Could you use a little inspiration from those who are on, or have been, on this clearing path? From day one to third year reflections, below you’ll find a wide range of experiences shared by others on this journey.
Slowly “Blown Away” – Day 9. Hello! As one who has done everything from Flylady to Kondo, (and learned a FEW things along the way) I want to communicate to you that your [spacious way] approach feels different, and for me, it feels right. Reading Lesson 9 today, I was slowly “blown away”. What you are shedding light on is much deeper than how-to tips, of which I have read a million. Today, I have been contemplating how I relate to disorder in my life, patterns learned as a young, young child and all the way along… and of course, which I have managed to unconsciously pass to my own grown children. Often you caution “even if this makes no sense”. Honestly, on a whole other level for me, it is absolutely making sense. Thank you, I am enjoying the process. ––B.D., book participant, A Year to Clear
Little by Little Ends Up Being a Lot – Day 28… 4 weeks already – It is incredible how much lighter I feel. Really I never thought it would be so fast. I brought to [Salvation Army] a load of stuff that were sitting here… I started to paint my hallway… I started yoga classes that I always find excuses not to take… Little by little good things happen to me without me reaching out, so cannot wait to see the new me at the end of the year. ––G.S., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
Something Came Unstuck – Day 50. I recall Dick Cavett once saying of his depression that if there were a magic stick sitting across the room that he could wave and make himself feel completely better, that he could not drag himself across the room to pick it up. That was how I felt when I looked at the disorder all around me. It was there and I just couldn’t do anything about it, couldn’t begin to approach it. I don’t know what happened. The first thing I remember is doing the guided visualization house tour with Stephanie. I became aware that my entry to my house was a pile of clutter that I had to walk past every time I came and went. I paused to talk to it, promising it that I would acknowledge it over the coming week. I went and moved a couple of brain-dead items of obvious trash, noticed some buried treasure of art supplies, breathed, didn’t judge, and let myself be okay with it. I decided the first thing I would take on would be the interior of my car, because people could SEE in there, and they must wonder what my house looked like! It didn’t take long and it felt great! Something came unstuck and I just changed. It was like an avalanche. I started clearing drawers, closets, pantries, old piles of magazines and clothes and papers and every kind of detritus that had been lying around for years. And as someone put it, I have discovered “the pleasure of putting things back”. So, if I tell you new members to expect miracles, that’s what I’m talking about. The chaos on the outside is a mirror of the inside. The peace around me reflects my calm and soothes me. ––J.W., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
Unwinding – Day 59. For me, I began to notice that I was a heck of a lot more ‘wound up’ than I realized. I really didn’t see myself as a stressed or tense person, but doing these lessons (reading, reflecting, journaling, doing the small exercises) really woke me up to layers of distress that were under all the clutter! In less than 2 months of doing this course I am seeing some very significant changes. I noticed recently that I have pretty much totally stopped bringing excess into my house and I don’t even know when I stopped exactly – I wasn’t even thinking about it. That is a major shift. ––V.B., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
Good Decisions, Bad Decisions – Day 90. All this clearing has given me a lot of space, in my head and in my house. But it seems like the way I know this is from lifelong experience. And most of that time I was feeling that I wasn’t enough, I didn’t have enough, and utterly terrified that there might not be enough. I love the story of the young man who asks the older man how he’s become successful, and the answer is “good decisions”. And when he asks how did you learn to make good decisions, the answer is “bad decisions.” And the story of the artist with the wonderful painting. When asked how long it took him to paint it, he said “four hours, and my whole life.” So it’s all the stuff we do and think through the years that adds up to getting to where we are: uncomfortable, comfortable, worried, calm, sorrowful, peaceful. Could I really have been at this good place any sooner? Maybe. Maybe not. I do believe that the daily lessons of this course have made a huge difference. The readings I’ve been doing the last couple of years pointed to this. But it’s the daily embedding of these thoughts into my being that has changed my world for so much the better. Thank you all for all of your sharing. Thank you Stephanie… Looking forward to the next 275 days!! ––E.R., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
Breathing Room – I began this process on Dec. 31 and was initially skeptical about receiving such short messages every day. Now I see that the slow drip method is working. This week’s lessons about clearing just one thing have been especially powerful… Just hanging up a jacket or picking something up off the floor gives the energy room to move. I can almost feel the room breathing. ––B.B., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
