When my husband and I moved into our house in southwest Minneapolis, there was a collection of about ten boxes that sat in a corner of the basement for well over year. I can't really say why. We just sort of ran out of steam in the unpacking process. Every time I went down to do a load of laundry or feed the cats, I'd look over at that corner and just think, Ugh. When are we going to take care of that stuff?

When my husband and I moved into our house in southwest Minneapolis, there was a collection of about ten boxes that sat in a corner of the basement for well over year. I can't really say why. We just sort of ran out of steam in the unpacking process. Every time I went down to do a load of laundry or feed the cats, I'd look over at that corner and just think, Ugh. When are we going to take care of that stuff?

One rainy September day, 18 months after we moved in, we went downstairs, and in an afternoon, we just plowed through the task. We wound up donating or tossing about two-thirds of it. We hadn't needed it for a year and half; we certainly didn't need it then! Now that corner is clear. When I look over there, I notice the light pouring in the window. The physical space is clear -- but so is the space in my head that was perpetually occupied whenever I looked at that unresolved pile of boxes.

The intense emotional connection we can, at times, have with the things we own, including our "intangible" possessions - our health, our beliefs about ourselves and others, our old grudges, and unresolved pain is an interesting and difficult issue to address. These are all things that take up space. Often times they take up so much space that it doesn't leave room for anything else. We long for simplicity - but letting go can be difficult and painful for many reasons, even when holding on to these things is to our emotional detriment.

One reason is just how our brains process input. We have one neurological path that could be considered "the path of reason." That's the part of our brain that looks at a chair and sees an item made of wood and fabric. The other neurological path is one that is profoundly and instantaneously linked to emotion and memory. When it sees the chair, it remembers all the things -- pleasant and unpleasant -- associated with that item. So something as simple as a chair could, for its owner, be deeply symbolic of experiences like suffocating guilt, a failed relationship, grief, or a sense of being constantly overwhelmed. It's easy to see how a house or a heart filled with these triggers can become a tough place to live peacefully.

Heidi DeCoux, a very good friend of mine, is a professional organizer specializing in home organization. According to Heidi, the cycle of physical and emotional chaos can be explained this way:

Clutter, everyone says, is the problem. Actually, ...the lack of space is the real problem. When there is no space, there is no possibility to grow and no room for anything new. Instead of forward, positive growth, we experience more crowding and filling.

Recently, I had the chance to listen to a wonderful interview with coach and author of the book "Throw out Fifty Things, " Gail Blanke. She made the point that removing clutter is not so that you can live in an immaculate environment (in fact, the need for perfection can be it's own type of emotional clutter). It is so that we can make room for new possibilities and clear a path for productive, forward movement. Heidi's work encompasses this philosophy: "Organizing is about seeing the transformation of people and not so much about organizing things."

Blanke often refers to the "Rules of Disengagement" which is a kind of litmus test for letting go of the things that hinder us:

* If the thing, the idea, the feeling, the person weighs you down, consistently hurts you, holds you back -- let it go.

* Let it go -- if the thing, idea, feeling, or person just sits there, takes up space and contributes nothing.

* Let it go -- if you continuously deliberate, always weighing the pluses and negatives - "Should I let it go? Should I keep it? As Heidi says, "An environment of guilt is created in the stuff you feel guilty about getting rid of - who can grow in that?"

* Don't make it so hard. The things that are meant to be in our lives will not cause us such constant confusion and pain.

Now is the time of year when people increase the amount they consume and accumulate. So, it then seems like the perfect time to take a breathe and ask yourself: What are the things that I should be letting go of? What are the things that are no longer helping me move forward in my life? What positive things might I make room for in my life if I just let go?

The human tendency is to move toward and fill in space. The larger question becomes, What do I want to fill it with?