How many times in your life have you cleared clutter for it to magically reappear in your home? Do you wake up wondering where all this “stuff” came from when you just dropped off twenty bags to a charity? I’ve even wondered in the past if clutter had mystical powers to re-create itself in the same exact spot from where it was just cleared. Though many see clutter as just a side effect of living a full life, it is much more than that. Clutter originates in our mind and in our emotions, then manifests as objects that can tie us to the past, keep us stuck in the present, or distract us from our true mission.
Once I became more familiar with the idea that the physical clutter is not just about the stuff, it became easier for me to release what did not support me. Clutter is tightly connected to our thoughts and emotions, whether we recognize that or not. When I began to examine the source of the clutter creation, I could more effectively release it once and for all. Yet, this process does take some front-loading before beginning the actual clutter clearing process.
When beginning your clutter clearing journey, I recommend that you start with reflection and creating an intention. Below are 5 steps you can take toward transforming your life through clutter clearing:
- Create a Vision of Your Future: To create a clear and concise intention that conveys exactly what you desire, begin with reflecting on your life, goals, and values. Think about how you see yourself today. What do you value most in life? Is it freedom, family, beauty, creativity, or something else? You’re your time to become clear on your most important values and your goals in life.
Then, imagine where you see yourself in two, five, or ten years from now. Even if you do not have a clear visual picture of what your life will look like, focus in on the emotions you want to experience most. Is it feeling joy, love, freedom, or something else? To make your vision more concrete, you may want to create a vision board or an altar, where you place symbols of the life you desire to create.
- Create Your Intention: Once you are clear on what you desire your life to look or feel like, create an intention for your clutter clearing mission. It may be helpful to have an overall intention for your space and individual ones for each room that incorporate the purpose of each space. Your intention may be something like, “It is my intention to release clutter to experience more joy and clarity in my life.” For an individual room, you may have a more specific intention. For example, in an office space, you may have an intention like, “It is my intention to release clutter to experience creativity and prosperity.”
Here too, if you desire, you may create a vision board or altar, to assist in holding the intention for your space. Intentions are powerful and begin to shift the energy in your space before you even begin to move the objects. This may be especially supportive if you have a great deal of clutter to release from a space.
- Once your vision and intention are set, choose a space to begin your clutter clearing journey. You must decide what clutter is for you and which objects in your space are not in alignment with your vision and intention for that space. With each object, ask yourself, “Does this object fit in the life of the “YOU of tomorrow”? Do they support the life you desire to create or tie you to the past or present?
So, what is clutter? Clutter is ANYTHING that we do not use, love, or want. It can include broken items, unfinished projects, duplicates, or borrowed items. It can also include objects that hold the energy of past experiences, thoughts and feelings about yourself and your life. Clutter is anything that can clog the flow of energy into and through your life, anything that is preventing you from fully manifesting the life that you desire. Just as keeping clothes that no longer fit does not honor who we are today, keeping objects that do not fit our lives do not honor ourselves!
- This part of the process is key to releasing the clutter once and for all. Though as with many aspects of our healing, it is like peeling back layers of an onion and may be revisited at a deeper level later. During the clearing process, be present with yourself and mindful of the thoughts and emotions that come up with the objects that you are choosing to keep or release. It is here that you can dive deep into clearing thoughts and emotions that may be keeping you stuck. Keep a journal nearby to jot down thoughts for reflection. What comes up for you as you are clutter clearing? Does the idea of giving away an object you don’t use cause you to feel stress or discomfort? What fears, if any, are present for you?
There are many reasons why people may hold on to clutter, though, most of them are related to a fear of one type or another. What is present beneath the resistance? Is it a fear of failure, of success, of letting your light shine, that the Universe will not provide for you in the future, that you “should” or “shouldn’t” do something? It is very important to dig deep here, examine why these objects that you instinctively know will not support you in your desired future are difficult to release. From where does the resistance originate?
Because our identity is so often wrapped up in our stuff, letting go of the physical can bring fear and uncertainty. Our stuff sometimes makes us feel safe and protected. Do we want to peel back the layers and expose ourselves to the world (and ourselves), or hide behind the false sense of identity and being?
- Affirm Your Intentions for Your Space: Once you have released clutter from your spaces, affirm your new intentions for the space. Transform your intention statement into an affirmation that further supports you. Energy cannot be destroyed, but it can be transformed. Once you release clutter, make sure that what you replace it with is something that you truly desire. And by replacement, I am not speaking of another object. What emotion, intention, affirmation will you hold in that space that will further support you in your journey? What brings you joy that can brighten up the energy of the space for you? How will you arrange the items that remain to create an environment that supports you on your journey?
Depending on the amount of clutter, you may want to take it in baby steps. Take your time so that you can shift your energy as you shift the energy in your spaces. Peel back the layers of resistance, embrace transformation, and open yourself up to the new possibilities that you create as you clear what no longer serves you in your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual realms.
