• Get your 2025 decluttering inspo calendar: http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/2025
• Come to a Dehoarding Accountability Zoom Session: http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/ticket
• Subscribe to the podcast: https://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/subscribe
• Podcast show notes, links and transcript: http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/

Exploring impermanence, this episode highlights how these concepts can help us understand hoarding behaviours and the illusion of control. Looking at impermanence also includes addressing mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, coping with change, ambiguity and uncertainty. Yikes!

• Embracing Impermanence
• Psychological benefits of impermanence
• Concept of "glimmers"
• Interplay between mindfulness and impermanence
• Fernández-Campos paper on non-judgmental attention
• Critique of commercial distortion of mindfulness
• Jon Kabat-Zinn’s definition of mindfulness
• Practical mindfulness exercises
• Mindfulness in Hoarding Context
• Psychological dimensions and security from possessions
• Environmental Responsibility vs. Hoarding
• Personal insights on waste and possessions
• Uncertainty, Ambiguity, and Impermanence in Hoarding
• Tolerance of uncertainty and ambiguity
• Embracing impermanence to reduce distress
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Hoarding
• Psychological flexibility and acceptance of constant change
• ACT's promotion of resilience
• Use of ACT and Compassion Focused Therapy
• Radical Acceptance
• Steps to practice radical acceptance
• Awareness and curiosity toward challenges
• Vocalising Thoughts and Journaling
• Benefits of speaking thoughts aloud
• Buddhist Concepts and Impermanence
• Awareness and acceptance in Buddhism
• Tara Brach’s qualities of awareness
• Personal Reflections on Change and Relationships
• Resisting and coming to terms with change
• "Permission Slip" Segment
• Concept of Control and Suffering in Hoarding
• Desire for permanence leading to hoarding behaviour
• Justifications for Keeping Items
• Avoiding unnecessary consumption
• Ethical decision-making when buying
• Increasing Awareness and Understanding Personal Motivations
• Promoting curiosity through being without something

• Get your 2025 decluttering inspiration calendar: http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/2025
• Come to a Dehoarding Accountability Zoom Session: http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/ticket
• Subscribe to the podcast: https://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/subscribe
• Podcast show notes, links and transcript: http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/

In today's episode, I ask Dr Chia-Ying Chou about the complex interplay between grief and hoarding. We'll explore how emotions like grief can trigger hoarding behaviour, the role an inner critic plays, and learn all about compassion-focused therapy – including why it’s so much easier to offer compassion than to receive it. The timing is perfect, coinciding with National Grief Awareness Week in the UK.

• Grief and Hoarding Discussion
• Chia-Ying Chou discusses the non-direct link between grief and hoarding based on clinical experience.
• Factors such as resistance to grieving and avoiding vulnerability exacerbate hoarding.
• Grief can trigger hoarding behaviour to maintain a sense of control and avoid confronting loss.
• Host shares personal experiences of how grief intensified their hoarding behaviour.
• Grief and Possessions
• People keep deceased loved ones' belongings as a way to preserve their existence.
• Chou mentions the ambiguous preservation of loved ones through items.
• Anxiety and resistance to facing grief make organising or discarding possessions difficult.
• Complex Emotions in Grief
• Host reflects on the unexpected emotions in grief, like anger or impatience.
• Therapeutic Strategies for Grief and Hoarding
• Chou compares addressing resistance to grief to preparing for a challenging hike.
• Emphasis on resourcing, preparing mentally, and gathering support.
• Suggestions for a "baby-step" approach to facing fears and emotions.
• Inner Critic and Grief
• Host discusses journey with their inner critic and finding new approaches to handle it.
• Chou highlights how internal criticism is often related to grief and missed opportunities.
• Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT)
• Integration of Western psychotherapy and Buddhist philosophy for addressing psychological challenges.
• Difficulty in receiving or directing compassion towards oneself.
• Connections Between Hoarding, Trauma, and Grief
• Patterns of loss, either tangible or intangible, among those who hoard.
• Episode ties with National Grief Awareness Week in the UK.
• Cultivating Compassionate Companions
• Idea of cultivating an imaginary compassionate companion for emotional support.
• Emphasis on emotions being a part of persona, not the true self.
• Emotions and Grief Management
• Pacing yourself.
• Chou recommends creating space for emotions to surface naturally.
• Encouragement to welcome emotions as a creative process in internal space.
• Examine fears and take small steps to engage with feelings.

• Get your 2025 decluttering inspiration calendar: http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/2025
• Come to a Dehoarding Accountability Zoom Session: http://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/ticket
• Subscribe to the podcast: https://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/subscribe
• Podcast show notes, links and transcript: https://www.overcomecompulsivehoarding.co.uk/podcast-ep-168-hoarding-healing-and-the-art-of-kintsugi-with-dr-jan-eppingstall-of-stuffology/

Today, I'm with Dr Jan Eppingstall, a Melbourne-based counsellor, about the fascinating art of kintsugi and how it connects with hoarding and trauma recovery. We explore how this Japanese tradition of mending broken pottery with gold has lessons for us about the therapeutic journey and the beauty in imperfection. We also discuss how these concepts apply to overcoming perfectionism in hoarding and highlight the empowering process of creating, destroying, and rebuilding.

• Introduction to Kintsugi and Dr. Jan Eppingstall
• Explanation of kintsugi as a Japanese art form of repairing objects with gold.
• Kintsugi and the connection to recovery from trauma.
• Kintsugi as a Metaphor for Healing
• Importance of acknowledging the process of healing without oversimplification.
• Reference to Amy Price's article about kintsugi symbolising care and time.
• Discussion of Tomas Navarro's book and the importance of action in healing.
• Psychological and Therapeutic Implications
• Metaphor in therapy for expressing complex emotions.
• Application of kintsugi philosophy in mental health contexts, including trauma recovery.
• Relation to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), acceptance, and resilience.
• The real-life application of acceptance and self-compassion.
• Creation, Destruction, and Rebuilding
• Create, destroy and recreate art as part of personal healing.
• Parallel with kintsugi in wabi sabi / finding beauty in imperfection.
• Personal Empowerment and Resilience
• Empowerment through courage and resilience using scars as a metaphor.
• Resonance with Leonard Cohen
• Idea of imperfection as a means for transformation.
• Contrasts with Modern Consumerism
• Kintsugi and wabi sabi's focus on the beauty of imperfection and impermanence.
• Reference to Beth Kempton's book on creating serene, beautiful spaces.
• Addressing Perfectionism and Hoarding
• Application of kintsugi principles to address perfectionism in hoarding.
• Exploration of creating, destroying, and rebuilding as a therapeutic exercise.
• "Wreck This Journal" to overcome artistic perfectionism.