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A Home For You (Not Clutter) by Sharon Crosby Do you feel welcome in your own home? Best selling author Susan Ban Breathnach wrote, "It shocked me to discover that there were very few places around my home where I felt truly comfortable." I too find myself in a similar position. In fact, I have been so uncomfortable that it was only until a year ago that I began calling the place where I live 'home'. Calling the place I live in by the name 'home' has had a subtle influence on me. I tend to want to cherish and care for it more. I want to bring out the things I love and make it a place that is pleasant. I want it to be a reflection of what I want out of life, not of how I used to be. While in the past it has been a place of chaos (certainly a reflection of my life) I now want it to reflect my hopes and dreams. I want it to be a place of love. Of all the things clutter can be defined as, it is the definition that author Karen Kingston gave in her book Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui where she says "clutter are things we do not love" that has had the most impact on me. Certainly most of the things I have kept for years on end have been things I did not love or no longer loved. I began to notice that most of the things that I did love were "visually buried" by all the other stuff I kept that I only felt "so-so" about. I noticed that when I looked upon things in my home that I loved I felt good. There was a subtle increase in my energy. When I looked at things I did not love my energy would stay the same or, worse, go down and I'd feel blah. It is much more difficult to be aware of the things you love when they are surrounded by things you care less for. Think of your home as a garden. Clutter is very much like overgrown weeds. They choke out the beauty and vitality of your home...and you. Your home has ceased to be home. It has ceased to be a sanctuary...at least for you. It may be a sanctuary to all those miscellaneous, inanimate objects and things while you become a stranger in the place that you live. If this is the case for you it is time to reclaim your home's true purpose...to be a loved and loving place for you and those whom you love. Choose to become more aware of what in your home you love and what you do not. I one day I searched through my home and clutter. I gathered several of my belongings that I loved and put them on my bed (the only real cleared surface I had at the time). I noted what I loved about them. This one was whimsical. This romantic. And this brought a sense of nostalgia or history. These were things that made me feel connected to my soul for they represented what I loved about myself and life and so on. However, I noted that every one of these belongings gathered before me that made me feel good were not things that I even noticed on a daily basis. I almost never noticed they were around. I had so much stuff I was not aware of the things I cherished. Like a handful of diamonds in a pile of rubbish my 'treasures' were also difficult to see. What 'diamonds' are in your home that you keep hidden in rubbish? Remember the phrase, "One man's junk is another man's treasure." Just because it is junk doesn't make it treasure. Make sure you know what is treasure to you. If you are keeping something that to you isn't loved or treasured ask yourself why you are keeping it. It just might be more fulfilling to let it go. Donate it to that treasure hunting place known as charity second-hand stores. For in your hands it will always remain junk and only by someone else can your junk be turned into their treasure. After this, when you have returned to your home you will find there is more room. More room for what you love, those whom you love, and will love. Room for sanctuary. Room for being soothed and comforted. Room for a sense of belonging. Room for feeling welcomed. There will be more room for you. Copyright
2001 Sharon Crosby - Mind Over Clutter |
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