Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Oct/Nov 2018 Aspire Mag Full Issue | Page 71

The “few days” turned into two weeks.
I shifted the conversation and asked her to
tell me about her plans for relocating.
How did she feel about it?
Was she ready for this next step in the
relationship?
What was it like to think about no longer
living where she currently did?
She started with the expected answers about
how much she loved her boyfriend, how she
was excited about this new chapter, how she
was stressed about the logistics of moving.
And then she mentioned it—the key to the
clutter.
“I’m a little hesitant to be so far from my
parents. They’re healthy and independent,
but they’re no spring chickens.”
As we talked more about her parents and
her relationship with them, I learned she
was the child who tended to take charge and
organize when they needed something.
We spent the rest of our conversation
brainstorming ideas on how she could still
be intimately involved with their needs and
The best way to handle your critic, no matter
how persistent or bratty she gets, is with love
and compassion. When you join forces instead
of fighting against her, there’s no stopping you.
You become a powerful team!
care even from a distance. She talked to her
siblings about her concern and asked for
their help, so they could all be more involved
with their parents.
Once Samantha had that conversation and
got support from her siblings, she couldn’t
believe how much easier it became to clear
out her garage.
Because, you see, it was never about the
items in the garage. The part of her that
feared change kept filling up the space
to make her stay put. Her inner critic was
sabotaging her progress not because she
didn’t want to move, but because there were
unaddressed fears.
When Samantha took the courageous step
of asking her siblings for help, her critic felt
supported and stepped aside as Samantha
cleared the garage.
The combination of listening more deeply to
what your soul is telling you and taking small
steps to show there’s nothing to be afraid of
are keys to clearing the clutter that keeps
you stuck. But when you let the resistance
prevent you from acting, you’re telling your
fear that it’s right, that it is best to stay stuck.
You hand your power over to it and continue
running on the hamster wheel of your life,
exerting a lot of energy and getting nowhere.
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