Life is Newly Evolving – “You’re Never Too Old to be New” – Day 133. “Just finished writing about Lesson 133~ All I can say at this point is: I am so profoundly grateful and glad I am taking this course! Not a whole lot . . YET . . . has changed in the house, but OMG !!! I so know stuff has changed INSIDE ME! I can feel it, sense it, realize all that I am doing that I’ve not done before. I feel good about myself in a new way. I am doing things, per our lessons, that I have not done before, and on a rather regular basis. Little project after little project is getting done. I don’t even care about a deadline, I am just doing. Not frantically, but steadily moving in a FLOW… All I want to say to anyone who might be discouraged, or feeling like its “not working” . . . IT IS WORKING . . . believe me . . . just keep doing it one day at a time . . . even if all you do is just read the lesson. Of course writing it out each day really helps me A LOT~! Anyway. Thank you SBV. My life is newly evolving. I have a new saying for myself: “You’re never too old to be new.” And I just keep doing, flowing and thanking.” ––Aryel P., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
Stay With It – Day 216. This course definitely works. It tends to sneak up on you so stay with it… I’m looking around my apartment and seeing the physical changes I’ve made during this year and it’s so satisfying. Inside, I’m less fearful, less depressed, less overwhelmed at everything and even a bit kinder, so although I’ve a long way to go, every day I make some progress… You’ve given yourselves a great present to celebrate and when you look back next year this time, you’ll be so pleased at the changes you’ve made. ––B.B., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
Deeper and Deeper – Day 223. I love the way this course sort of spirals. Coming to similar themes and gradually going deeper and deeper…. wow… I am amazed how much these 223 days have helped me. I feel like I am accelerating in the momentum now and ready to clear, clear, clear, which means more and more self care! ––M.M., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
I Did It!!! – DAY # 365 WOW, I did it!!! My image of myself WAS a starter not on finisher, spacey not spacious, forgetful, dizzy… my self image is forever changed! I am less spacey and more spacious, I’m more intentional and less irrational, more compassionate and less limiting, more reflective and less ruminating, more observant and less clingy… not to mention my house is more organized and has less clutter (stuff that no longer serves me or my lifestyle) thank you Stephanie Bennett Vogt and TRIBE for traveling with me. BEST wishes to all on this path! What you are doing here is Worthy! Just now I put “drip drip” in my calendar as a daily reminder to keep it up. ––D.L.E., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
Going for Year # 2 – Thank you, Stephanie. Your course is an amazing gift to the world. I am so grateful I responded to the Facebook ad! This year I’m settling down with your book, A Year To Clear. Now it’s the day after and I read Day 1. And this time, I “got” it! The additional material was really helpful. ––S.G.R., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
A Year to Clear – One Year Later – Day 365. Today is my last day on this course (day 365)!!! A year ago I joined it on May 1, right after I had major surgery. I had also recently lost my major client, and released a go-nowhere relationship. To say I was in a challenging time would be an understatement. I journaled the first week to Stephanie’s prompts about the clearing I was looking for. But then for the first four months, I really just read the daily lessons, and didn’t do very much about them. Then one day… I pulled one file folder out of my drawer… and started going through it. Things very slowly took on more momentum, until eventually I gave the first part of 2016 a theme of “clearing.” I went through every old box and file I had ever kept or stored (which was A LOT), and also began to clear out my aunt’s old belongings from her house, even though I’d already lived in her old house for five years!!! I would say that the biggest insight to me was Stephanie’s concept of “weather” — all the “stuff” that comes up when you move old energy. Not being afraid to let that come up and move through emotionally and physically is what allowed me to keep going. Nowadays I am even keeping my space clear and clean in a way I never did before. It feels like a gift to myself instead of a chore I resist. In terms of my life, I bumped up revenues from another client (though I still need to build business); healed from surgery and got stronger than before (I can do two pull ups so far, and could never do any my entire life!); and have decided to create space in my life to foster children in a year or so! I can also see the steps in front of me with a clarity I did not have before. Really amazing. I did not expect these results in terms of clearing my stuff and house much less my life. Thank you for your work and insights, Stephanie ––C.L., online course participant, A Year to Clear What’s Holding You Back!
