Decluttering

I admit a preference for organized living and often get the urge to declutter and reorganize my living and work spaces. When this seemingly rhythmic urge strikes, I go through paperwork and files, take inventory of closets and drawers, bag up clothes, books, and other household items that I rarely use, don’t need, or no longer find enjoyment in, then donate what I can. When finished, the results are visible and mentally it feels great! It seems that I think more clearly and function more productively in an organized living space.

So as it goes, it didn’t surprise me when the urge to declutter recently hit. It often presents itself during the fall months. For me, fall signifies a time of release. What was surprising to me as I went room to room conducting a mental inventory was finding myself reflecting more on my “internal living space” than my external.

In reflection I asked, what clutter might I find if I did an internal inventory? Not as easy a question as which shoes should I keep? Or, to shred or not to shred? I went on to imagine a potpourri of emotions and feelings. Stress, anxiety, fear, self-doubt, anger, sadness and many others we humans tend to gather like moss on a stagnant stone. Negative emotions and feelings that we often fail to release when they no longer serve our growth and expansion.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine teaches that negative feelings and emotions, and the physical or emotional traumas that lead to these feelings and emotions, can slow and even block energy flow within the body. When energy flow is stagnant or blocked, it often displays as physical symptoms of illness or disease. Two examples are stress induced hypertension or anxiety related insomnia.

Complementary and Alternative therapies such as acupuncture, massage, Reiki, and Emotional Freedom Techniques® work to release sluggish or blocked energy; thereby creating a natural balance and flow within the body. When this work is done, however, it is important to continually work at decluttering our internal spaces of nonproductive negative emotion and feelings. In doing so, we create an internal environment of calm, happiness, peacefulness, and ultimately health and well-being.

Just as it is when we declutter our physical spaces, the results will be clearly visible!