I’ve always enjoyed watching Clean Sweep on television. You know that show where the guy with the Australian/British accent gets into homes that people have almost stacked themselves out of with stuff and then they have a yardsale and whatever doesn’t sell goes off to charity and they come home the next day and the reno team has transformed their house into something truly functional? If I had a dollar for everytime I silently wished a clutter team would sweep in and save me from myself, I would be in a different space right now – that is for certain! However, life is not always a television show, and the best person to deal with my clutter issues is yours truly! The comforting thought is that others have clutter issues too, so I thought I would share a few lessons I’ve learned lately…
- Here’s the Clean Sweep guy on Oprah as he was talking about his new book.
- Mind over Clutter – a new theory on the ‘in you haven’t used it in X amount of time’ rule
- Get Organized Now – a truly helpful newsletter you can sign up for that comes once a week with fabulous ideas on how to organize your household. Especially handy for tips on how to get your children involved.
- Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui – I got this book years ago for my family and myself and it was the first time I started to clue in to the mind/body connection between clutter in our surroundings and how our bodies/health were reacting. If you suffer from any energy draining in your life, you may want to take a look at the things you surround yourself with and consider letting go of them, and the emotions attached to them…
More importantly, if you would really like to know the emotional triggers behind what drives us to keep the stuff in the first place, then check out this blog from Paul Bauer. Because let me tell you, I’ve seen some pretty darn organized pack rats too. People who still manage to hold on to a lot of things in their life and because it all fits into labelled boxes and you’re not tripping over it, then it seems ok to hold on to it. I aspired to be like that. “If I just had the right storage unit. If I label all my files in the filing cabinet and it looks organized, then it’s ok to hold on to all that paper. If I just had a bigger home to display all that I love and cherish.”
Life is not about our stuff. Stuff will come and go. Even the emotional items are only emotional because we bestow that power on them. Emotions are not material things. And if we clear the material thing out of our lives, we have an opportunity to clear that emotion too. Consider dialogging with your emotions and asking yourself how something is important to you, how else that importance is manifested in your life, whether or not that emotion could be manifested without this item.
I’m a big believer in FLOW. I believe that things flow in and out of our lives and it’s fun to observe and very risky to attach our sense of who we are to any of it. Money will come and go. Jobs will come and go. Relationships will come and go. Those are all material items too. If something isn’t serving your higher self. If you have it because it represents who you wish you could be, but instead is a constant reminder of who you are not, then let it go and have faith that when you are that person, and if you need that item then, it will be available to you.
May you make peace with your emotions today and free yourself from a corner of clutter! You’ll be amazed at the ripple effect it has in your life!
Blessings,
Pamela