INSPIRATION
REVIEW
Do the Clearing:
a step-by-step guide to living a happy life
and getting what you want
By John Benz
Therapist John Benz is no stranger to self-help programs,
having attended Weight Watchers meetings since age five.
When Benz observed a connection between emotions his
clients felt related to their possessions, and discovered
that people who took steps to remove their disempowering
possessions made the most progress toward attaining
their goals, he took a closer look at the art of clearing.
W
hile the concept of
clearing is not entirely new--and feng shui
practitioners
have
been advising for years
that we pay closer attention to the objects
around us and how they are arranged at work and
at home--few people explain just how powerful the
process of clearing out disempowering items can
truly be.
The concept of clearing is simple. Honestly assess
how you feel and what comes to mind when you
systematically view each item in your home, and
toss out everything that doesn’t contribute to feeling happy and good about yourself.
Benz appreciates that such a simple idea can sound
almost crazy, but points out that “... if the memories associated with their possessions reinforced
that identity, that’s exactly what they thought and
what ultimately became true.”
For those of us aware of recent research in fields
of embodied cognition and the placebo effect, it’s
not such a stretch to recognize the immense and
13 | NEW CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW