My possessions
My family <spouse, kids, parents>
My friends
Empathy
Respectfulness
My values/morals/ethics
Intelligence
My sense of humor
Trustworthiness
My job / work
Show me an example
This is an interesting exercise that might help you to see what percentage your possessions are in your total identity. Assign a value <not to exceed 100% for all> to each category below. Feel free to add other categories as appropriate as to what is important to you in your life.
My possessions My family <spouse, kids, parents> My friends Empathy Respectfulness My values/morals/ethics Intelligence My sense of humor Trustworthiness My job / work
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I feel _______________ when my possessions are discarded without my consent.
When I am away from my possessions, I feel ___________________. When I am near my possessions, I feel _________________________. I feel ______________ when my family and friends talk about my hoarding. I wish I could __________________________________________ in the future. When people comment about the clutter, I feel ________________________. I feel ___________________________when I make a mistake. Do you have difficulty throwing things away or get anxious when thinking about discarding your possessions? Do you have so many possessions that your rooms are cluttered?
Do you often feel an urge to buy things or acquire free things, but know that you really don’t need them? Do you often decide to purchase or acquire items even if you know you have no space for them? Do you have possessions taking up so much floor space that it is difficult to move around the room? Have you even not been able to use a piece of furniture fo its intended purpose because it was used as storage space for your possessions? Have you ever been so embarrassed by the number of your possessions that you did not want people to see certain rooms in your house? Has your saving or acquisition of possessions resulted in financial strain for you or your family? Has the number of your possessions ever been the reason for arguments or disagreements within your family? To what extent do your saving behaviors interfere with your functioning? Not at all mildly moderately severely How much time do you spend on tasks related to your saving behaviors each day, including thinking about your possessions? Less than 30 min 30 min to 2 hours more than 2 hours Do you often feel like you need additional storage space? Have your possessions ever been damaged because of inadequate storage space? How much time each day do you spend looking for objects? Less than 30 min 30 min to 2 hours more than 2 hours Have you ever shoplifted as a way of acquiring possessions? Have you ever been arrested for shoplifting? I came across this video on YouTube and I laughed so hard because there are a lot of truths in his routine. If you want a good laugh, check this out: here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
I think you will enjoy it! A definition is: hoarding is the acquisition and saving of possessions that have little or no perceived value that the person has great difficulty discarding which negatively affects the person's quality of life.. Some people confuse hoarding with collecting, but the main difference is that the collector is proud of his collection and displays and maintains it. The hoarder on the other hand usually feels shame and embarrassment and just stuffs his possessions anywhere and everywhere. Compulsive hoarding is defined, in part, by clutter that so overtakes living, dining and sleeping spaces that it harms the person’s quality of life.
Hoarding affects emotions, thoughts and behavior. Signs and symptoms may include: § Cluttered living spaces § Inability to discard items § Keeping stacks of newspapers, magazines or junk mail § Moving items from one pile to another, without discarding anything § Acquiring unneeded or seemingly useless items, including trash § Difficulty managing daily activities, including procrastination and trouble making decisions § Difficulty organizing items § Perfectionism § Excessive attachment to possessions, and discomfort letting others touch or borrow possessions § Limited or no social interactions, isolation · Shoplifting · Inability to pass up freebies or BOGOs <buy one, get one> · All or nothing thinking · OCD or OCPD <there is a difference between the two> My focus for the month of November is hoarding. I think we are all hoarders to some degree: we all have something that we save that makes others think we are crazy. I must admit I have been a "ripper" most of my life. Whenever I see some tidbit of information that I think is useful <either to myself or others> I rip it out of the newspaper, catalog, magazine, etc and file it in a logical place. I know that I am supposed to be an information resource center and when I have my community in place it will be very helpful. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it LOL. I balance the reality that information is readily available on the internet and constantly updated with the fact that we don't know what we don't know. So, by having the idea readily available if it becomes relevant later I will have a starting place from which to look. Some things just sit there never becoming relevant or simply becoming obsolete, but the difference is that I weed it out periodically before it becomes unmanageable. It doesn't sit in piles all over the house with no way to retrieve the information if I wanted to. Compulsive hoarders do not have this ability
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Website Creator: Marie RussellChoose simplicity! VALOR: visualize, ask, let go, Archives
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