8 Powerful Questions to Overcome Overwhelm & De-Clutter Your Life

Clutter… it’s the stuff that we swear “mates in the night” and multiplies until we are surrounded by it. It can accumulate at an alarming rate just about anywhere, though it often breeds in closets and storage areas. And like it or not, we can feel the congestion that clutter causes in our surroundings every bit as much as we can feel a bad head cold – or worse – in our bodies.

Feng Shui observes that our surroundings are essentially alive and act very much like a body.

Every part serves a unique function in maintaining the health of the whole structure. Walls, floors, ceilings are the bones; doors and windows, the senses; and passageways, the veins and arteries. Using this metaphorical language, clutter is the excess weight and waste that can accumulate in the environmental body.

Is Clutter Congesting Your Quality of Life?

When lethargic or stagnant conditions occur, you feel it loud and clear as irritation, confusion, or overwhelm. These are the feelings that signal that clutter has tipped the balance and is literally congesting the quality of your life. When these feelings arise, it’s time to decongest cluttered areas and restore them to good health.

First, Observe Your Surroundings

Take a walk through your home or workplace and make note of any area that irritates, confuses, or overwhelms you because of clutter. Include drawers, cabinets, closets, and all storage areas.

If there is more than one area that elicits these feelings, decide which one to work with first.

Take 3 containers, bags, or boxes and label them (1) “Keep,” (2) “Throw Away,” and (3) “Sell or Give Away.”As you sort through each item in a cluttered area, let your feelings guide you.

Ask These 8 Powerful Questions to Overcome Overwhelm and De-Clutter Your Life:

1. Do I love it?
2. Do I need it?
3. What pleasant or unpleasant memories or associations does it hold, and do I wish to continue to live with it?
4. Do I own duplicates that I can let go of?
5. Does it need repair, and am I willing to restore it to its best condition?
6. If I’m keeping it, where is the best place to give it a good home so that I can easily find it when I need it?
7. If I’m giving it away, who am I giving it to, and when?
8. If I’m selling it, how, where, and when?

Once your things are sorted, throw away the trash first!

Organize the Things You Keep

Then, organize the things you’re keeping by putting all like items together in places that really serve you. Put items that you use daily in places that you can easily access. Give everything you keep a good home.

Develop daily “space grooming” habits that, like personal grooming, keep your environment clean and refreshed. Take immediate steps to sell or give away other items, knowing that you’re freeing your space of excess weight. Like you, your surroundings deserve to be vibrantly healthy now!

Terah Kathryn Collins is a best-selling author and the founder of the Western School of Feng Shui®. She is also the originator of Essential Feng Shui®, which focuses on the many valuable applications Feng Shui has in our Western culture while honoring the essence of its Eastern heritage.

Her 6 inspirational books on the subject have sold over a million copies worldwide. Terah’s latest book, Western Guide to Feng Shui for Romance is now available.