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.

Why We Buy

Deborah Redfern — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:20:55 +0000

I thought this was interesting. In the book Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, by Paco Underhill, he says women ”become absorbed in the ritual of seeking and comparing, of imagining and envisioning merchandise in use. Then they coolly tally up the pros and cons of this purchase over that, and once they’ve found what they want at the proper price, they buy it.”

Okay, so maybe my shopping habits are ‘normal’ but I have two women friends who make up their minds very quickly and do not seem to do any comparison shopping. Their energy allocation seems to be in proportion to the activity. Perhaps I am just working with a different criteria (something like ‘inner simplicity’) and one of the questions I am subconsciously asking myself is, will this purchase make my life simpler?

Underhill goes on to say:

[women] illuminate how we human beings go through life searching, examining, questioning, and then acquiring and assuming and absorbing the best of what we see. At that exalted level, shopping is a transforming experience, a method of becoming a newer, perhaps even slightly improved person. The products you buy turn you into that other, idealized version of yourself.

I don’t know about ‘transforming experience’ though I suppose it could be (think ‘complete makeover’. I love those!) I can identify with the desire to find that ‘best self’ higher self idealized version of yourself. A few posts back I wrote about finding the perfect coat.

Why We Buy is an interesting read, though I find it to be more about how we shop rather than why. From reading it, I do appreciate though, why I buy most of my clothes in one particular store. It is merchandise itself of course, but also the layout of the store: the width of the aisles, the amount of room they’ve allotted for the fitting rooms, the fact that there are chairs for shoppers or their partners to plop down into and wait. There are even magazines available. There is more to this shopping business than we think; it is possible that experiences like mine have more to do with sensitivity to the environment. That makes sense.

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Behind Closed Doors – The Effects of Hidden Clutter

Why We Buy