SEATTLE — Relationships that don't benefit us are prone to stick around just like trinkets collecting dust on your shelf, or they may be actively hurting us by taking away our joy.
Laura Richer, hypnotist and owner of Seattle Healing Hypnosis, had some advice about how to emotionally de-clutter that may remind you of the Kon Mari method to clean out your house: let go of the things that do not bring you joy.
"Sometimes we accumulate different stories and beliefs and identities that are no longer serving us anymore, and in fact are actively working against us in our lives," Richer said.
If you find your mind cluttered, she suggested writing down your thoughts on paper to help identify if there are things you should let go or change.
She said she tells her clients to notice two things: what their self-talk is like, and what they focus their attention on. Both of these things can help identify what triggers negative emotions. Richer is a hypnotherapist so she said she will use hypnosis to help her clients take an emotional inventory.
Once you have identified things that no longer bring you joy or create negative emotions, you can change them. For example, if there is a story from the past that continues to cause you stress and anxiety, she said it may be time to stop telling it and let it go.
However, Richer said that if you have trouble in a relationship that you don't want to end, you can create boundaries instead of cutting it out of your life. Or, if you notice that social media triggers a negative response, she said she has told her clients to take an eight-week break from it.
For some people, the relationship they need to work on is the one they have with themselves, she said. "Sometimes when people have a got of their own emotional clutter or negatively, they project that onto people they're in relationships with," Richer said.
She recommended starting with relationships that may be easier to let go or change, like one with a neighbor or an issue at work before delving into traumatic experiences in the past. Some people may find it helpful to work with a mental health professional, like a counselor or a therapist instead of doing it on their own.
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