Clear Your Home, Clear Your Life

Spring is almost here in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I can feel the energy starting to move faster already. We’ve even been able to open the windows a few times and let the salt air in. With Spring in the air, one of my favorite rituals is popping up in my mind– Spring Energy Clearing. 

What is Spring Energy Clearing? It’s the act of tuning into the energy of your home and determining what needs to be cleared out energetically. 

For me this consists of:

• Scanning/Assessing the energy of my home.
• Clearing the physical space of my home.
• Clearing the energy space of my home.

I start with tuning into what my home feels like emotionally and physically first.  I wander room to room to tune into what’s happening in each. I also tune into all the “stuff” that’s in each room. Just like people have energy surrounding them, our stuff and home does do. It carries an energy signature. Everything you love and don’t love in your house influences your energy and the energy of the space. If you don’t take into account the energy of all your stuff before you clear, clearing the energy of a space only goes so far.

Let’s do a quick visualization and you’ll see what I mean. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Imagine something in your home that you absolutely love. Really bring it to mind and imagine all the details about it. As you picture this thing that you love, note how you feel. Is it joyful? Uplifted? Light? How does this object make you feel? When you’re done, take a deep breath and pick an object in your house you don’t like. Maybe it’s an old couch or an ugly lamp that was a gift. Bring that object to mind in detail. How do you feel? What emotions or physical sensations rise to be felt? Is it different from the object that you loved? Were you able to see the difference between the two objects? Now think about how that affects you every day. You walk by that object you love and your heart lifts and you walk by that object that you don’t love and you feel a sinking feeling. You can do this same process for the energy of an entire room, too. 

Now, I’m not saying throw away all things that you don’t like–that’s not practical. And while we may want to do that, there is a much easier way to get this energy clearing process started: Decluttering.

Clutter. How do you feel when you walk by a cluttered countertop? Or a cluttered desk? I guarantee it doesn’t generate a feeling of peace! Decluttering is a really quick and simple way to clear your energy and your space’s energy. When I begin the process of decluttering, I find three boxes that are empty and put them in the section of the room I’m starting with. One box is labeled: Trash. Second box: Donate. Third Box: Keep, but not in this room. I set a timer and work on that one section until it goes off. Then, I immediately take the trash box to the trash, put the donate box in the car, and put the stuff that’s in the third box in the place it should go. 

Another good side effect of decluttering? Looking at your shadows. The process of decluttering can bring up so many things–old stories, emotions, memories, etc. that are calling to be released. Here are few guidelines to help you through the process:

• Be Gentle/Self-Forgiveness. Digging through your stuff can bring up a ton of emotions—from grief to loss to joy to anger. Be gentle with yourself. It’s ok to get upset or cry. It’s ok to be frustrated that you haven’t done this before now. Don’t judge yourself. Just take it one box or closet or cabinet at a time.
• Eye On the Prize. This is totally worth it. It’s a gift to yourself, even though it could be a pain now. Come up with an affirmation or a short sentence you can say for when you want to quit. You can write it on a post-it and put it up in front of you or write it on the box you’re digging through. It’s a way to keep yourself positive when you feel like you’re over it. “As I clear my physical space, I clear my emotional space.” “I clear my physical space to welcome new things that are for my highest and best.” “With this space cleared, I welcome new beginnings.”
• Ask For Help. Some of those boxes may contain emotionally heavy stuff: Dreams that never came to fruition, loss of loved ones, moments we aren’t proud of. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a friend and ask for help. You don’t have to do this by yourself. I once helped a friend go through the remaining boxes from her husband who had passed away. It was hard, but we cried and laughed and celebrated and did it together. There was no way she would’ve made it through on her own and no reason why she should’ve tried to. Reach out. Surround yourself with the support you need. Sometimes you just need a friend to say, “I’ve never seen you wear that ever. Let the shirt go…” or just reassure you it’s ok to be sad.
• Set Up for Success. Remember those boxes I talked about earlier? Have them ready to go before you start. That way when you make a decision, the item goes into the box and there is no taking it out. Once it’s in the box—leave it in the box. One more time: leave it in the box.(I’m a chronic take-it-out-of-the-box person. My husband is great for put-it-back reminders.) 
• Establish Guidelines. You will be the only one deciding on what to keep. Ask yourself: Do I love it? Do I need it? Have I used it within the last 12 months? (This last question is usually the determining factor for the toss when it comes to our house.) Other good questions to consider are: Does this make me feel good? Is this something that matches with who I am today and who I want to be?
• Have a Post Clean Plan. Before I even start, I figure out where my donations are going to and make separate boxes for them. I call ahead and know where to drop it off and when. After a box becomes full, it goes straight to the car to be dropped off the next day.
• Pace Yourself!! No one is timing you or judging you by how fast you go. Do this in pieces. Maybe take a weekend and just work on clothes or closets. Then next weekend, work on one corner of the basement. The idea is to create peace and flow in your life, not cause stress. There is such a thing as clearing too much, too fast. Create a timeline that is manageable and you can stick to and that makes you feel good. ‍

Important to Note: I don’t try to do a whole room at once. Decluttering is a really powerful way to move energy. If you do too much at once, it can make you physically ill. I remember I got really zealous about cleaning out my closet when we were living in Alaska. I worked for hours on it and the next day I got really sick. As you purge the energy of your space, you need to leave room to purge stagnant energy from yourself.  A little bit at a time keeps you from getting weird energy clearing side effects.

There you have it–the beginning steps of clearing the energy of your home. During Spring, we will look at how decluttering your space can actually help you remove obstacles and blocks from your everyday life and how to clear the energy of your space–stay tuned into the newsletter for the entire process.