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printer friendlyClear Your Clutter and Create Space for Miracles
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Creating a home is one of the most significant things we do. A home can be a true sanctuary—a place of laughter, joy, peace and welcome. No other place allows us the freedom to express ourselves and reveal ourselves so fully. The most successful home is one that totally supports the everyday habits, schedules, and lifestyles of its owners.
A home is far more than a physical structure. It is a living entity with a soul of its own. From the moment you wake up in the morning, you want every facet of your environment working with you, not against you. Often we allow our home or parts of it to become cluttered and neglected.
What is clutter?
- Clutter is stuff in your home or life which no longer brings you joy, creative inspiration, sentiment, or a reasonable measure of practical benefit.
- Clutter is whatever requires more of your time and attention than it is worth.
- Clutter is that which you don't need or use or want.
- Clutter is anything you keep out of a sense of obligation rather than because you love it.
- Clutter is anything you own that does not enhance your life on a regular basis.
- Clutter is unfinished business.
- Clutter is stuck energy that has physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual results.
Do these descriptions of clutter bring up feelings for you? Do you feel as if you have things in your life that are unwanted, unneeded, or unloved? Does your home environment bring you peace and calm, or are there areas that feel chaotic?
Clearing clutter can transform your life by releasing negative emotions, generating energy, and allowing you to create space in your life for the things you want to achieve. People often launch into clutter clearing by buying new shelves, file cabinets, drawer systems, and other of the many organizational tools on the market. Their hearts and intentions are in the right place, but their actions are premature. Clutter clearing is related to getting organized and beautifying your space, but it is not the same thing. Clutter clearing is a process of assessing all of the things in your environment in terms of the practical purposes that they serve. Things that make you feel good, function better, and contribute to the quality of your life can stay; all else goes. Deciding where to put what you are keeping is organizing. Because organizational solutions are so plentiful, having an idea of how you want things to look and ways you want to use each space will facilitate your selection of organizing methods and tools.
The truth is, there is no end to clutter. The mail will keep coming, bills will show up, you will attend classes and conventions only to come home with bags of goodies, you will transition from one phase of life to another, you will receive gifts. Clutter is endless, but there is good news. Rather than think that one day your clutter will be gone forever, I suggest that you instead try to develop a lifelong relationship with your physical environment that makes it a joyful place in which to dwell. This can be accomplished when everything in your physical environment is there because you consciously determined that it should be, and that when you bring new things into your life, they have a place.
What would your life be like if clutter were not in the way? Having objectives and strategies for achievement has always been a good business practice; borrowing this approach to clear clutter will help you implement the process.
I have worked with artists, for whom organization can feel like a conflict to creativity, the elderly, for whom things represent their history, and people with ADD, whose way of thinking makes organization difficult to achieve until they have a personalized system. Like many others, these people have cleared clutter to make room to transition to new phases in life, to grow a business or career, to improve their relationships, to heal from trauma, to be more creative, and for many other reasons. And then there are teenagers...
While you are putting your external world in order there are corresponding changes going on internally. Everything around you mirrors your inner self. By changing your home you also change the possibilities in your life. The flow of energy opens you up for more harmony and makes space for your hopes and dreams—for miracles!
Karen Roehl's company is called Life Transformation. As a Clutter Coach and Professional Organizer, she motivates and supports individuals and businesses, including those with a history of chronic disorganization and ADHD, to declutter, organize, simplify, and make peace with their environment. She is also a coach to new organizers. You can call her at (425) 814-9621, e-mail her at kroehl@comcast.net, visit her at www.cluttercoach.org.
