talk by Dr. Dispenza that has really helped me and maybe it will help you too. I was puzzling over why I had a hard time letting go of greeting cards.
Dr. Dispenza talked about how we’re often controlled by our body in terms of emotions. Our mind says to let something go, but our body says no. When we come across something that brings up an event of the past, our mind doesn’t know the difference between the actual event and the memory of the event. So our body reacts in the same way it did at the time of the event.
For a celebratory moment – graduation, birthday, etc. we feel that rush of good sentiments. Being that the card brings those back, it makes it harder to let it go. Some tips might be to take a picture of the card, cut off the front of a pretty card and frame it (don’t put it in a box to frame later), make a vision board with the front of the card or the writing inside, but let go what you can.
On the downside, the same applies. For instance, I have a stack of cards sent to me when my mother died. Those feelings of sadness and grief come right back and throwing them out makes me feel guilty. I have already thanked the people who sent them, now I need to document them or just let them go. Even saying it makes me feel lighter.
School papers –
What the heck am I holding on to them for? After much contemplation, I can say it’s because I love learning. But it is also for validation that I did the work. Well, I have the diploma on the wall that says I did the work, so I don’t really need all the notes, now do I?
Here again, I think, I might need these notes on marketing or on brain anatomy someday. Really? So I ask myself how does my body feel when I think about those papers sitting in a box. It feels weighed down, it’s been a project I’ve put off for some time. If I visualize letting it go, how do I feel? Like I can breathe, lighter in spirit and all the wiser.
Photographs –
The hardest one of all – Whew! I have pictures that I took and also am the holder of many of the family memories (pictures from my dad). I have them in albums, boxes, on slides, on my computer and on multiple jump drives as well as about 2000 in my camera right now.
I love to take photographs – it definitely elevates me. I also love to look at the photographs – for all the great memories they evoke. What feels like an anchor weighing me down is doing anything with them beyond shooting and viewing.
Now I am at the point of offering them to other family members, as appropriate, categorizing the favorites, and letting the rest go. After all, when I’m no longer here, someone else will have to go through all these things and will probably throw them out.
My Suggestion
So friends, if you’re in the process of downsizing or minimizing or just reconnecting with your stuff, there are many resources and methods out there. After having gone through it recently, you may want to try this:
1. Use your intuition and your body to make decisions on what to keep, give away or throw out.
2. Hold it in your hand and if your body resonates with happiness – keep it. If your body feels weighed down and foggy – let it go so you can Rise Up!
Let me know how this works for you or if you have another suggestion. We welcome your comments below.
Yes! Love these suggestions Ann. I’ve been in the letting go of process for 2 years now…continuing into 2019 will make it 3. Love your suggestion to use the body as a way to decide to keep or let go of something. I’ve found that doing a little bit at a time seems to make the process more palatable. Also scheduling time to do some clearing everyday helps raise my energy because I feel accomplished and since I’ve made ‘space’ on so many levels. I feel lighter.