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Behind Closed Doors – The Effects of Hidden Clutter

Deborah Redfern — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:56:57 +0000

There are different kinds of clutter: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Often these overlap – one type of clutter can cause another type of clutter. Physical clutter can be having too many possessions to fit into the space you have available, but even if you have more space than possessions, especially if you do not use them regularly. Physical clutter can be clothes that no longer fit or are no longer in style, an out of control paper trail, the junk drawer items which threatens to take over the entire cabinet, gifts you received which were unsuitable and unused, things you are storing (such as family heirlooms)…and the list goes on. If it takes up space, it is (potentially) physical clutter.

Mental clutter is the stuff you carry around in your head. It can be found in judgmental thoughts such as a mental to-do list – the things you should do. It can be self-criticizing scripts that run through your head — the gremlin that sits on your shoulder saying “I told you so.” It can also be decisions you have been putting off, jobs that are waiting to be done,

Emotional clutter often comes from holding on to the past. It is in regrets, holding on to past hurts and grievances, anything that holds you back such as fears, people or situations that have not been released. Emotional clutter can also be unfulfilled dreams.

Spiritual clutter is when you do not honour and nurture yourself and can manifest as not really being present in your life. You might find yourself filling your life with mindless activities that do not bring you joy, holding on to belief systems that no longer serve you, or being in environments that are not supportive,

All of these types of clutter overlap. When you release clutter in one area of your life, it often has affect somewhere else. And when you make changes in your inner life – belief systems for example, it is valuable to physically change your environment.

The closets in your home can represent all types of clutter because closets are collecting points for all kinds of things. Depending of the kind of closet, it could be items used daily, once a year — or never. Clutter in closets is often a metaphor for the parts of your life you keep hidden away — things that are private, hidden away, or secret. Items pushed to the back of closets can represent things you don’t want to deal with.

Today choose one closet,or even one one shelf of a closet and sort through it. Take everything out and sort through what is stored in there.

Notice any thoughts, emotions, or memories arise while you sort and clear. If these items had a message for your soul, what would it be? What meaning do these items have for you? Clean and clear the area thoroughly and put back only things you use and love. Have some boxes and bags handy for the items that you will not keep or that need to be stored elsewhere in your home.

Missing Items: Calling St. Anthony

Deborah Redfern — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:45:17 +0000

Have you ever had one of those days where you go to find something and it isn’t where you thought it was? It is so frustrating! It happens to me more often than I would like:

My new camera vanished. After a frenzied search around the house, I found it a few hours later exactly where I’d left it: in a purse I don’t usually use but took on a weekend trip.
A certain grey jacket not worn since last fall ‘disappeared.’ and after searching every closet, at least 3 times, it finally emerged on the closet floor where it had slipped from the hanger.
My jewellery pouch – the one I use when I am travelling, the one that was on my bed this morning is now… nowhere. I searched through all my drawers, looked under the bed, in my suitcase (did I already pack it?) and finally allowed itself to be seen again…peeking out between clothes folded in the drawer right where it should have been.

The camera was because I didn’t put things back in their usually home, the jewellery pouch was just because I was aggravated and impatient. The jacket is a result of abundance.

When things are missing I sometimes use the invocation to St. Anthony.

St. Anthony, St. Anthony
Please come around
Something is lost
And can’t be found

Does it help? I believe it does as my mind often clears and I what is missing – either literally or in my mind’s eye, what I could not see before.

When is Something Clutter?

Deborah Redfern — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:11:18 +0000

There are times when things (objects, projects) in our lives seem to fit the bill of clutter, but are hard to let go of. This is a time to be especially kind to yourself because there is usually a reason for holding on.

Sometimes, holding on to the past is a way of keeping the door open on a part of your life that is almost over. It is similar to being immersed in a book you really enjoy or strongly identify with. When the book ends, your experience of being a part of the story will end as well, and often there is a bit of reluctance to finish the story.

So, in your life, holding on to something may be needed in order to:

give yourself permission to let go of a part of your identity that you’ve outgrown
allow time to absorb changes in your life
get closure on a part of your life that is over

So when is it clutter? It is individual. No one else can really tell you what clutter is. For me clutter is an awareness of the ‘mind chatter’ attached to the item in question. Examples of mind chatter are self-criticizing, admonishing, and energy-draining, unpleasant thoughts that do not feel good. If there is no mind chatter, it isn’t clutter.

If something you’ve been holding on to you begins to ‘talk back’, you will know that you are getting close to being ready to release it. When the time is right, you will be ready to come to completion – whether it is finishing the project or finally letting something go. Until then, trust your feelings!

Holiday Clutter

Deborah Redfern — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:08:40 +0000

When I downsized my belongings five years ago, I gave away or disposed of nearly all of my Christmas decorations, keeping only those I truly loved.

I didn’t have a lot to start out with, but I did have a collection that spanned a few decades…what is it about holiday decorations that brings out the sentiment?

As we grow and change, our decorating tastes change to match. Often our homes reflect that growth, but holiday decorations tend to stay the same.

Each year there are beautiful new items in the stores we ‘must’ have — as well as any you might receive as gifts — and before you know it, the holiday ornament and decorating box is a large, complicated collection which takes a lot of space to store, a lot of time to put up, and confusion as you sort it all out each year.

This holiday season is a perfect time to de-clutter your holiday decorations and make life simpler.

How To:

As you open each box of decorations or take out each item, ask yourself if you really love it and it if reflects who you are now.
Consider photographing any decorations that are no longer ‘you’ but are difficult to let go of because of the memories they evoke. Let them go and treasure the photographs instead.
Re-evaluate your recycling plans. Wrapping paper, ribbons and Christmas cards to be re-used? Re-using and recycling is a great idea, however I recommend you decide how much you keep each year, and give yourself a time limit for using them.
How about those broken decorations or strings of lights with burnt out light bulbs you’ve been meaning to repair? For things that need repair or cleaning, give yourself a time limit to complete that task — resist the urge to put it back in the box to deal with next year!
Package up the decorations that are still in good shape (please resist the urge to pass along the de-cluttering to someone else, especially a family member!) and make arrangements for its removal from the house.