Year Two – 18 Months Later – YTC year two and still learning. My daughter and I are now reading and following Stephanie’s book. The journey continues. New insights are around every corner but now rather than being aghast at what I didn’t see yesterday. Oh, the magic of this drip system. This morning while getting up to first straighten my bedside table and make the bed (a habit now) I saw my nice straightened night stand neatly STACKED with lovely half read books. A very sweet gentle voice said, “A stack is a clutter”. Was that you Stephanie? The stacks will be my one minute project for today. But before you nod off in boredom, I trotted off to start my day already feeling flattened by what I felt needed to be done to maintain my home, life, family, and pets. I began grabbing here, dropping there, swiping this counter and carrying that to the laundry. I recognized the exhausting frenzied feeling as I faced a washing machine that needed to be filled and a dryer full of needing folded and put away clothes. I stopped, took a deep breath, congratulated myself for my compassionate awareness and retreated to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, a bowl of oatmeal and the pets breakfast. After a good measure of doggie kisses and an extra spoon of brown sugar on my cereal, my fight or flight response under control I am now ready to drip into the rest of my day. What a difference a year and a half on this program makes. ––S.P.C., online course and book participant, A Year to Clear
The Insights, Growth, Tears, and Laughter Continue – I heard about your books from a friend who is a professional organizer. I bought a note book and began right away with A Year to Clear. What an adventure it still is. I finished it in a year and a half. Some days took me many days to complete, the insights, growth, tears and laughter continue. As soon as I finished I began again, this time the friend who told me about it, wanted to do it with me. She was amazed at all I got from going through your book day by day. So many of the things you suggested I use over and over like the Letting Go Ritual. I thank you sincerely for how much of yourself you put into this book; you certainly have made a Huge difference in my life. Many Blessings to You. ––TW, book participant, A Year to Clear
Downsizing – A Perfect Companion – I have been working through this book [A Year to Clear] over the last 57 days in a program meant to take 365 days. Having tried countless “organization” advice books over the years to very little success, I have to say that this one is actually HELPING. I’m currently downsizing from a 7-bedroom home into a 2-bedroom apartment, and have been bringing hundreds of boxes from storage, working feverishly trying to assimilate, to donate, to organize. It’s an enormous, and very emotional job. This book has been a perfect companion, because Vogt understands that this sort of work is not just about being organized. It is about being an archivist of your own life, and about understanding the deep emotional tangle that develops around belongings and habits. I recommend this book highly, and look forward each morning to reading that day’s chapter. It has been a real success so far. ––D.S., book participant, A Year to Clear
Clearing with Others – Book Group Update – Hi Stephanie! Just wanted to send you a follow up email about your Chicago satellite group 🙂 . It’s been going very, very well, and we all love your book. One of my friend’s job situation has changed for the better and now has a few exciting job prospects in the horizon, and she truly believes it’s because she de-cluttered and thus opened room for these opportunities. So exciting to see the metamorphosis of this one person! The other 3 of us have also been excited about our clearing journeys – ranging from basements, to email inboxes, to smaller steps (like you say – one paper clip at a time). Since I have 2 little ones, I’ve been on the smaller side – for example, cleaning up the sippy cup level of that drawer, or the lazy Susan, or one bathroom. A powerful exercise in that regard has been the one for everything having its place – just putting the dental floss back every night in the same place has been MIND BLOWING!! Truly! And has flowed into other areas! Another powerful unexpected outcome for me has been the “weather management” – how when I stub my toe or ten hats fall on my head, I just let it be THAT – a stubbed toe or ten hats on the ground, instead of the good old days when it snowballed into so much more. Granted, some days I can’t help that, but overall, I’ve been AMAZED at the change in that regard!! I’ve read a few other feng shui or decluttering books, and yours goes way beyond the rest – it’s SOOOO holistic – such a combination – not just de-cluttering, but good soul stuff too! What a gift this book is! It has changed my life! Thank you Stephanie!!! ––A.C., Clearing Circle participant
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Konmari or Spacious: Readers Weigh In
