Photo by Sarah Brown on Unsplash
We’re in the closing weeks of the year, and the signs around us in nature are all about endings (to make way for new beginnings).
This is a wonderful time for us to look at what we too need to let go of, so that we are mentally and emotionally freer to embrace new opportunities and experiences when the more fertile and active seasons roll around again.
If you’re feeling that way, then a good old-fahioned home detox can be a powerful tool in this process. Not just for spring-time, spring-cleaning and decluttering our home is a great practice to apply two or three times a year.
Truly, it impacts our personal energy as well as improving the functionality of our homes.
As we clean and clear out our physical stuff, something magical often takes place on the metaphysical level. Old mental and emotional issues can come to the surface, to be fully felt and finally released. So, more than cleaning up our home, we're also clearing the path forward. Dissolving blocks in our psyches while we clean up the physical debris.
Hence the popularity of Marie Kondo’s KonMari movement and her daring claim: clearing out your home really can be magically life-changing.
Over the coming weeks, why not resolve to clear out as much of your physical clutter as you can, and see what knock-on effect that has on your personal energy levels, your creativity, enthusiasm, and outlook on life.
You may be familiar with the KonMari method, which is to organise in categories. This entails creating a huge pile (for example, all the clothing, or all the books) in one place in your home. Then, one by one, you handle each piece and ask if it sparks joy. If your answer is no, then you thank the item for its service to you in the past, and move to a donate/recycle/bin pile.
For me, this method is overwhelming. I prefer to go room-by-room, or area-by-area. If you think that might be the best option for you, I recommend Delutter your life with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. As well as guiding you through the decluttering process, it’s a fabulous Feng Shui primer and overall wonderful resource if you’re resistant to the idea of decluttering.
When you start viewing different areas of your home as representative of different aspects of your life, your perspective shifts and your resistance wanes.
Start with your purse, with a single drawer, with the cupboard under the kitchen sink. Once you get started, an energetic momentum gathers and it’s much easier to keep going.
The home detox golden guideline is this: love it, use it, or lose it.
If you’re up for tackling a whole room or area of your home, the entryway is a wonderful place to start. Clear, clean and organise it, so that it uplifts your energy every time you walk through the door. Store away any lingering summer jackets, shoes, and bags, so that there’s enough space for your winter jackets, hats, scarves and boots.
Organise a system for keys and whatever else you usually grab on your way out. And place something on a wall or shelf that will spark a little smile when you come home.
Hopefully, completing one area will motivate you to detox another. When resistance arises, remember that it will reap benefits on the metaphysical realm as well as the physical.
View your home detox as a self-care exercise, because that’s precisely what it is. On a well-being level, we gain so much more than we lose. And all that we lose, we no longer need anyway. So there’s really no losing involved. It’s win-win all around.