http://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-clutter-affects-you.html
How Clutter Affects You
Adapted from Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, by Karen Kingston.
Most people have no idea how much their clutter affects them. You may actually fondly believe yours to be an asset, or at least a potential asset, after it has been sorted through and organized. It is only when you start clearing it out that you will realize how much better you feel without it. Here are some effects to watch for:
Having Clutter Can Make You Feel Tired and Lethargic
Most people who have clutter say they can’t find the energy to begin to clear it. They constantly feel tired. But the stagnant energy that stacks up around clutter actually causes tiredness and lethargy. Clearing it frees up the energy in your home and releases new vitality in your body.
Having Clutter can Keep You in the Past
When all your available space is filled with clutter, there is no room for anything new to come into your life. Your thoughts tend to dwell in the past, and you feel bogged down with problems that have dogged you for some time. Clearing your clutter allows you to begin to deal with your problems and move forward. You have to release the past to create a better tomorrow.
Having Clutter Can Affect Your Body Weight
A curious fact I have noticed over the years is that people who have lots of clutter in their homes are often overweight. I believe this is because both body fat and clutter are forms of self-protection. By building layers of fat or clutter around yourself, you hope to cushion yourself against the shocks of life, and particularly against emotions you have difficulty handling. It gives you the illusion of being able to control things and prevent them from affecting you too deeply. But this is an illusion.
Having Clutter Can Confuse You
When you live surrounded by clutter, it is impossible to have clarity about what you are doing in your life. When you clear it, you get fewer colds, you can think more clearly, and life decisions become easier. Being clear of clutter is one of the greatest aids I know to discovering and manifesting the life you want.
Having Clutter Can Affect the Way People Treat You
People treat you the way you treat yourself. So if you value yourself and look after yourself, people will treat you well. If you allow the junk to mount up around you, you may attract people who mistreat you in some way because subconsciously you will feel that it is what you deserve.
Having Clutter Can Make You Feel Ashamed
Perhaps you have reached the stage where your home is so cluttered and such a mess that you are ashamed to invite people over and positively panic if anyone turns up unannounced. You can live in lonely isolation with your junk, but wouldn’t you prefer to have a good clear-out, repair your self-esteem, and regenerate your social life with confidence?
More from Annie B. Bond (3247 articles available)
Go to the Source
Clear Your clutter With Feng Shui
Clutter is stuck energy that has far-reaching effects physsically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Karen Kingston, pioneer of a branch of Feng Shui known as Space Clearing, expertly guides you through the liberating task of clutter clearing.buy nowrelated stories
-
(16 comments)
-
(32 comments)
-
(8 comments)
Robyn
Melissa
Deepak
Eric
Dave
Dr. Brent
Isha
Susan
Delia
Michelle
Wendy
Megan
Hilary
Ann
Judi
Ronnie
Kelly
Lily
Terri
Betsy
Cait
Andrew
Jana
Annie B.
Veronica
42 comments
add your comment »Thanks
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
Thanks for posting this article.
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
10 min / day sounds good, removing 1 junk / day also good, I did the 7 cloths / day ( cleaning/ folding/ etc, usually turns into 49 items, couple of shelves, and thus 1 wk supply once/ wk, w/ nice movie playing in the background. I have to add 7 paragraphs reading per day, to expand to 7 pg / day, then 7 chapters or 7 hrs/ day, in prep of an exam...
Should add, pamper 1x/ wk, or 1x day, shower, makeup, hair, manicure/ pedi, eyebrows, face cream, any small thing for me...
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
interesting & Thank You for this post!!!
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
I have a friend whom is bipolar & her home is 'so cluttered' it is actually unsafe! She has a tunnel of stacked papers & mail from her living room & her bedroom. She is a hoarder, isn't clean as she hasn't enough space in which to keep it clean! (TOO much stuff to move) The second bedroom is filled to the ceiling. She doesn't have a weight problem, though & has pets she cares for. House has damage from weight in the back room, there are cracks in exterior walls above her basement that were not there when she bought her 80+ home. Her backyard looks like a 'trash' heap (according to her neighbors). It is sad. She is in her mid-50's age-wise.
There were many cities & communities in my former state, where this was happening to people, so am unsure if the bi-polar aspect is a by-product of the environment -- whether as a result (indirectly or directly) to: toxins in foods, poisons in soils, pharmaceutical side effects, leading to clutter issues -- later on in life, or what ...?
It seems like a national epidemic.
If anyone wants to get a hold of me click on my post and send me your comments too ... we could start a grassroots 'help' campaign here. I would gladly respond to that way of helping folks.
Have a great afternoon am hoping this leads folks to clean out & not endanger themselves with 6-8 foot tall stacks of newspapers ... = a firetrap or worse, fall upon themselves
Anyway, thanks for this article ... Good luck to all whom persevere
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
thanks for the info
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
Thanks for the post.
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
Makes sense . . .
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
Great article! I am NOT a clutter-bug for all the reasons stated but I feel like it affects me in so many negative ways. So I am an organizer; keep it simple. I do believe in feng shui and employ its teaching in my living spaces. Remarkable- it works for me.
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
Three things that can help immediately are:
1--Make a list of what you really need. Perhaps enter "100 Thing Challenge" in your browser. The 100 limit is arbitrary, the
number you actually use is up to you. Put this list on excel or similar spreadsheet program because you'll be changing it and often reducing the number of things.
2--Don't pay for stuff that isn't on the list. (If it's something you "must have", put it on the list.) In time, you may be surprised to discover that you are spending a lot less money and have a lot less clutter.
3--Pick any single-digit number--your favorite number or personal number or life number is fine. Resolve to get rid of this number of things each day. ("Get rid of" can include pitching it, putting it in a box for charity pick up or yard sale, or for some things, eating it or using it up.)
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
Facebook account: