My 8-week Journey to a Clear Mind & a Clear Space has entered its 4th week. It’s a pivotal mid-point and my students will discover that I have surprises for them. One is an extra organizing project and the other is built-in time to rest or get caught-up. I never presume that the reader drops everything in their life just to work on projects with me or change their mindset about stuff. We’re all human on this Journey, right?

The topic of the possessions of the departed has surfaced in the group Q&A and privately in notes to me more than a few times. Today I am going to give you some help if the burden isn’t about inherited furniture and decorative items but rather paper and memorabilia. It can stack up and block energy more effectively than a cement wall. If this is you and sounds familiar, read on and get some tips. If it refers to someone dear to you, see if you can find a few words of wisdom. Offer them only when your friend or relative opens the door. They already carry shame over those piles. They will perceive you as adding to the pain if you offer unsolicited advice.

Organizing Takes Preparation

Yes, it’s wise to have boxes or sturdy bags on hand to transport what is leaving the home. This is the easy part in many ways and includes the following:

• If you know a mound of stuff is going to exit and your trash cans will be full in a nano second, rent a dumpster.

• Contact charities who make pick ups or find out what they need and load your vehicle for a drop off. No vehicle? I bet you know someone who does.

• Contact relatives and friends of the departed to see if they would like a memento.

These are the types of preparation everyone thinks about when faced with this task. Kudos to you if this is all familiar ground. This is not, however, the preparation I am considering.

1. The Physical

You live in a body. You are going to make mental, emotional and physical demands on it as you do this process. You need to be tuned up and at your best. Here are my favorite ways to achieve this state:

• Eat a nutrient dense meal

• Drink water & stay hydrated

• Get a good night’s sleep

• Plan a little exercise. I refer here to something like a 15 minute walk around the block with Fido not preparation for a marathon

• Be sure you have healthy snacks on hand. This is a time for protein rich food not pretzels and ding dongs.

2. The Mental/Emotional

Preparing your body is key but all of the above go into the crapper if you don’t have a way to deal with the stress this work inevitably brings with it. Here are my 3 favorite tools to help you go from frazzled and afraid to in control:

• Meditation

• Breath Work

• Aromatherapy

These are by no means the only tools but they are powerful and universal. Perhaps you feel that picking the right music is all you need or dancing for 10 minutes is your release. It isn’t important how you de-stress only that you have tools. If meditation and breath work are exotic and a little scary to you try a few basic practices and see how they make you feel. I teach a few in my New York Times best seller One Year to an Organized Life and in my 8-week Journey course. (Details at Website.) In the latter I also introduce you to famous practitioners so you have a clue where to head after your initial encounter.

3. The Battle Plan

Imagine a great general going into a battle without any kind of plan. He has no idea how many troops he has or where they are stationed. And he has no clue about the enemy he faces. He’s going to prepare for nothing and hope for the best. I don’t know about you but I’d be looking for the door marked ‘exit.’ Here are a few tips to help you. Your plan by the way will include some of the items I mentioned in the opening paragraphs. I’m considering here your literal modus operandi.

• Remembering that the whole of anything is overwhelming. Break your project into small workable sections. Lets say my living room has vanished as a place to sit and relax. It is now cluttered with piles of stuff. Not only are the possessions of the departed here but also my things that gathered during a period of mourning. If I look at the entire room, I will be overwhelmed. I therefore narrow things down into work zones. Your zone might be a corner of the room, the drawers of a desk or the top of a table. You need to bite off what you can indeed chew. Your success will build on itself.

• Before you begin in your chosen area, take a visual sweep of the room. Take an honest, objective look and ask yourself: “Is there any item here that screams to be tossed or donated? There is no question it’s leaving and I can remove it from this room ASAP. This action will instantly change the energy in the room and help you move from stuck to empowered.

• As you face your chosen area, you are moving from item to item. Do not open a drawer, for example, and say: “Oh! Yes! I want all of this.” You have to touch each item and weigh its importance to your future. Do you need it, want it, plan on using it? Are you somehow afraid you will make a mistake? That’s a big fear and a common one. Or is this you being loyal to the wishes of the departed?

• Keep related items together. What if you have 50 fabulous hand embroidered cloth napkins from your late Aunt Tilly. You want to honor her so your knee jerk response is to save them all. Let’s ask a key question: do you entertain frequently? Will you want to launder and iron these napkins after every dinner party? Or are we talking about your once a year holiday feast? There is no right or wrong. There is reality vs sentiment.

• Finally you will be in a room that has been divested of everything that needs to be tossed or donated. The energy will be flowing better and your decision making prowess will be developing. Now we need to look at these categories and organize them them so that you have them where you need them. As you view your categories you may be shocked to realize that you do in fact not need those 50 fabulous napkins. This is the time to be sure they find a great home. I don’t mean you have to call or write family and friends until you find the perfect repository. Sometimes it’s a charity and you need to trust that the universe will direct the perfect person into the store. You are a conduit for the transfer not the agent of delivery.

This is a big topic so give yourself a minute to digest it all. The Journey group meets Live for 8 Saturdays and we earmarked this coming Saturday for a discussion of the possessions of the dead. These discussions are recorded and saved for members to view anytime.

In the meantime I’d love to hear from you. What have been your challenges in this area? What solutions did you employ? How do you feel now on the other side of the challenge. And how long ago was this? Please feel free to add anything you feel is going to be of service to those who are struggling. Let’s join hands and get this done!