Institute of Feng Shui

Clearing clutter is the first step to organizing a space. Anything piled up slows down the Chi - the energy flow in a house. Piles of paper on the desk, stacks of books in a bedroom, broken furniture in the basement and old boxes in the attic are not good storage solutions. All these piles and mounds and stacks and boxes just become obstacles to our quality of life. This is all considered clearing on the physical, material level. Clearing on the energetic level is called Space-Clearing.

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What is considered clutter?

• Everything you don’t either LOVE OR NEED is officially clutter. Things you love are those things that make you happy when you see them.  If you walk in your front door after a long day at work, and the first thing you see is a crystal vase that you can’t stand (but it was a wedding present from old Aunt Esther) – get rid of it!

• Unorganized items, papers, books, clothes etc. make a house untidy and chaotic. Unfinished projects need to be reconsidered. More than the visual mess, we are concerned about the energetic impact on the Chi. Chi should flow freely through the house.

• Overloaded space. The particular size of a room only allows so many objects to be “filled in”. Sometimes even a tidy home can look overloaded if the space is too small to hold all the antiques or a growing collection of memorabilia.

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What does clutter do to you?

• Clutter slows down the attention, the capacity for focusing and thinking clearly.

• Low Chi hinders business success. A difficult financial situation can often be connected to insufficient Chi flow - especially in the Wealth Bagua.

• Too much clutter can make a person depressed and fatigued. This state is usually found in combination with the appearance of geopathic grid lines. An evaluation of the Geopathic Stress of the house is recommended as the elimination of these draining forces is the foundation for further improvement.

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What areas are most affected?

The 3-Door Bagua diagram (after the Black Hat Feng Shui system) can give an indication which issues may be hidden behind the cluttered areas in the house. You can also apply this diagram to a single room or even a desktop.

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How to start

• Schedule a specific time, e.g. 2 hours tomorrow afternoon. Ignore upcoming (and unconsciously welcome) distractions.

• Start with small tasks. Break big jobs into smaller parts. Often a situation can look overwhelming and therefore too painful to even imagine beginning. Choose a single drawer, half your desk or just part of a room to begin with. Soon sheer momentum will take over and you will be near clear.

• Adopt an organizing system that makes sense for you. I personally prefer clear, stackable file boxes which I can keep track of.

• Shelves in the garage or the basement are a small, but helpful investment.

• Don’t forget some large boxes for the next garage sale/Goodwill or donation.

If you still feel overwhelmed search your community papers for help. There are professional organizers out there to hire.

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