Celebrate your success!

Wishing you love and joy during the holiday season and in the year ahead.

Where Clutter Lives

Deborah Redfern — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 16:31:03 +0000

Where does your clutter live? Under your bed? In the attic? The Basement?

According to feng shui principles, the places where [tag]clutter[/tag] takes root is meaningful but we are often not aware of what that meaning is. The following examples do not have to be true all the time of course, but something definitely worth thinking about as you clear your clutter.

Attic: Represents things hanging over your head, goals or dreams beyond your reach.

Bathroom: Plumbing is related to the emotions. Repressed emotions: feeling blocked, holding on to the past, people or events. Excessive emotions: weepy, verbal diarrhea or ranting.

Bedroom: Needing a great deal of privacy, hiding yourself or some aspect of your life from the world, being out of touch with your emotions or your inner self.

Basement: Suppressed emotions, unconscious beliefs, thoughts, patterns of behaviour, lack of foundation or roots in your life.

Cupboards: Upper cupboards, same for attic. Lower cupboards, same for basement.

Dining room: Feeling unnourished, un-nurtured, not taking care of your health, or lacking a sense of community in your life.

Kitchen: not fully allowing abundance, the harvest — what you have been working towards, into your life.

Living Room: difficult or absent relationships, feeling unconnected from loved ones and your community.

Under: (bed, cabinets, cupboards, etc.) Feeling bogged down.

Different Kinds of Clutter

Deborah Redfern — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:25:39 +0000

Clutter-clearing is modern-day alchemy. It is one of the fastest ways to completely transform your life. Denise Linn, Feng Shui for the Soul

There are different kinds of [tag]clutter[/tag]: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Often these overlap – one type of clutter can cause another type of clutter.

Physical clutter is complex: it can be simply having too much to fit into your space, but that is not necessarily clutter. It is in the eye of the beholder, but if you do not use or love those possessions it is clutter. Some prime examples are clothes: ‘mistake’ purchases worn only once or never at all, things that don’t fit you at your current size, trendier items that are not currently in vogue or collections that got out of control.
- Physical clutter also shows up as paper — magazines and newspapers, and sometimes books.
- Junk drawer or places where you put all the stuff you don’t know what to do with but can’t bring yourself to throw out.
- Things you are storing for others (could be the family heirlooms for example.)
Mental clutter is the stuff you carry around in your head:
- judging thoughts like: “I told you so” or “you’ll never achieve that goal” or “who do you think you are?”
- endless to-do lists you are trying to remember
- nagging thoughts like: I should exercise more often. I shouldn’t watch so much TV
- decisions you have been putting off, jobs that are waiting to be done
Emotional clutter is a little different from mental clutter though it can cause mental clutter. Emotional clutter is when we do not release emotions after the event is finished; it is holding on to the past. Some examples are:
- carrying regret, blame, and grievances from the past
- being fixated on fears so that it holds you back
- unfulfilled dreams
- people or situations that have not been released
- memories of how things used to be
Spiritual clutter is when you do not honour and nurture yourself and can manifest as not really being present in your life. You might find yourself filling your life with mindless activities that do not bring you joy, holding on to belief systems that no longer serve you, or being in environments that are not supportive.

All of these types of clutter overlap to a certain extent though it is often not apparent until you begin the clearing, or the unravelling process. When you release clutter in one area of your life, it often has affect somewhere else. And when you make changes in your inner life – belief systems for example, it is valuable to physically change your environment.

Through coaching you can learn how to release these patterns so that you can step into your [tag]higher self[/tag] living fully in the present.

Ten Things I’ve Learned from my Clutter

Deborah Redfern — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:07:05 +0000

[tag]Clutter[/tag] is natural and we all have it to some degree because by nature we are hunters and gatherers. Only at this point in our evolution as a species most of us are hunting for ‘treasures’ and gathering collections and mementos. The process of [tag]clutter clearing[/tag] is very important in any self growth or coaching process because who you are is not separate from your environment. You created your environment and everything in it tells a story about you.

Even if someone else did the decorating, you choose that person to be in your life so the environment is still about you. When you make changes in one part of your life and you look at the big picture (your environment as well and your thoughts and actions) the impact is so much greater. It can help you grow more quickly into your ‘best self’.

Our family has gone through drastic belonging reduction – by choice - when we moved across the country, and I continue to learn more about clutter nearly every day. Here are some of the things I’ve learned about clutter.

Clutter clearing releases blocked energy.
On its own without doing anything else, clearing clutter can change your life.
Ideally clearing clutter is done slowly, one area at a time.
You will never be totally finished with clutter — unless you live alone and/or are extremely disciplined.
Once you’ve begun, clutter clearing is an ongoing process that is more about choices and mindfulness.
Clutter is nothing to be ashamed of. It does not make you a bad person, but … see #7.
Clutter can keep you from moving forward in your life.
The things we gather have voices (ok, nothing spooky here, we are the ones who give them voice). They originally come from our own negative self talk or from the critical voices of family and friends and then become internalized and live in our subconscious minds. When we see the item the voice gets triggered. The trick is to consciously learn what the things around you are saying and whether they are supportive or a put-down.
The things people say about you (or the things you tell your self) is not the whole truth. The other part is the way you interpret it. Often a criticism from someone is more about them than it is about you.
You don’t have to get rid of something you love that has a negative voice, if you can successfully look at the memory and change it.