Unclutter Your Life

I was raised by both of my Grandmothers who were very different when it came to the upkeep of their homes and of themselves. My father’s mother, Weasy (I could not pronounce Louise) was always a little disheveled with a chaotic home full of cluttered items. My other Grandma Eva held her home, and her appearance, in the highest regard. Through her I learned the meaning of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; at the time it wasn’t funny, but now it is. I never knew that it was not normal to fold and then refold laundry multiple times or to organize smaller bags in larger ones until I went to college. Through these polar opposite personalities I was able to come to neutral territory about the organization of a home, the importance of letting go of items not needed, and keeping ones with specific meaning that add energetic movement to areas.

Clutter is anything that is getting in the way of you living the life of your dreams and can take the form of mental thoughts, excess weight, physical items, money, or even relationships. Clutter can be internal or external. Here we are going to focus on the connection between clutter in your home and your overall wellbeing. If your house is constantly a mess, you hold on to items from the past, or you have not completed a spring-cleaning – like ever – in your life, it is time to find out the meaning behind your clutter.

Kerri Richardson, author of Uncover Your Clutters Hidden Message, explained that clutter is a form of excess baggage that can sabotage us. She believes that getting rid of the clutter in our lives is a part of a deep healing process where we must let go of patterns from our childhood that we are still literally holding on to. Once you heal the internal emotions, or subconscious issues, you can no longer tolerate the physical clutter around you. When you understand the purpose of the clutter, you can drill down the real source of your problem. Take a look at your home and what it is filled with and examine what it truly represents in your life. Your items may be weighing you down energetically. For example, if you have issues with your mother or father, but your entire house is filled with photos of them, you are energetically reminding yourself of the pattern and allowing them full stage in the present moment. It may completely uplift the house to take out photos of your dead relatives, because their presence and their items carry a particular frequency.

Clutter is the embodiment of the belief or commitments from the past, which live in a dimensional way in the present. Just as holding too much weight can make you feel down, too many items in your home can suffocate your radiance and make you small in the world. You may be unconsciously using the clutter to sabotage yourself. So how can you stop and where should you begin? First off, love yourself for where you are at right in this moment. Come to an acceptance that you hold on to things, whether that is items, weight, thoughts, or people. The more you love yourself where you are in this moment, the better you will be able to treat yourself and have the proper motivation to change.

Getting rid of clutter of any sort is difficult because you are navigating new waters and moving out of habits ingrained within you from childhood. According to Richardson, It is all about taking action and making changes approachable enough that we set ourselves up for success. Take it slowly, break it down to small areas of your house. Rather than asking yourself to clear a whole room or even a closet, start with one cupboard or even part of a counter. When you ease into the project you can have some success and begin to understand the purpose behind the clutter.

When you begin to de-clutter your life you may find that your home flows smoother. Take a look at the energy flow of your house. Your environment represents your inner landscape and world. If you are free flowing it may be represented through simplicity, art, or the ability to move throughout the home with ease. The way that you take care of yourself and your home teaches your children a form of self-love and respect.

Exercise:

!. Go through your house and begin to notice what items feel out of place and energetically off. Remove these items. If you aren’t able to give them away, keep them in a separate part of the house for a period of time so that you are able to tell a difference in how you feel when the items are absent. Don’t put Spring Cleaning off until 2 years from now. Make it a constant habit to give things away. Perhaps you do one section of your house at time slowly. If you haven’t worn or used something in over a year chances are that you no longer need the item and it is energetically weighing you down.

Richardson recommends people to do the following in order to de-clutter.

1. Begin with identifying what part of your life bothers you the most in regards to clutter. Is it the stack of mail, pile of books or dirty unorganized cupboards (maybe even excess weight or thoughts)?

2. Complete the following questions via a writing: How does it feel when you start to think about those things? Are you irritable, angry, depressed, sad, or over-whelmed? What does the clutter represent about you and your life and happiness.

3. Once you have a handle on this go beyond those feelings and listen to what the message from the clutter is saying. Perhaps you need to slow down and take care of your self or your house. Maybe you feel to unworthy or incapable of taking care of your life even in these small ways. Possibly you are ready to let go of a relationship or job and your excess clutter is showing up in the physical?

4. Leave the writing and come back later with a deep compassion for yourself. Begin to shift your perspective in the way that you see it and make slow changes that will work for you.