Clean Sweep Your Emotional Clutter

Emotional clutter is one of the things that puts stress on a relationship. Emotional clutter accumulates when we collect and hang on to resentment and disappointment. As our emotional clutter expands it can become more and more difficult to see the positive aspects of our relationship.

It is important to deal with and resolve present issues, rather than stuffing negative feelings away. Unresolved negative feelings can contribute to more than relationship problems. They can also impact our health, resulting in illness, ongoing weight problems and a decreased ability to cope with life stresses.

Starting today, be true to yourself. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Don't agree to do something you do not feel good about doing. When you feel resentment or disappointment, if possible share how you are feeling and resolve the issue. If that is not possible write your feelings out and resolve the issue within yourself. When you are true to and respect yourself, others will respect you too. And you will collect less emotional clutter.

For the emotional clutter that has already built up, try this clean sweep exercise. Get a notebook or a pad of paper. Find a quiet place and time. Write down any resentments or disappointments that you have been holding onto. Think about all the significant people in your life, who have either intentionally or unintentionally have offended you. You can leave your list open and add to it over the next few days.

Once you have completed the list, take some quiet time to go over it. Put things into piles, what you have learned that is useful to you and you want to keep, what really belongs to the other person and you need to give back to them, and what is just plain garbage and needs to be disgarded.

You may find that you periodically need to clean sweep your emotional clutter. But each time you do the process should get easier and quicker, especially if you work at collecting less clutter and dealing with the clutter sooner.

Susan Derry

Professional Counselor & Life Coach

Co-creator of a Healthy Weight Loss System.

Offers a free report: Weight Loss Myths Exposed