I know that I sound like a broken record but we are in a time of retrograded planets and today I want to talk about Jupiter. He is the planet of growth and expansion who pushes us out into the world to learn, grow, change and understand life. This period of retrograde is a perfect time to go deep inside and find the blockages that keep us stuck. What is keeping you from taking that bucket list trip? Why have you stopped learning, reading, exploring? Do you feel like life is one big bore but you can’t seem to get out of the hole? Essentially it is great time to clean out those cobwebs to make room for new potential.
I have asked my friend Julie Gray, a holistic time coach and organizer who helps people eliminate overwhelming blockages and enjoy more peace of mind – even when life gets crazy to show us one thing we can do in this time of retrograde to get back on track.
A Simple Trick to Relieve Clutter Anxiety
Do any of the following scenarios feel familiar?
Scenario #1: Paper
You’ve just got the mail and are staring at the latest donation request. You start to feel decision-paralysis creeping in. Should you keep it? Send them money now? Toss it and feel guilty?
Suddenly, your attention is caught by a bill that needs to be paid. You know right where this bill goes so you set down the donation request on the table.
Boom: your latest paper pile forms.
Scenario #2: Email
You receive an email from a local art studio letting you know about their new pottery classes. You’ve always wanted to take one but aren’t sure if you’ve really got the time. But if you don’t schedule this now how you will possibly remember to do it in the future?
As you mull over the options your attention is grabbed by an email from a friend. You “set aside” the decision about pottery classes or leave the email open so you are reminded to come back to it.
Boom: Another email loop is left unfinished.
Scenario #3: Tasks
You finish reading a book that your friend would love to read. It is so special that you decide to mail her a copy. You make a note on your to-do list to get this done right away. Three weeks go by and you are still guiltily transferring this task to the next day’s to do list vowing that it really will get done tomorrow.
Boom: your to-do list has become a nagging reminder list.
Scenario #4: Stuff
“Wow! Thanks Aunt Susie for this neat thingamajig! I can’t wait to use it…never.”
We often receive stuff from other people. Stuff we didn’t ask for. It might be nice, it might be thoughtful and yet if you don’t have an immediate use for something it stays in your office, car, or that corner in the dining room. It collects dust. It annoys you until it fades into the background you don’t see it anymore.
Boom: your new pile of clutter is born.
Clutter-is-unmade
As veteran professional organizer, Barbara Hemphill famously said decades ago, “Clutter is unmade decisions.”
What I am attempting to illustrate in these scenarios is just how easy it is not to make a decision in the moment – which is of course is a decision. But it is a passive/avoidant strategy that gnaws at us and fills us with frustration and anxiety. We know we haven’t fully “dealt” with something and are just delaying a decision.
There is Another Way
Here is where it gets interesting.
What if I told you that this habitual non-decision decision was really a good strategy?
What if I told you there was only one thing about it that needed to change in order for it to release your anxiety and frustration?
It is this: Intentionally Ripening.
Often, when we are presented with a decision we really can’t/don’t want to/don’t have enough information to make in the moment. This is normal. Often there needs to be time to allow a decision to “ripen”. This is time between the arrival of a new decision and the decision itself when information is gathered, intuition is checked, and priorities are prioritized.
Often this “ripening” is happening anyway. What I am suggesting is that you make this “ripening” stage intentional.
So often you absent-mindedly set down a paper, email, gift from your co-worker with the intention of going back to it soon. And when we don’t this non-decision decision can leave behind a nasty residue of low-grade anxiety.
But if you intentionally opted to delay the decision – to allow space for it to ripen – you will feel relief. You will know that you will come back around to it and make the decision much more easily at a later date.
Catching this habitual “putting off pattern” is an act of mindfulness.
When you catch the setting down of paper, the delayed decision in the moment, the procrastination of a task – you have given yourself a choice.