You’re reading my blog so you probably already know that I’m full-on passion and purpose driven around two subjects, Stuffology™ and Space Clearing. These live in my eco-system of Energy Work and yes, both services definitely do impact you and the energy in your home!
I started doing decluttering and organizing with clients when I was 19 years old. My own journey started way before that though. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved and been magnetically drawn to sorting through my belongings. I came to discover, as an adult, that this odd propensity was how wee Me would self soothe, calm my nervous system, and create a world that made a little more sense. My childhood home life could be hectic and confusing and honestly, sometimes my family and the way it operated, did not make sense. As a little kid, I reconciled that by deliberating impacting the one thing I could, my stuff.
This practice, way beyond traditional decluttering and organizing, became my sacred ground, my safe space, my zen. At age 19, I started working with clients! Okay, so my first client was my step-mom’s best friend, but still. She was a paying client and I was hired to help her go through her entire house in the aftermath of a brutal, unwanted divorce which culminated in her needing to sell her home. She and I got the job done and I continued to work with more clients.
I enjoyed the work in these early days but I also didn’t. It was often exhausting, heavy, and I’d arrive home after a session and find I’d need to sleep for hours. About a decade into doing clutter clearing/organizing, I started to puzzle out why I always get so fatigued and depleted. Turns out, it really had so much to do with overwhelm, judgment, and the range of other emotions so many of us have about our belongings. I was picking up on all of this when i worked with clients. I went on to rename my work Stuffology, which felt way more like the deep experience I began to create for and with clients when I saw (and felt!) that the support they needed was multi-layered.
In my late 20’s I came upon my other great love, Space Clearing. Ironically, the way I was led to Space Clearing started out when I suddenly becoming really sick. I was working at a corporate job in Seattle, Washington and one day, early on in1999, I woke up and was so tired I could barely move. I didn’t feel unwell otherwise, but this fatigue—it was off the charts. This went on day after day and I got concerned. I went to the most excellent doctors provided by my health insurance but they couldn’t figure it out. Months of tests and more tests…nada. But I kept having symptoms and the main symptom continued to be a doozy, I literally had no energy. I mean, have you met me in the real? What? This fatigue made me unrecognizable to myself and impacted every part of my life.
It’s a long story, more for another time. But to cut to the chase, the doctors were sure that I was not sick and in fact deemed that I was instead depressed. This didn’t make any sense to me. I knew in my heart I was not depressed. I was not jumping for joy about how I was feeling physically but I was certain it wasn’t depression. Also, I kept having this recurring thought; “How could I be well and healthy one day and the next…not?” And then, while I knew that sometimes our bodies do get sick, why wasn’t mine getting well? Why wasn’t I bouncing back, WHY wasn’t I healing? There just had to be an answer out there and I was determined to find it.
In that pursuit and especially with no cure from the allopathic world, I left my corporate job and applied to a post graduate program at Bastyr University called Spirituality Health & Medicine. I got it. I was sure this program would have some answers about what was going on. I was correct. The program in fact, was all about energy, medicine, health and wellness. My world blew open! It was my big Harry Potter moment, I had found my Hogwarts. About a month into the program, I remember waking up one day and while getting myself dressed it suddenly struck me, “Oh my gosh, I feel great! I’m not sick!” It seemed that, given the right environment, my body naturally healed itself. Holy freaking WOW.
Things were starting to flow in my life and I next found Eric Dowsett, who first introduced me to Space Clearing and Personal Clearing. I was drawn to Space Clearing because I’ve always loved and felt connected to spaces. I have always been able to walk into a space and feel “something”. I have always felt like our homes are sacred, animate, living breathing organisms. And I have always felt it when spaces when were in distress and hurting.
I had no idea what to do with all that information, once I was in it, until I started studying with Eric. That was well over 20 years ago. As it turns out, I now make a living from working with all those “somethings” in a home or space. I typically do about 200 space clearings a year. It’s a thing, people! If you’ve never had your space cleared, please do consider giving yourself this gift, it’s a beautiful thing! I offer this work remotely and in person.
All this to say, that my work is a double sided coin with Stuffology™ on one side and Space Clearing on the other. Neither is my favorite child, they are both my precious offsprings that I nurture, adore, offer to the world and am beyond grateful for.
I often share about one or the other or hopefully both Stuffology™ & my Space Clearing work (oh, I also do Personal Clearing too!) here in my newsletter.
This month, I’m highlighting a recent interview with Roger Kastner via his “What Do You Know To Be True?” podcast. We dive deep into Stuffology™ . I loved it! Roger just happens to be a stealth question asker and a laser sharp information synthesizer. I had thee best time talking to him. For all intents and purposes, this was an interview but what it felt like was a super chill, super fun, helpful, and educational conversation with a friend.
Some of the things we chat about include: ·
· How people try to create new systems in their homes before they go through their stuff; why this is backwards and how to reverse it!
· What is ‘holding space’ and how this changes everything when you’re trying to declutter.
· How Stuffology™ is so very different from traditional clutter clearing & organization and why it’s the only way I’ve ever seen people achieve long term decluttering success.
· How going through our stuff can be immensely regulating for our nervous system and mood.
· Why clutter clearing & organizing (via Stuffology™ ) belongs in the personal transformation, self-help category and not the tidying up/clearing category.
· What curiosity, kindness and compassion have such a powerful effect in the Stuffology™ process
Here’s the full episode!
Short on time?
Watch the 12 minute clip! Here it is…(then you’re really gonna want to watch the full episode!)
