Hey, Joan? That is wonderful that you do yoga regularly! In many ways i think health & regular life should take precedence over hoarding issues, so you probably have your priorities right! I am experiencing that same thing. My hoarding issues have taken a backseat to the fun, romantic life i finally have happening, and at my age, that is my priority. I also have not figured out a plan for this excessive amount of clothes! Lately ive been really trying to trim my tummy & eat healthier, but somehow my tummy is seeming to grow instead?!? That does give me the option of a huge category of clothes to weed out: clothes that require a trim tummy! That could make eliminating enough stuff much easier!
My garden has kind of taken a back seat, too...part of me wants the unencumbered Freedom to do things with my boyfriend, rather than a garden. I want both, but until i figure out how, im holding off & researching gardening ideas & info first! It may sounds strange, but im justice as interested in the preparing of the soil & composting & learning about growing different things, as actually having the final product!
The other thing is i recently learned how difficult actually getting rid of this old trailer would be. It is looking like ill just make it less of an eyesore & use it as extra space once i have a new little tiny home. At first i was disappointed, but it will be far less work & risk, so im now quite relieved!
Im glad you are following your own path! That is always best, even when it seems cloudy! ~☆♡☆~

Hello, Anony, good evening.

How is your garden growing? Have you had good weather? What did you plant?

I missed yoga class last week. The teacher was away. I am looking forward to it tomorrow.

I am doing pretty well. Ironically, the further along I go in my recovery, the more alienated I become from other people. I haven't even started on my hoarding issues yet. I am just talking about health issues. It is rather discouraging. Otherwise I am fine.

Hope you are well.

9:50PM.

The garden project for me goes deep. It is a healing in many ways. We all have different traumas that are tied in with our physical 'stuff', and to me, having my property, which has been a place of a lot of traumatic events & memories, be transformed to create clean, healthy nurishment, is an ultimate transformation of its real nature. It is a clear message that positivety is here. Its days of hosting violence on me & my loved ones are in the past. For now, that seems good! Im liking the choosing what i have here to prepare the soil, to be fascinating! Using my own mulch & ash from burning rotted wood seems symbol of letting go what is rotten to grow fresh things, which is essentially what i need to do in my life. The stuff in my house is largly compost, if i let it be...

Hi Anony!

I am glad you are feeling good and going ahead with the garden that you want. Growing things takes time. It is the ability to sustain oneself and one's growth in the long run that counts. It is a marathon, not a sprint.

The most important thing to cultivate in life, as a basis for action, is peace. Be sure to nurture yourself with quiet activities as well as loud ones. Nothing exists or grows in a vacuum. Be aware of your surroundings, and who or what inspires you to more steadiness within yourself.

Be well.

Thank you, Joan! I have started preparing my garden & i am sooo excited! Im clear now that it is a good idea for me! It feels great to 'heal' my garden area from the traumatic memory it has carried for more than a decade. I was able to do that by simply cleaning up the stuff 'those people' put there & painting the parts i want to use turquoise!!!
For now i dont want to hire a stranger to help. Each step i take on my own im able to look at its symbolism, as it relates to healing my past. Having someone else here would interrupt that. Also, i know its a popular belief with quitting drugs that it cant be done alone, but i did that on my own & i thrived doing it that way!!! So, im going to try to try this on my own, too...at least for now?!!
I also just started taking melatonin & i feel really good!!! That 'professional hoarder helper' recommended that once i insisted i would NOT take those antidepressants!!! Next i may try St. John's wort?
Also, i had to dig in my closet for an outfit for a goth music concert last weekend & i saw loads of trash that i can easily toss out TODAY!!! I think if i get my main 'procrastination room' cleaned up some, it will help me?!!
I dont know if this was the right subject thread to post this in, but to me, i am using something else to heal/replace what has been problematic in my keeping junk....also, youd mentioned calling one's self a 'hoarder'...one of the things that turned me off about AA was their perpetual self-identifying as an addict. I refused to say i was an addict in the few meetings i attended, because i had quit and i knew it. I never relapsed amd every one of them relapses regularly. I cant say that is why, but i dont think its healthy to use that as a regular affirmation of self identity....it may be the same, at a certain point, with being a hoarder...???

