CLEAR THAT CLUTTER WITH FENG SHUI

by Alison Schockner

With the true start of the new millennium this year, what a great reason to finally deal with that very American phenomenon of "too much stuff". In my Feng Shui practice, the most common lament I hear from almost everyone, is "How do I get rid of all this clutter?!!" What I have noticed over the years is that if someone puts Feng Shui adjustments in place, but has not cleared out the clutter, the results are not as effective. To address this, I started teaching clutter control classes and have discovered a multifaceted approach that seems to get most people out of that panicked sense of overwhelm and into action. The plan involves looking at the problem from a Feng Shui perspective, from a psychological point of view, as well as from a very practical how-to standpoint.

Before we deal directly with those areas, I'd like to define clutter. It comes from the old English word for clot, as in blood clot. From a Feng Shui perspective, the energy that normally moves through a building is impeded by objects. If there are a lot of objects, the "chi" or energy slows down, much as a flowing stream is impeded by rocks or dams. This restriction in the flow of vital energy in your living space can, in some extreme circumstances, even cause physical illness, usually involving the respiratory system. People in cluttered houses often report that they have asthma, or bronchial infections, or allergies. Part of this is due to the dust collecting, but part of it is due to the decrease in the flow of "chi".

Another way to think about clutter is that it includes anything that you do not absolutely love or something that is not serving a useful purpose in your present life. You cannot hold on to something that you are not currently using with the idea that it may be useful at some unknown future point in time. If something is pleasing to you, it uplifts you when you look at it, and has positive associations, then it can stay in the house. If it's something that you actively dislike or sort of leaves you cold, then that is the quality of energy that you are picking up from your environment. This particularly applies in households after divorces or with inherited furniture. If you have furniture from a previous marriage in your house, with unhappy associations, then you will be subconsciously reminding yourself of that unhappiness every time you walk by it. Remember everything in your house should be consciously chosen to be there. And sometimes that might mean evaluating something that you loved ten years ago, but does not reflect who you are presently. .

Often people will tell me that they can't seem to get through the clutter because it seems so overwhelming. If you understand that the clutter is just a representation of an old pattern, usually a family of origin pattern, then knowledge can give you some power over the situation. Despite the fact that we live in a world of so much abundance, most people have a belief system operating at a deeply subconscious level that is based on the scarcity principle: there is not enough to go around. This belief is the root cause of so much anxiety associated with clutter. If you have a little voice in your head constantly telling you that you may need that for leaner times, you will not be able to let go of it. Add to that belief, all the associated guilt about wasting things if we let them go, and we start building a very solid structure in consciousness that will keep us holding onto things much longer than necessary. These are just two of many beliefs that keep us feeling "less than".

One of the "tricks" you can use whenever a scarcity thought arises is to address the thought directly and say to yourself, "Who does this thought belong to?" You don't have to get an answer. Just catching yourself in the act of thinking that scarcity thought and asking if it's an inherited belief and actually true, will allow it to dissipate. It's simple, but it works. It means becoming conscious about what has been subconscious for a very long time. You may have to repeat the question a few times but eventually, the belief will lighten up and you will be able to move forward.

From a practical point of view, here are some suggestions:

1. Make an appointment with yourself to clear clutter. Keep it as you would a doctor's appointment.
2. Set a timer for only one hour of clutter clearing. That way you won't get overwhelmed. Start small. It wasn't accumulated in a day and won't be cleared in a day either.
3. Remember that your possessions do not define you Letting go of possessions does not entail letting go of who you are. It's a common mistake we all make.
4. Assess every object in your house and see if it meets the "love it" or "use it" criteria.
5. Enlist the help of everyone in the house. If you can train children in these methods they won't be burdened with clutter as adults.

If you'd like to read more on the subject, Karen Kingston's Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui and Michele Passoff's Lighten Up, Free Yourself from Clutter are two excellent books.

Alison Schockner also teaches classes on Feng Shui clutter clearing and organizing. Her classes can be found on her website www.fengshuiworks. com.