You may be wondering why I would be talking about clutter, hoarding, and thankfulness in the same sentence. In a hoarding and clutter situation, most people focus on the negative. Yes, it is true that there is a lot of mess at home or in the office and you may be very disorganized. But this does not mean that everything is negative and you cannot find something positive in your life. Now let’s look for the positive.
give thanks for what you have
If it’s messy, you probably have a lot of stuff. Granted, it can be hard to find things in the disorganization. But think about how much you have compared to millions of people in the world who have no home, no bed, very little clothing and perhaps go to bed hungry. You probably live in one of the industrialized countries where consumption is encouraged everywhere you look. So it has become easy for you to get many things. You can be thankful that you have more than enough to live on.
When my professional organizer and I organized my office, we found a lot of office supplies like pens, pencils, and notepads. I’m still using them and easily give them away since I don’t need as many.
Give thanks for what you can do with what you have
Most messers and hoarders are very caring people and love to help others. Think of any items you have that you could give away to help someone. You would help that person and you would help the environment, since that item would not have to be made for this person. This would conserve our precious resources and still help other people.
I helped at a garage sale my sister organized. I had some of my stuff for sale there. I watched family after family arrive and they were so excited to be able to buy things they couldn’t afford otherwise. I wanted to run back to my house to find something else to sell so that these children and adults could have a better life.
Blessings go both ways
I made friends with someone who was unemployed and nearly homeless. He could no longer find a job in his long career and the resulting depression prevented him from finding more than a menial temporary job.
I started giving him things that I had in abundance: T-shirts, food, furniture, and many little things in my house. It’s amazing how much I had that I didn’t care all that much about, but it meant a huge amount to someone who had next to nothing. I didn’t need these things and not only was I happy to order, but the gratitude from him was very touching. As he felt cared for, his self-esteem grew and he later found a job related to his earlier career. We both feel very blessed and grateful.
