It doesn’t matter how small an item is, if it’s in the way of your life, it’s big.

Over the weekend I worked with a client who had a big storage container of many little items. As we went through the things, he said they seemed insignificant to him, and wondered if it was worth his time to go through them. I said, “It doesn’t matter how small an item is, if it’s in the way of your life, it’s big.” The thing is the collection of all the clutter in our lives is a tremendous weight. It’s oppressive to our well being. When we begin to let it go, we get our lives back.

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The other day I was cleaning the bedroom, and I accidentally bumped into a metal rod hiding behind the curtains. It hit my ribs and hurt a lot. I had to lay down on the bed. I groaned, feeling like a dummy. But then I started to laugh because no matter how careful I am, dumb stuff happens. Not that I’m dumb. It’s just sometimes that’s the way things go.

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I worked with a client who had a large number of things she’d saved over the years. She had hidden them away in storage containers. She didn’t want to go through them because their presence intimidated her. I encouraged her saying it would bring her relief. She agreed. We went through piece-by-piece. She couldn’t believe she’d hung on to the stuff for so long. Pretty much all of it went into the trash, recycling, or a donation box. I said she was letting go of the history museum of her life. When we hold on to and protect the past, we leave little or no room for our life today. As long as we’re alive, right now is the best and most satisfying place to be.