Do you have piles of clutter all around you at home and at work? As one recovering clutterbug to another, I know how clutter just happens. One little pile quickly multiples into several more piles. Before you know it, you can’t see your desk, your kitchen table or the floor of your bedroom closet. The stuff that you have in your life just takes over.
Everyday that you see the clutter, you get a little more frustrated with yourself for not being a neat, organized person. You feel afraid and nervous that you have misplaced something important amongst your piles of clutter. Every time, you make a good effort to clear away the clutter, it becomes too overwhelming for you to finish it. The clutter seems like it is there forever.
Clutter isn’t harmless. It literally clutters the mind. How can you think clearly about your work and your life when everywhere you look, you see piles of clutter? The clutter represents chaos in the physical form. Sooner or later, the physical clutter leads to mental clutter.
Clutter also cuts off the flow of abundance to you. Abundance can be in the form of creativity, new ideas and solutions to problems become more difficult when clutter fills your living and work space.
Clutter takes away your self worth and self love little by little each day. How can you feel good about yourself when you keep scolding yourself for not being neater and more organized? The clutter creates a trap that leads to you berating yourself about why you create the clutter and why you can’t get rid of it. It is a vicious cycle of self criticism. You can’t be happy and loving to yourself when you are criticizing yourself.
Life is about energy. All our relationships, success, prosperity and health revolve around energy that we can’t see, flowing freely in and out of our lives and within our living and work spaces. The ancient practice of Feng Shui teaches us that blocked or free flowing energy affects our lives in the areas of prosperity, health, fame, creativity, relationships, family, knowledge, career and helpful people. Clutter blocks and traps the energy from flowing in any of these energy centers.
Clutter blocks the free flow of energy within and around you, which could be creating problems in your life. When you realize how clutter negatively affects you, it is an instant motivator to get rid of clutter. The first key to getting rid of clutter is to find out why you keep stuff. Common reasons is that we like to keep stuff out in the open as a reminder, we have no assigned place for our stuff, we believe that more is better and we hate to get rid of something out of fear that we may need it in the future. For more information on Feng Shui, read Karen Kingston’s Getting Rid of Clutter with Feng Shui.
Now let’s readjust our beliefs about the stuff that we allow to clutter our home and workspace. Karen Kingston suggests that if you are afraid to get rid of something because you might need it, then you don’t have faith in your future. You don’t trust that you will have what you need when you need it. By holding on to something that you don’t need, you are blocking new things that you could use from coming to you. These things could ideas, people, relationships, money, opportunities, and good health. Letting go of what you don’t need also gives you more physical energy.
Less is really more. Let go of what you haven’t used in years, what may be broken and what you don’t like any more. Karen Kingston suggests that you only keep those things that you really like and enjoy. There’s no need to feel obligated to keep gifts that you have no use for it. Pass it on to someone else who may need it. Less clutter means a clearer living space and mind. The mind mirrors the state of your living space. A cluttered mind doesn’t serve you best. You owe it to yourself to clear up your space and your mind to tap into the best that you can be.
Create a home for whatever you decide to keep. By knowing where everything is, you can keep track of what you have better. For organizing and storage ideas in the home and office, try Julie Morgenstern’s book, Organizing Inside and Out. For organizing your office space, try Lisa Kanarek’s book, Organizing Your Office for Success.
It is important to understand the universal law that says that we never own anything including our cars, homes, jewelry and all other material items. We are temporary users of these items. When we outgrow them or they no longer meet our needs, we must be willing to let these items go on to someone else. By holding on to these items, we close ourselves off from the giving and receiving flow of life. When you look at the bigger picture, keeping clutter and unwanted stuff has a high personal cost to it. Let it go and see the difference in your life.
Copyright©2007 Jeannine Robinson All Rights Reserved