Sorry, everyone, the long post below from me must have been deleted from the "Why Hoarding" thread by mistake, and then reposted to the thread, "What Are You Doing Today". My original post was posted on "Why Hoarding". I have since reposted my original post on the "Why Hoarding" thread.

Ooops. Thanks.

I still can't figure it out. I checked it after posting it.

The mysteries of computers.

Joan.

Your post did not disappear
You posted it in the
"What Are You Doing Today" thread,
not in this thread.

happens...

Thursday

Hi Anony❗️ Great to "hear" from you, and to read that you are giving serious thought to new ways to correct your hoarding. I really feel for you. You have keen intuition, and your thinking is definitely on the right track.

My goal in starting this discussion (thread) was to differentiate between treating hoarding as a chronic illness (similar to, say, an addiction problem), and actually CORRECTING the hoarding behavior. I am NOT suggesting that any of the medical models out there cure hoarding, although many of them boast about doing so. In fact, in my experience, most conventional medical approaches make hoarding worse. I AM personally convinced that hoarding is curable, but that to do so we have to look "outside of the box".

Unfortunately I cannot give you much concrete advice about how to start on this path. Each person is faced with a unique situation in the hoarding paradigm, and each situation has different parameters and resources (financial and otherwise). It is very important to use your resources wisely. As your health improves, you will automatically become more efficient at utilizing resources. In the beginning of my journey, I had to cast about for effective methods of improving my health, and could not conserve resources. Currently I have a regular weekly routine, and rely on a handful of highly skilled people in various disciplines to support my recovery.

You are correct that you cannot do this alone. I would encourage you to think about whether hiring someone to help you with hoarded items is the best use of your resources. It may be. Hoarding has consequences that we all have to live with. Be aware, however, that that would be an expenditure that would enable you to live more comfortably with your hoarding. It would not CORRECT the hoarding.

No matter how bad the hoarding is, if you want to aim for a cure, you must set aside some time and some resources to address potential cures. Ironically, strategies for living with hoarding all entail understanding the behavior, whilst avenues of potential cures all entail getting "out of the box". As long as you are in the box of hoarding, you cannot see the role hoarding plays in the bigger picture of your life. So to pursue curative modalities, the FIRST thing you have to do is to stop defining yourself exclusively as a "hoarder".

If you want to start a veggie garden, I would strongly encourage you to do so. You say you are afraid it will "distract [you] from fixing [your] mess". As long as you stay in the box of hoarding, since you are not correcting the hoarding BEHAVIOR by staying in the box, your entire existence will be devoted to "fixing" your "mess". Your system will continue to generate hoarding, no matter how much or how often you clean it up. So yes, spend some of your time "out of the box", plant a garden, and see where your intuition takes you from there.

Exercise and diet are always important in developing a healthy lifestyle. You are correct, there has to be a shift, probably multiple shifts over many years, before you can cure your hoarding. I am certainly not at the the "cure" yet. I just keep pointing myself in the right direction every day and walking the path. It is not the path less traveled, it is the path untraveled‼️ Hopefully I will have more company as time goes on.

I wish you well, and will write when I can.

Anony - I posted a long message to you last night, and it posted successfully, but the post has since disappeared. I am reposting it next.

