The Energy of Clutter: What is Your Vision?

When you are clear about what you want, it is more likely to become a reality in your life.

Ask yourself: What is my vision?
The goal is to live a vibrational 'high life'—to enjoy happiness, cleanliness, crispness, order and beauty.

• What would lighten your life and your living room space?
• What would it take to raise your self-esteem to its highest level?
• What would the image of a clear, ordered space bring into your life?

Those places in our home that are stuck seem to constantly tug at our energy. Clean, open, energetic spaces feel very different.

Clutter is essentially a dense, congealed form of energy. And much like any other toxic substance, it pulls energy in a downward direction—towards shutting down and decomposing instead of opening up and regenerating.

Take yourself mentally out of your current clutter and think about what it means to you and how it is impacting your life.

• If you can imagine your life clutter-free, what would you be doing with your time?
• What would your space look like if it were free from clutter?
• When you look around your living room where do you feel drained and overwhelmed?
• How is your clutter a metaphor for how you feel stuck in your life?
• What are you striving towards having in your living room?
• How would your relationships benefit from a clutter-free living environment?

Take a moment and write out your thoughts. It will be helpful in the process!

Now, let's talk about observation. When you can see what story your space is telling you about your life, you can begin to make positive changes.

Ask yourself: What in my life/space is out of alignment with my vision?

If clutter has been a lifelong challenge for you, you may have an overabundance of the Earth element in your way of being. Click here to read more about element types to see if this fits. Earthy people like to surround themselves with stuff and comfort. Too much stuff creates an excess of Earth. To reduce the Earth element, add the element of wood, which actually saps earth, just as tree roots that draw their energy from the earth.

In your living room, adding wood furniture will help reduce an excess of Earth. Wood also feeds Fire, which generates active energy. Fire elements can be created by adding light and more vibrant colors.

Balancing the elements can seem like a confusing thing, but it really isn’t. If you let your natural senses tell you what you body needs most, you can create an environment that supports you rather than drains you. Clutter is just one of the obvious places to start shifting the energy in your life and your space.

• What could you change in your environment to feel more naturally in balance?
• What would your ideal setting contain and what would it look like?
• Is clutter a pattern or a temporary condition of your life?
• If it’s a pattern, what does the pattern symbolize?
• Do you let stuff pile up in your house because it takes up too much energy to clean it or sort through it and purge it?

There are people who sequester themselves in their homes and get lonely and depressed, which leads them to then go deep into clutter. They may resist cleaning their living spaces and even go so far as to close the curtains to shun light, which essentially reflects their inner situation.

Everything gets stagnant and still. It’s almost like a form of hibernation. This would be an imbalance of Yin energy, which is darker, passive, closed and introverted. In order to get unstuck, move towards the Yang energies of light, movement and action.

Some of us are so busy—just too stretched for time. Simplifying and establishing systems can go a long way to prevent that feeling of becoming inundated by your stuff and the dedication and responsibility they necessitate.

Others of us hang on to the past, which is the core issue of clutter. If you are afraid to let go, this may keep you from potentially moving forward. If you want your life to expand and change, you may want to make space for newness to come in.

Now, what about the difficult things to release, like family heirlooms, antiques, or gifts from others?

These are the items in our lives that cause the greatest amount of confusion in our clutter clearing process.

• What family heirlooms do you have that you don’t really want?
• What gifts are you hanging on to that you don’t really like?
• Do you find that you put a gift in a drawer or closet and then pull it out for display when the person who gave it to you comes over to visit? Does this feel authentic?

One of my clients lost several loved ones in close succession and kept three separate storage areas filled to the brim with all their old furniture and possessions. She couldn’t even walk through her garage as it was packed to the roof! Her extreme resistance to facing such losses created a powerful nostalgia that gave false comfort.

Gently guiding her through the sorting and releasing process allowed her to let go on many levels. In doing so, she was able to grieve the loss of her loved ones and free herself from the heaviness. This activity took
many months and as she moved through it, she gained more intimacy with the people in her life, rather than things.

If you find you have a strong attachment to hoarding clutter around you for safety or protection, there may be deeper reasons behind these fears that need to be addressed. If the clutter represents issues in your life that are intense for you, ask for professional support to help you step into your authentic life.

You can’t always sit by yourself and go through these intense transformations. You may need support. Be gentle with yourself.

Keep reading the Energy of Clutter blog series for your next steps!

Want to discover your Space Personality and create a home environment that is more YOU?

When you know who you are, you can create a space that reflects your unique style, values, interests and your life goals. Your space is your mirror and it tells a story about you. Take this free quiz to learn your Space Personality Style and turn your home into a living vision board for your dreams.