Empower Your Life Through Feng Shui - An easy eight step guide to help you achieve your goals

Chapter 4:
Step 4 - Clean and Declutter
Areas of Greatest Need

Feng Shui at Work

A client was concerned that her love life was not moving forward; she was lonely and not meeting men. She was also trying to lose weight and had a few large pieces of exercise equipment in her house that were remnants of a past relationship. During a consultation I noticed that the equipment dominated her living room, and one piece was even stored behind her front door, blocking the entrance of Ch’i. She acknowledged that she was not using the equipment and that not only did it clutter her home, it acted as a constant reminder of her past love and the fact that she was not exercising. She decided to pass on the equipment by selling it to someone excited about using it. She used the money she made to buy a membership at a gym where she met her new love. They now exercise regularly together.

Another client felt that she was stagnating in her home environment. Once she made the conscious intention to move forward, she began clearing and giving away items to prepare for the sale of the property. As soon as the space was cleared, she began receiving purchase offers, as well as listings for new properties to look at. She said that “people were coming out of the woodwork.” She cleared her energy path and now has found the perfect house with a beautiful view.

How Clutter Affects the Bagua

There is often a correlation between excessive clutter and problems that occur in one’s life. For example, a cluttered desk or closet in the Wealth and Prosperity area can lead to feeling stuck with finances. Look at your home with Feng Shui eyes. What are you holding on to that is keeping you stuck?

WEALTH PROSPERITY

FAME REPUTATION

LOVE MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIPS

HEALTH FAMILY FRIENDS

CENTER GROUNDING

CHILDREN CREATIVITY

KNOWLEDGE SELF-CULTIVATION

CAREER

HELPFUL PEOPLE AND TRAVEL

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ENTRANCE QUADRANT

Decluttering Made Easy

“I can’t keep up with my work … I go from one fire to another . . . I feel so overwhelmed . . . I don’t know where to begin . . . I feel blocked . . . I have no energy …” Do you hear yourself or others around you saying such things? Look around. Do you see piles of unfiled papers, items stacked everywhere, blocked doors, overstuffed closets, broken items … in other words, clutter?

It is time to clear the clutter that is holding you back.

The task does not have to be difficult. You can transform your home from chaos to a comfortable, peaceful haven with the few-minutes-a-day technique I call the “Salami Method of Time Management”—slicing off one piece at a time. Think of eliminating clutter and organizing your possessions as an adventure that will open doors to new opportunities. By getting rid of things you no longer want or need, you will revitalize your home and make room for what you really do want to flow into your life, bringing you more happiness, clarity, and peace of mind.

Feng Shui views clutter as a manifestation of two types of chaos: Active chaos and passive chaos. Active chaos is the clutter that results from your creating something, such as while cooking, painting, remodeling, reorganizing, and so on. This clutter will be cleared when the project is completed. Passive chaos is the clutter that stays in piles in closets, under beds, in garages, and generally all over the house. This is the clutter that blocks the flow of the life energizing Ch’i and consequently drains your life. In Feng Shui everything counts, which means that your storage areas are as important as your most lived-in spaces. In other words, if your room is orderly because you have clutter stuffed in your closets, you are not practicing Feng Shui.

Early on in my life I felt a need to organize my belongings. I assigned everything I had an X place to keep it in, and as I was cleaning up, I returned each item to its designated X. An X is a dedicated storage space for each of your items. It could be a drawer, closet, shelf, basket, or plastic storage bin. Retail outlets like The Container Store have numerous solutions for storing things in small, tight places.

To begin decluttering, first pick up the items that are in plain sight and return each to its designated X. Then either donate, toss, or recycle anything you no longer want or need.

Once you have cleared the space of the visible clutter, move to a drawer or a shelf in a closet. Avoid overwhelming yourself and declutter just a little bit every day. For example, if a dresser is the first thing you see as you enter the room, clear the visible clutter from the top of the dresser first. Then move in a counterclockwise direction around the room clearing other areas of visible clutter. On another day, return to the dresser to declutter the top drawer, the next day the second drawer, and so on. Give yourself permission to remove items that you no longer use, are broken, or that hold negative memories. Either pass them on or toss them out.

When I retired from my career in education, I realized I no longer needed all my business clothes. So, I created a “one-third” rule for myself, which meant that if I had nine skirts, I would remove at least three of them. Apply this formula to a sock drawer. If you have eighteen pairs of socks jammed into a drawer so tightly it is difficult to close, allow yourself to remove and pass on at least six pairs. Once you begin using this system, you may find you want to rid yourself of even more than a third of the items you have accumulated.

Decluttering a little bit every day does not take long, and the results are noticeable almost immediately. You will start to feel the positive energy flowing through your home, your personal energy will be renewed, and life-changing opportunities will start coming your way.

Feng Shui at Work

A client hired me because she lacked energy. After a successful home consultation, I received an email from her stating: “Today I went to the hall to get a ladder to continue my enhancements and found that one thing led to another. The task of storing the cleaning products we just bought led to cleaning out the linen closet. I went to my tool drawer for a hammer, saw the air vents were dirty, and began cleaning them. I went to enhance the sewing room and decided to move the piles from the table, and then I looked in the closets and took out clothes to give away. I then thought that since I have cupboards in here, why do I have all this computer stuff out? I rearranged the laptop cords to be stored neatly behind the desk. Before I began, I felt very tired. Now I feel so much better. I have so much energy and enthusiasm.” My client’s life continues to improve daily.

In her book The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin shares the joy of having an empty shelf. Imagine the wonderful feeling of having so little clutter that you could reserve a whole shelf for the sheer pleasure of seeing it empty. For Rubin, an empty shelf “means possibility” and “a space to expand.” Once you have emptied a shelf by culling items in your closet, for example, you might choose to add a few decorative items related to that Bagua area. My closet is in my Health, Family, and Friends area, so I decided to put a few pictures of my friends on a shelf I had emptied of unused items. I love seeing their happy faces each time I step into the closet. Once you feel the positive results of clearing your space of clutter, you will not want to stop.

Remember that your environment mirrors your consciousness, and there is no more revealing place to see it reflected than behind closet doors.

During transition periods in my life such as retirement, a kitchen remodel, and my mother’s passing, I was faced with the challenges of organizing and disposing of items I had acquired as a result of those events. Many of them held loving memories, and I had to ask myself, What is the best way to let go of things that remind me of my loved ones but that I no longer have use for?

I decided to give most of them a new lease on life rather than keep them...