Have you ever found yourself in a Big Mess from moving house? From losing a home or being unable to own one? From losing your bearings within yourself and the world?
What was the mess made of? Things? MORE THINGS? Thoughts? Memories? Emotions? Death? Money matters? Relationship in tatters?
If you are facing the chaos of a house move, declutter, or even a soul search with no need to move; if they feel overwhelming, scary, heart-breaking, this-is-me-and-my-life-disintegrating, read on.
Or, rather, tear a leaf after leaf, peel a layer after layer of your relationship to the things you'll find around you.
This book is about our relationship to possessions, the loss of home and the search for one's true home, and about how to use the physical chaos of a house move to sort through some of the inner psychological chaos.
It is based on the author's experience of 21 house moves (or 40, depending on how you count). It is psychological-philosophical yet practical. It is passionate, raw and non-prescriptive but also forensically analytic.
It will leave you feeling freer, lighter, braver, less swayed by musts and shoulds and other persons' home-related truths, and more at Home, wherever you are.
It doesn't matter if you are moving house or remain where you live until your dying day.
The house moving is optional in finding your True Home.
YOU making a move, again and again, is not.
Ready? Steady?
Read.
By:
Mila Petrova
Imprint: Knowmore Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 140mm,
Spine: 26mm
Weight: 431g
ISBN: 9781739137755
ISBN 10: 1739137752
Pages: 414
Publication Date: 21 November 2022
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
"INTRODUCTION: Life on the floor PART I: Beginnings Ch 1: What makes house moving difficult (1): An explosion of decisions, or how the possessions of a two-bedroom flat can take up the seats of forty-six Boeings Ch 2: What makes house moving difficult (2): 'Microprojects' on roots to uproot, harm to reverse, good to attempt and bullets to bite Ch 3: What makes house moving difficult (3): Subversive emotions, but rarely the ones you feared Ch 4: What makes house moving difficult (4): Defaults that are fat slices of our philosophy of life Ch 5: How to make it easier? Two things to do that don't need you to lift a finger Ch 6: Thresholds of pain Ch 7: Parallel cleaning PART II: On-Your-Back Things Ch 8: ""When in doubt, wear red"". On clothes, the fear of truly shining, and eleven other types of psychological chaos Ch 9: ""Shoes shouldn't hurt"". On shoes, lessons we were confident we have really learnt yet continue to repeat, and nine other types of psychological chaos Ch 10 : ""I sing the body electric"": Sports gear and inner coxes. On sports equipment, harmful inner conversations, and ten other types of psychological chaos PART III: House-Bound and Room-Bound Things Ch 11: Tie yourself to a table. If tables are few, wall colour will do. On furniture, moments when our connection to a place (or a thing, or a person) snaps, and seven other types of psychological chaos Ch 12: House decoration and painted-over soul cracks. On decoration and art, and traumas from our childhood homes that mark us for life Ch 13: Liaisons dangereuses. On bedding, towels and other 'huggables', and on the self-defeating associations between a physical and an emotional home Ch 14: Hunger games. On food, cooking and eating utensils, and almost any form of psychological chaos you can imagine, including fifteen dysfunctional 'eating personality' types PART IV: Boundary-Crossing Things Ch 15: Your amazing technicolour dreamhouse and the taken-for-granted. On electrics and electronics, the unglamorous essential ingredient of success and happiness they jeopardise, and five other types of psychological chaos Ch 16: Do It Yourself. Nevermore. On DIY equipment, culturally inherited beliefs about what it means to be a true man or woman, and three other types of psychological chaos Ch 17: You are not just a number. On paperwork and the glorious visions we have (had) for our lives v. the lacklustre of the everyday Ch 18: Home in a bottle of face wash. On cosmetics, guilty pleasures and blindingly obvious things that took you decades to see Ch 19: The books of life. On books and lives that need saving Ch 20: The dark bronze envelope. On sentimental items and myths of letting go PART V: Final Things Ch 21: Boxing it. On boxes, suitcases and bags, and the tinge of dissatisfaction at endings that aren't a perfect closure Ch 22: What makes a true home Acknowledgements List of Boxes Disclaimer"
Dr Mila Petrova is, apart from a house-moving ninja, a health, social and behavioural sciences researcher, specialising in health systems strengthening, digital health, palliative and end of life care, health in humanitarian and development contexts, and evidence synthesis. She's working as an independent research consultant and continues to be Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge, where she's spent most of her academic career. She's also a psychologist, counsellor and 'get unstuck' coach. Mila lives (or, more accurately, is currently living) in Cornwall, England. You can reach her through www.milapetrova.com
Reviews for House Moving Therapy
Unique, interesting, unusual, and compelling. It presented a novel and insightful way to view the concept of moving home ...The memoir elements woven in also offer us a very honest, raw insight into the author's personal experiences, so it feels like we're getting to know her personally in the process. Ameesha Green, The Bookshelf An astonishing and wonderfully provocative book. I found myself very much taken with some of its profound insights. J.L.Powers, author of Amina: Through my Eyes