Hey there, Joan?! Ive been giving this subject a lot of thought. I have gotten really stuck again here lately. Im contemplating hiring someone to help me sort through this junk. If nothing else, just them being here while i do it would likely help.
I would really like to do a veggie garden this year. I havent done that before cuz im afraid it will just distract me from fixing my mess. Im now thinking it would be very healing to create new life(foods) and that may help me to let go of dead life(my junk from my old life)....
Also, i read an interesting article about astrology used with homeopathy!
Something needs to shift for me to get through this mess...there is a part of me that just wants to throw it all out...on the other thread several of y'all had talked of throwing things at your pile to damage the stuff, making it easier to toss out...yes! I can relate! Cat sprayed things blessed me with that situation! ha ha
Now with the nicer weather ive started exercising again and im hoping that will shift things for me in a physical sense...ive cleaned up my diet amazingly easily, too....i wish i could do that with my house...it would seem it would be symbolic...often it works that way...im essentially doing an anti-disease diet and regime for my body, yet my house is soooo toxic!!! Maybe the garden will help? I started some sprouts yesterday. It was so easy and decision-free!!! Maybe i could turn my house into an indoor food growing space...that may help me push out the crap.....AAAACK?!!?

Hey there, Joan?! Ive been giving this subject a lot of thought. I have gotten really stuck again here lately. Im contemplating hiring someone to help me sort through this junk. If nothing else, just them being here while i do it would likely help.
I would really like to do a veggie garden this year. I havent done that before cuz im afraid it will just distract me from fixing my mess. Im now thinking it would be very healing to create new life(foods) and that may help me to let go of dead life(my junk from my old life)....
Also, i read an interesting article about astrology used with homeopathy!
Something needs to shift for me to get through this mess...there is a part of me that just wants to throw it all out...on the other thread several of y'all had talked of throwing things at your pile to damage the stuff, making it easier to toss out...yes! I can relate! Cat sprayed things blessed me with that situation! ha ha
Now with the nicer weather ive started exercising again and im hoping that will shift things for me in a physical sense...ive cleaned up my diet amazingly easily, too....i wish i could do that with my house...it would seem it would be symbolic...often it works that way...im essentially doing an anti-disease diet and regime for my body, yet my house is soooo toxic!!! Maybe the garden will help? I started some sprouts yesterday. It was so easy and decision-free!!! Maybe i could turn my house into an indoor food growing space...that may help me push out the crap.....AAAACK?!!?

11:48PM Hello Anony!
Yes, "things" do have energy, very much so. Hanging onto things may be hanging onto an experience that the things represent, i.e., the things still carry the energy of that experience.

Let me give you an simple example of what I am talking about. If you had a period in your life when you had difficulty getting food and were hungry, you might hang onto empty food containers. Note that you may have ample supplies of food in the present time, but at one time in the past, you did go hungry. That experience of going hungry did not just create physical discomfort, IT CREATED DAMAGE IN THE FIELD. Later in life you collect empty food containers not because you are hungry, but because you are trying to correct the damage in your field that was created by the traumatic experience. That damage in the field will not be corrected by collecting empty food containers, but it is the best many of us can do right now. It is your system trying to right itself. Then others come along and identify the problem as "hoarding". Hoarding is not the problem. If the damage in the field can be corrected, the collecting of empty food containers will automatically cease.

In sum, hoarding is not a reaction to past events. It is an attempt to correct damage FROM past events that is still carried in the field in the PRESENT time. Correcting this damage is not easy or quick. That is why, in my last post, I suggested so many different approaches. Unfortunately most of the techniques today are still too "soft" to correct the damage in the energy field. They can bring you comfort that helps you to live around your hoarding, but they do not correct the damage itself.

I am immersed in a number of modalities to correct damage in my field, and have been working on it really all my life. Of course, if this had not been the case, you would never have read any posts from me. I would have been dead long ago. It is also true that for most hoarders, correcting the damage in the field will require professional help from trained and capable people in various disciplines, and will require dedication to the process over a long period of time.

So, my approach is considered by most to be "impractical". But I'm still alive, and many of the people that I knew who did not grapple directly with these issues are dead now. So we will see what the future holds. I am optimistic.

Take care.
2/29/2016 Monday 12:10AM, 12:11AM.

