Gwen Lake - Tarot & Beyond

Cut the clutter

Now that, for many people, the kids are back in school, and major holidays are coming up, it's a good time to address something very practical and down-to-earth, but which has much deeper effects on you too: CLUTTER.

If you've ever had teetering piles of bills, receipts, clipped coupons, unread magazines etc crowding out spaces in your home, this is what I'm talking about. I don't mean collections of beloved knick knacks, or heartwarmingly messy bookshelves stuffed with great books -- I'm talking plain old crap sitting around where it shouldn't!

• Clutter that is simply accumulated and unprocessed "stuff" that either has no discernable home of it's own, no further use in being kept around, or simply has not been put where it really needs to be, is draining.

Quite aside from the fact that it just looks bad and makes things difficult to find, it also changes the energy of the room, the house, and yes, even the house's occupants. Have you ever noticed how, whenever you have actually done a clearing out and cleaning up anytime, you feel more relaxed, calmer, you even feel like you can think more clearly in your clearer space?

There is something about clear, calm spaces and good order outside -- meaning your actual, nuts-and-bolts environment -- that really does seem to facilitate a mirrored clear, calm spaciousness and orderliness inside your mind and spirit.

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Guess what? Doesn't matter! In matters of decluttering, start with one and the other can follow much more easily than if you just do nothing.

• Where to start also doesn't matter -- the point is, just start.

Start small. Don't contemplate taking on the whole house. You'll abort the mission. Instead, pick one room, or even one area of one room. One cupboard. One desk. Doesn't matter where, just decide that today is the day you straighten up this spot. After this you will tackle another, but just focus today on this one area.

Apply this quote from a famous interior designer, William Morris:

"Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful

and believe to be beautiful."

This is a simple statement/piece of advice that sounds like it doesn't cover a lot, but in fact it covers just about everything, if you consider "Useful" and "Beautiful" to be broad categories applicable to our lives and the objects in them.

• Here are my definitions of these two categories:

Useful

~~ has a practical purpose that assists you in your daily life ~~

Under "Useful" of course comes every object that actually performs a function: pots, pans, appliances, clothing you actually wear, remote controls you actually use.

Then think to yourself, which DO you actually use? And which items have been sitting around being neither useful nor beautiful? Dump them or give them away. Now is the time to say goodbye. This goes for appliances you just never use or which are malfunctioning, clothing you haven't worn in two years, those broken remote controls, everything that is supposed to serve a function. If it's life-purpose was to serve a job in some way, and it's not doing a job for you, you don't need it.

Beautiful

 ~~ meaningful to you, gives you joy, great to look at, etc. ~~

In the "Beautiful" category comes art on your walls, family photos either in albums or sitting around (framed, please, not just jammed into a mirror or propped against the computer monitor!) plants, furniture you truly love, collections, ornaments, vases, etc that you really enjoy having and seeing around you, and I would also include sentimental items that genuinely mean something to you EVEN IF someone else would consider it neither useful nor beautiful.

As long as it gives you to joy to look at it or own it, keep it. But you have to be honest with yourself, here, as sentiment can overtake us.

I will caution not to get too brutal though. Never throw out or give away family heirlooms or mementos of your children or other cherished items associated with friends, family, relationships, and good times you want to remember. There can be regrets about that extreme of de-cluttering, and I firmly believe that there are some physical objects we need to hang onto because we are emotional beings who gain comfort from objects and artifacts and the meaning associated with them -- this is human, we've done it since primitive times, and it's "okay" to still feel a need.

But what you are aiming to do here, is to get rid of the daily detritus that clutters up and detracts from both the useful and the beautiful. Believe me, you WILL feel better without the visual noise and the physical chaos.

Here is more on decluttering, why, and how to:

http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Declutter.asp

If you feel that you or someone you know is developing a problem beyond a manageable degree of messiness or the keeping of items, this may be a clinical condition termed "hoarding".

This is part of a more serious problem and professional help may be needed via therapy. More information:

http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding/support-groups/online-self-help-support-groups.php

William Morris, (1834-96), British interior designer and craftsman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris

Published Thursday, September 06, 2007 1:24 PM by Gwen Lake
Filed Under: Inspiration