Day 6 - A Year to Clear - Four Pathways of Clearing

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Lesson 6 - Four Pathways of Clearing

I'm running a bit behind today as I am not feeling well at all, so apologies to anyone wanting to read this post in a timely manner.

Today's lesson is more about setting up a clear method of 4 tools that will make this journey easier during this year of clearing. Stephanie Bennett Vogt has developed these 4 elements to be integrated into our daily routines and expand our thinking. They are:

  • Intention
  • Action
  • Non-Identification
  • Compassion

    All 4 are to work with each other and in turn. We set our intention with building self awareness which causes a major change in our thought processes towards clarity. I'd like to think I usually set intentions via meditation or even taking a moment to really tell myself that I'm going to do it. Action gets things into motion after setting an intention. Non-identification is becoming a "silent observer" during this one year exercise. To relax, to accept things without over thinking, to not form attachment and not to burden yourself with taking things personally. Usually when we have things we want to clear, there is a feeling that triggers us and it's about removing those immediate reactions. I know I get feelings come up during decluttering. This may seem like disconnection though we fuel it with compassion next. We direct compassion towards our self. We want to love ourselves, we want to accept all of our self as well as feed self care. We need to accept our faults, failures that occur in life, and also disappointment. This is something I've been actively trying to change in my life which definitely comes with more self awareness. We need to be gentle and start noticing the feelings we gain after each clearing interaction. Stephanie advises when we live with compassion in this way, we gain nourishment and feel safe within ourselves to truly let it all go.

Sounds pretty heavy and yet everything Stephanie puts forth makes sense. This 4 way method is like a well oiled machine and we're the drivers. I did a major declutter recently and the feeling of getting it done was like this massive relief. I know when I look at what I've reduced, there is still a lot I can let go. It's part of the reason why I am doing this year to clear. I have a lot of attached memories or feel like I need to keep things when I don't really need to. I mean, how will anyone know that I own these possessions or not? No one asks about them so who am I keeping them for really? Most of the time the items I don't even think about so why do I keep it to collect dust and take up space? I've got a bit of work to do. 

We were left with one question: "So what is one simple task you can adopt that incorporates the four pathways?" Mine is quite simple. I want to clear all this stationary I have but never use. I don't know why I've been holding onto it, I think "because it's mine". But, I need to let it go because it's just physical excess I don't need. I will sort through what's useable and what's not, give away to charity or to a friends daughter who will make use of it, tell myself it's going towards good use and that it's not going to make a difference to my life once it's gone.