ARE YOU A HOARDER???

Patty B

We have all seen the shows where one person or family is so compulsive with keeping EVERYTHING from wrappers and empty cartons to a zillion beanie babies. Where family and friends have a hard time engaging with that individual. When your compulsive addiction to keep things overwhelms your life and that is "hoarding".

The typical lifestyle of a hoarder consists of isolation and shame. In almost ever case the hoarder has experienced some traumatic experiences earlier in life which leaves them trying to find ways to cope with reality. Unable to cope with reality they turn to hoarding for comfort.  But, I want to know, are you -- that "other" type of hoarder, the "emotional type"?  The type of person who clutters your mind, weighing yourself down with thoughts of the past. Holding onto a grudge or hanging onto resentments or other negative feeling that can suck up a huge amount of energy or time in your everyday life.

Being an Emotional Hoarder can limit ones power to live in the present and take advantage of life’s pleasures.

More and more people, myself included, as they reach that turning point in their life realize they can identify with hoarders in a sense that there is a plethora of unresolved feelings, thoughts, and emotions that accumulate over many years with a wide range of the majority of them being unpleasant. Because we haven’t perfected our own process for managing these thoughts and end up hoarding them. An emotionally functional person knows correctly how to handle this process - the thoughts associated with being hurt, rejected, insulted, abused, neglected, etc., this list can go on for miles and miles. While on the other hand an emotional hoarder lacks the fundamental skills to effectively manage the thoughts which then prevent you to move past them.

Ever have those weird nightmares or dreams over time the mind is trapped just like those reality tv families we see on those shows like " Buried Alive".?  We have so many thoughts stacked one on top of each other that we are trapped in our own mind. It is just like those who have material items everywhere,  but with us, our thoughts are our clutter. There are ways to help clear the emotional clutter.

"It should be easy as the flip of a switch, but sometimes it takes an immeasurable effort to not live life on auto pilot". Not to constantly let your mind wander there.

But there is ALWAYS HOPE ! If its sought through spiritual, professional, relaxation or mediation you can conquer it. However one chooses to seek help, we should all be able to clear our emotional baggage. Your inner peace -- an ability to fully enjoy life -- is dependent on how to forgive and let go, not your friends, family or love ones but ..YOU!