In today’s society, we have spawned a need to accumulate things. Even worse, we have spawned a need to keep all of the things we accumulate. This creates clutter! Yes, the clutter has energy!

All things possess of energy – both good and bad. Surround yourself with things you love and use frequently and those things will emit strong, warm energies.

Surrounding yourself with unwanted and unused things gives off negative evergy, interrupting the flow of chi, and therefore disrupting your life. Unwanted items give off negative energies that will affect your personal energy. Haven’t you noticed that when your house is mess, you feel stressed? Or that waking up to a clean home puts a little skip in your step? Shed the junk, shed the negative energy, and reap the rewards of only positive energies in your home & life.

The easiest way to get started is one room at a time. Get three large boxes and one paper bag. Mark the boxes “keep, donate, trash” & mark the paper bag “shredding”. When deciding what to keep, the first reaction is usually the best. When you see that stack of birthday cards from last year and your brain immediately says “trash”, then PUT THEM IN THE TRASH!!! Don’t allow your brain talk you into keeping those cards. Don’t forget to shred anything with your personal information.

The “keep” box should only consist of things that have a home in your home! Can you put them away, or will they sit in the box waiting to find a home?

Adopt a “thanks but no thanks” policy. People always try to give us more things. Clothes, dishes, books. You are not required to accept those things! It is perfectly acceptable to say “no thank you, I don’t think I’ll use that”. I’ve recently adopted this policy after realizing that a nice portion of my own personal clutter weren’t even things that I purchased. They were things given to my family, mostly by other well meaning family members.

If you follow your gut, the trash & donate boxes will fill up quickly. Remember that clutter is battle that you must win regularly, not just once a decade. Happy de-cluttering!

-Amelia

Book recommendation: Clearing the Clutter for Good Feng Shui by Mary Lambert