Put your past in order and gain clarity about the future you want.

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Have you ever gone through your yearly spring clean only to find something which means the world to you, that you’d forgotten you still had? Tidying is more than just keeping a clean house: in the process of tidying, you can use the stuff from your past to help guide you into the future.

Keepsakes from your past should bring you joy when you look at them. It’s worth keeping the ones that capture happy or exciting memories.

When you begin the process of tidying, start with the easiest categories, e.g., clothes, books, documents, miscellaneous items, etc., and end with your sentimental items. Photos are the most difficult because of the sheer volume and emotional value. Be sure to keep the ones you remember taking and relive the excitement of that moment.

But what do you do with sentimental items that you no longer want? Too many people look to their parents’ homes as a place to dump their junk. But it’s wrong not to consider their feelings when getting rid of sentimental trinkets. Only give them things you think they will enjoy, and when discarding childhood keepsakes, ask your family whether they would rather have it.

As you’re tidying, you should also ask yourself whether a particular item corresponds to your current wants and needs or your vision for your ideal future.

Documents, for instance, rarely succeed in doing this. Realistically assess their purpose according to your current needs. Warranties and manuals, for example, have a short-term purpose, and can therefore be discarded once they’ve outlived that use.

Old course materials have likewise outlived their usefulness. After all, you didn’t take the course for the materials, but for the experience and the knowledge.

Going through your things, you may, as one of the author’s clients discovered, rediscover old passions that bring you closer to your ideal life. After cleaning her bookshelf, she realized that the books that remained were mostly on social welfare. So she went back to school, quit her job in IT and started a successful babysitting company.

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