Thank you, Joan! Yes, i enjoy reading your posts and i do find them helpful! I just re-read some of your older posts on another thread!
My hoarding happened while i was into a decade long hard-drug habit. I no longer accumulate stuff, but im having an aweful time cleaning it all up! I know for me it is emotional & psychological. Its interesting that you mentioned dance as a way to shift things?! One of the happiest & healthiest times in my life were when i was constantly dancing! That is something im trying to get back into!
Id also love to have help with decisions on sorting through my hoard...tho actually, just having someone there, to see it through their eyes, would likely help me a lot! Out of desperation i almost hired an extremely expensive 'hoarding expert' who also kept trying to push me to take dangerous anti-depressant drugs! That was a blessing really, cuz it made me realize she wasnt for me....and you helped steer me to the very helpful homeopathic remedies, as you may remember!
I am still stuck in my hoard, but im always trying new things. I do feel that my association with the 'things' is very significant. For me it is a physical hanging onto an experience.
I hope you can find an effective way to shift your situation?! :D :D :D

Thank you, Joan! Yes, i enjoy reading your posts and i do find them helpful! I just re-read some of your older posts on another thread!
My hoarding happened while i was into a decade long hard-drug habit. I no longer accumulate stuff, but im having an aweful time cleaning it all up! I know for me it is emotional & psychological. Its interesting that you mentioned dance as a way to shift things?! One of the happiest & healthiest times in my life were when i was constantly dancing! That is something im trying to get back into!
Id also love to have help with decisions on sorting through my hoard...tho actually, just having someone there, to see it through their eyes, would likely help me a lot! Out of desperation i almost hired an extremely expensive 'hoarding expert' who also kept trying to push me to take dangerous anti-depressant drugs! That was a blessing really, cuz it made me realize she wasnt for me....and you helped steer me to the very helpful homeopathic remedies, as you may remember!
I am still stuck in my hoard, but im always trying new things. I do feel that my association with the 'things' is very significant. For me it is a physical hanging onto an experience.
I hope you can find an effective way to shift your situation?! :D :D :D

10:59PM Possibly visualization may help some people. Direct work on the field by a trained healer is what I have needed to repair my own system. Usually it is difficult for a person to correct their own damage by themselves. A good practice of any kind that is uplifting is, however, always of benefit.

Let me restate my thesis to see if it makes more sense to you. Each human can be considered to be comprised of physical components and nonphysical components, yes? Physical components would be, for instance, head, hands, feet, organs, etc. Nonphysical components would be emotions, thoughts, etc. All of these nonphysical parts are loosely referred to as a person's "field", or "energy field".

Different structures exist in this field that are universal in nature, such as chakras, the merkabar, etc. Different schools train people to do direct healing on the "field". There is Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, Barbara Brennan work, etc. These modalities work directly with the energy field. I myself have found the Brennan work to be the most comprehensive way to work with the field, and have seen a Brennan practitioner for healings for many years. There are also modalities that kind of cross over, that are physical, but also affect the field. Most notable among these are light/sound/smell (essential oil) therapies. Anything you are feeling or thinking affects your field, so a practice of visualizations would have benefit for some. It depends on what works for you. Yoga and meditation practices are among the most powerful.

So simply put, my hypothesis is that although hoarding appears to be a physical problem, it is actually a reaction on the level of the physical body to malfunctions in the non-physical body (bodies), or the "field". Something as simple as dancing can affect one's field quite profoundly. I used to participate in the Dances of Universal Peace before survival tasks overwhelmed me many years ago. When I came home from a good dance, I would see my environs in a whole different light, and be much more relaxed. John of God (in Brazil) has become a well-known healer. For those who love to work with stones or crystals, he blesses many beautiful crystals with an unconditional blessing. I have found the John of God energies immensely powerful and healing.

