I got up late this morning and it felt good! No pressure to be anywhere or do anything. After breakfast I tried out my new Bose noise cancelling wireless headphones which are great. You can change the level of noise cancellation so that on the highest setting you can enjoy music, calls etc without any interference.

I pottered around the house wearing them, listening to music and audio books for a while, trying to get the kitchen back to normal as there was still a bit of clearing up to do from Christmas Day.

A restful few hours and some plans for more clearing in 2021

After catching up with a friend on FaceTime, that I hadn’t seen or spoken to since March, I decided to continue with this restful state on the study sofa and had a short nap which felt really good. After all, it is the holidays and I only have a few days off.

When I woke up, I did some research on one of my favourite authors on the subject on clearing – Stephanie Bennett Vogt. She has a website called spaceclear.com which has so much useful information. I’ve listened to her first book Your Spacious Self so many times on audible and I’ve made such good progress with the way that I think about clutter and my attachment to it. Each time I listen to the book, I learn something different and see things from a different perspective. She teaches you to see clutter as your teacher.

I’ve read some good reviews on her other two books: A Year to Clear and A Year for You and they both sound quite similar and so I did some research on which order to read them in. Apparently it really doesn’t matter but A Year to Clear is the next suggested one. It has a ‘slow drip’ approach to clearing and has 365 daily teachings which I will be able to reflect on. At the same time I can look back on 2020 and see how much I’ve grown.

Anyone who has been following me for a while will know that I’ve learnt a lot this year myself, and cleared a massive amount of space in my house, my garden and my mind, and have written about it every day. I want next year to take me to the next level but not to exhaust me in the process.

I’m only just learning to break the connection with things and let go of them and there is so much more I can get rid of. I want to follow her guidance and years of experience and see where it takes me. After all, I still have the whole of the garage to do and some of the loft. This book will give me a ‘slow drip way to a spacious life’.

Rather than listen to this book on Audible (which is my preferred way of absorbing a book), I decided to order a copy to put on the desk in the study and read and contemplate the messages daily. The book is arriving on Monday giving me plenty of time to get the study clear and clean.

Actual clearing

After my restful few hours in the study, I got to work on the mess that I was sitting in the middle of. I used the same concept as I was doing in the dining room earlier in the week. I had the ‘clear dining room’ image in my head which showed me that it is possible to turn a messy space into a clear one, by (1) throwing things away and (2) if I’m not sure about them, getting them out of sight. The latter, not ideal as it’s a delay to getting rid of things, but I have a lot going on in my head at the moment and I need some space.

I sorted out piles of clothes and bedding that made its way into the study when the bedroom ceiling was being plastered. Thankfully, some went into a charity bag and I found a home for most of the rest. I’m sitting looking at the other stuff in the study now and it’s getting late so I’ll continue with it in the morning.

Hope you’ve all had a relaxing Boxing Day.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra