On one hand, I really dislike clutter. I know that when everything is cluttered and messy, it interferes with the energy flow in a room or home. You may be familiar with feng-shui, an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics and order which improves qi (life energy); clutter is a definitely no-no in feng-shui. I've seen it come up in a Health Kinesiology session, about a need to to clean and/or vacuum to improve life balance! Clutter around me makes me feel disordered, lethargic and just seems to attract more clutter - if the place is already a mess, why not just add to it? Hardly seems worth it to get up and put something away when you can just dump it on an existing pile.
On the other hand, clutter seems to feel very comfortable to me. All my life I've lived a cluttered, disordered life in terms of my home. I honestly thought it was because I didn't have enough room for anything, and one can believe that when you're young and living at home and sharing a bedroom with a sibling; there really isn't any room. But as I became an adult, and every home of mine became bigger and bigger, I seemed to still find a way to fill it with Stuff.
I wouldn't call myself a materialistic person; I've never been one of those "whoever dies with the most toys wins" types of people. But somehow the clutter finds me and comforts me. Yet it also overwhelms me. And, interestingly, I can have a dozen bags and piles of clutter around me, but I seem to know where something is. "Sure, honey, that bill is in the third bag from the left, under the tire chains."
Today I was on Facebook and reading the page for Whole Living, the publishers for what used to be Body & Soul Magazine for many years (now Whole Living Magazine) and they linked to an article on their website called "What Do You Value Most? Take the Ten-Item Test." This excerpt from the article really jumped out at me:
Take the “Ten Items or Less” Test
First, make a list of ten tangibles that you feel are the most indispensable for survival. Then make a second list of the ten intangibles.
What many people discover from this exercise is the shocking revelation that their most crucial possessions total only a few hundred dollars, and they already own them. Things like clothing, eyeglasses, pots and pans, tools, and medical supplies. And the toil that they experience day in and day out is to possess things that aren’t even on these lists.
It really makes you think about the "value" we put on the junk that surrounds us!
When I moved from the New York City area to Seattle (6 years ago next month!), I had to do a fearless inventory of my possessions. When you do a move across the country (unlike local moves), moving companies charge you by weight. When you can look at a piece of furniture that is worth maybe $20 and realize that weight-wise it will cost $50 to move it, it suddenly takes on a lot less value to you and is easier to get rid of. I got rid of a TON of stuff back then in 2004. We had this local organization that picked up household goods for charity, and I remember having at least 25 boxes of unneeded items in my driveway, covered with a tarp, awaiting pickup. It seemed to ridiculous and wasteful to have collected all this stuff over the years that I really did not need. I felt so good about getting rid of this clutter.
So how is is that 6 years later, my house is back to being as cluttered as it was then? What does it say about me to have such a need to possess so much junk, and to leave it in such a state of disarray?
I've been doing a lot of self-healing work lately, and some of it is really, REALLY tough to shine a light on and deal with. I'm starting to think of the clutter as a comforting mechanism (like overeating can be for many people to stuff down feelings). I don't have to deal with the feelings that come up if I surround myself with stuff that doesn't even let the energy flow clearly in my home and in my life.
I often refer to Health Kinesiologywork as "peeling an onion" - that sometimes you need to be patient as you peel off the superficial layers before you can get to the really important stuff hidden below. I'm thinking that my clutter issues are similar. As I peel away those layers and get to the real nitty-gritty of my issues, I'm surrounding myself with old, familiar layers that don't really serve me well, and hinder me from really doing the work I need to do. Funny how I can see that in clients, but can't see it as easily in myself. Not surprising, really.
What are you covering up in your own life? Let's work together to uncover those hidden gifts!
Sue, our similarities continue to show themselves when it comes to clutter. I have been working diligently on addressing the issue within myself & in my home. Like you said, it is like peeling an onion - sometimes it makes me cry, other times I have onion skins laying all around me. :-) But I enjoy the transformation & have learned to let go of judging myself.
Posted by: Geri | Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 02:33 PM