My guess is that for those of us with a severe or life-long hoarding issue, it is necessary to have someone to help us individually to actually remove problems in the field, or to correct malfunctions in the field. However, each person has to work with what they have. My main point is that seeing the "stuff" as the problem is a sure-fire dead end. Hoarding is the end result of a system that is compromised in some way, a system that is showing its distress by hoarding, a person that needs attention of some kind. If a person is truly healthy, I believe that person will not hoard.

I really appreciate your interest, Anony, and hope this is of some use to you.
11:42PM. 11:47PM.

Joan, im not sure exactly what you mean, but is it something that visualization could possibly help? Ive found regular visualization of things i need, especially health related things, to be very powerful! :D

If you can move in the direction you describe, Anony, that is great. What I am saying is that in my case (and I'm sure there are others like me), no release of anything is possible until and unless the energetic damage is repaired. HOW to repair the damage is another discussion. Until the actual energetic damage is repaired, the hoarder is attempting to correct a problem in her/his energy field by reacting on a PHYSICAL level to the energetic blocks.

Every project i contemplate or do, i look at how it symbolizes another way of letting go....of parts of my life, trauma, experiences...mostly bad ones, and chapters of it that i cant glean growth through...it is like a double bonus benefit for every project! :D :D :D

Every project i contemplate or do, i look at how it symbolizes another way of letting go....of parts of my life, trauma, experiences...mostly bad ones, and chapters of it that i cant glean growth through...it is like a double bonus benefit for every project! :D :D :D

Yes, yes, yes‼️ Thanks everyone, you got it. I have been trying to create PHYSICAL empty space all my life, but have been unable to do so BECAUSE of the energetic damage to my system. I was functionally damaged in such a way that my system was converted into a toxic waste dump for everyone and his brother. My dilemma was that whenever I did manage to create even a tiny amount of empty space, more toxic energetic waste was dumped into my system by others. Thus the hoarding began❗️ Hoarding has had the dual objective of blocking some of the toxic dumping, and also beginning to reclaim what was taken from me at deep energy levels of my own system.

Seen in this way, hoarding is not only sensible, but an INGENIOUS way to retaliate against oppression and to try to claim territory in which to restore one's own system. Where it falls short is that the damage must be corrected, ultimately, NOT in the physical, but in the ENERGETIC levels of the hoarder's system.

Am I starting to make sense to you now❓⁉️‼️

5:00PM.

Beautifully said Dave :)

Don't let go of empty space. It is a place for the mind to rest and pets to play.

I know what you mean about the literal symbolism. I am constantly comparing what i wont let go of in my life, to in my house. The macro and the micro are laws of physics..the inner and the outer...im stuck on both...

Not alone. Holidays are the worst especially Halloween. It's like someone invited the whole neighborhood to my house! Then going out collecting candy you see how normal people's homes look and it's so depressing.

Hello everyone.

It is not possible for me to post often because of my circumstances, but I really appreciate everyone posting here. I am not addressing my own hoarding problem directly at this point. For many years I have been working with various modalities to correct energetic, biological, and other health issues in my system. I remain convinced that when I have addressed these issues, my hoarding problem will resolve.

I received confirmation last Thursday that there was a very deep problem in my system, going right down to the Akash (the explanation is too long to write up). Needless to say, it is not an easy matter to correct these kinds of problems. This problem involved an obstacle that was interfering with my access to my own system at the level of the higher self. I believe a compromised energy system is very commonly the cause of hoarding. The hoarder is attempting to reclaim in the physical, linear world that which belongs to her/him at the nonphysical levels, but which has been taken from her/him. This attempt to reclaim one's own system is futile when done in the physical, and must be accomplished at the level at which the problem exists.

If that makes sense to anyone out there, I would appreciate comments. I realize that most people have not worked directly with their energy field. Intuitively, though, does it feel like you are trying to reclaim or establish your own territory via hoarding? My sense is that many hoarders do feel this. While knowing this will not, in itself, resolve a hoarding problem, it may be an insight that can help steer us in the right direction.

It is a great help to me to know that I am not alone with my hoarding issues. I wish everyone well with their daily challenges.