I already introduced you to my saying Decluttering is Self-Love, and along with that goes that I have no rules on how to declutter. Instead I introduced you to my 3 key principles for successful decluttering. Now it’s time to get you to do a Love Tour.
Don’t have time to read? Listen to this info on my podcast here.
What’s a love tour, you wonder?
The Love Tour is showing appreciation and gratitude for what you already have.
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In our hectic world it’s so easy to focus on what is not right, what’s not working, what’s bothering us, on all the clutter. But I bet you have heard this quote before
“What you focus on expands.
So focus on what you want,
not what you do not want.”
― Esther Jno-Charles
This is the basic idea behind the love tours. We don’t want to focus on the clutter, we want to focus on what we love.
We all have so much stuff that we often don’t really pay attention and appreciate every single item anymore. All these items came into our life one way or another and we decided to keep them until now.
Before we can start the process of evaluating what to let go and what to keep, it’s important to first appreciate and be grateful for all the things we have in our life. This helps us get clear what our priorities are and what matters most. That’s where the love tours come in.
There is different kinds of clutter, physical clutter including paper clutter, digital clutter, mental clutter, social clutter, and of course emotional clutter and we can take a love tour in all of those areas:
The Home and Office Love Tour
Let’s start with the most obvious, your home which is a reflection of your soul. It’s like a second skin, ideally it’s your sanctuary, so take the love tour and become aware of all the amazing stuff you have and be grateful for it. Look at it all with fresh eyes, really notice all the beauty around you.
What is it that you really do love about your home? Maybe how the morning sun makes patterns on your living room wall? Wander through your house, include your balcony, patio and garden, even the garage if you have one and the attic
Try to recall what it was that drew you to this home in the first place.
Look around, and for a few minutes, appreciate everything in your home and environment. Say quietly to yourself: “I appreciate all this” to reinforce the effect. You could also take a few minutes and make a list on a piece of paper or in your journal on what it is that you love about your home.
The Papers Love Tour
Next, we want to appreciate the papers that you have in your home, because so many of us are stressed out and overwhelmed and we completely forget to admire our brain’s ability to do something with them.
Isn’t it amazing that our eyes can scan the symbols on the papers and our brains can translate them into meaningful information?
It is a fairly new thing in human evolution that we can read and write but since we now live in the information age where more information is available to us than ever before in the history of humankind, it’s easy to take it for granted.
Instead, take a tour through your home and find the papers that are full of meaning for you, a great book you loved reading, a magazine with beautiful images and lovely stories, a love letter from your partner, a postcard from a friend.
Appreciate what you have and admire yourself and your brain for the ability to read it
The Digital Love Tour
Ok we did two love tours so far, now let’s do another one, let’s do a love tour around all digital. Start by appreciating all the amazing tools you have at your fingertips these days that make your life easier.
For example, our computer, tablets and smartphones. Each one more advanced and powerful than all the computers NASA had when they sent the first man to the moon back in 1969! But we just take it for granted.
Take a tour through our home and find all the items and gadgets that help you create digital files (for better or worse) and appreciate how they make your life richer and better.
Then take a tour through your smartphone and computer, check out all the photos you have, the apps that connect you with loved ones that might live in a place far away from you like WhatsApp or Viber or other messenger apps. Haven’t those things been a life-saver during the hard months of the pandemic?
It’s worth taking a moment to really appreciate it all.
The Mental, Emotional and Social Love Tour
Last but not least, think about what you love about your life in general, your family, your friends, your career or business. Yes, we might be very busy or even stressed in our life, overwhelmed with work, annoyed with family members etc etc but we couldn’t imagine being without these things and connections either.
Appreciate your beautiful brain for being able to solve problems, process information and form beliefs, to remember good and bad times, and to think ahead and make plans.
We take all these things for granted and by doing so we miss how amazing this all is.
By becoming aware of it all, consciously we slow down and start tuning in and learn how we are truly feeling about all this. By focusing on the positive things that we have amongst all the clutter it becomes more obvious what we want to change and what things, thoughts, situations or people we want to let go in our life.
The ideal way of identifying your areas of clutter is by taking each love tour a second time. This time you do pay attention to cluttered zones and you notice how it overshadows the beautiful areas that you just discovered and appreciated.
Pull out your journal and make a plan, write down what you want to change or what doesn’t belong. Make a list of all the areas, whether they are in your home, your office, around papers, digital files, and even when you look at your calendar, your obligations etc.
Think how you would want these areas ideally to look like and then start with a small and not too personal area and clear the clutter for a few minutes. You can listen to my episode 4 for more detailed instructions and where we do a 5 minute decluttering session together.
Always remember, a few minutes a day keeps the chaos away.
CONNY GRAF
Conny Graf is a Swiss certified Expert in Finance & Accounting, a certified Clutter Clearing Practitioner, Astrologer, Coach, Podcaster and the founder and owner of From Chaos to Peace Consulting Inc.
She’s helping people create supportive, clutter-free environments in their home, office, files, and finances but more importantly, she helps them develop habits and systems that prevent clutter from creeping back in. Clutter Clearing is not just about purging and organizing, it’s about exploring and releasing the limiting beliefs we tell ourselves and the stories that keep us stuck in the past. Dealing with clutter brings us up-to-date with who we are right now and where we are heading in your life and business while being organized is simply a side-effect.
Her mission is to help people understand that decluttering is self-love, and a few minutes a day keep the clutter away. Come on a journey from chaos to peace with ease.
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