Let Go Of Your Emotional Clutter

There is nothing helpful nor healthy about clutter. Clutter is restrictive and heavy. It is well known for effecting one or many areas of your life – day in day out.

The burden of clutter becomes screamingly obvious when you physically sell, give away or throw it out. You then realize just how emotionally or physically draining and life interfering all your clutter has been.

The flip side of course – clearing clutter is one of the greatest ways to boost your energy, get yourself out of a rut, feel lighter, improve your health, remove obstacles and create space for the new to arrive. Clearing clutter is a proven therapy for creating change in your life. Now is always the perfect time for a focused clutter busting session.

Simplify your living space and feel the difference:

To help reveal the many sneaky disguises of clutter I have shared with you 10 common forms of emotional clutter that may be lurking unknowingly in your home. Some will speak loudly to you whilst others will not. Some will be a total surprise and others will just act as a reminder. Either way they are intended to give you an extra nudge in supporting you release stuck, thick heavy energy lingering unhelpfully in your home or office.

Start simply with one kitchen draw or your hallway cupboard. If you find clearing clutter a burden then make it a game, pretend you are about to move overseas (I use this method often), simply repeat a mantra “I am happy to let go of my clutter sooner, rather than later” .

Remember clutter is anything unwanted, unloved, broken, unused, doesn’t work, expired or doesn’t fit. It is both healthy and helpful to regularly simplify your work and living space by clearing clutter.

The 10 most common types of emotional clutter:

1. Emotional guilt clutter:
Presents and gifts hiding around your house that are not lot loved nor used can be classified as clutter. You simply feel obliged to keep them. If you threw them out you would feel guilty.

Shift your thinking to “conscious sharing” or “re-gifting”. Start this year by “re-giving” your unwanted, unloved gifts to those who really would value and appreciate them and release the emotional guilt energy from your home once and for all.

2. Fear of “lack” clutter:
You keep all kinds of stuff just in case. Just in case you might need it some day, just in case you couldn’t afford to buy another one in the future, just in case you might read it some time soon, just in case you lose weight or just in case for no particular reason. The fact that you haven’t used it in 2, 3 or 5 years generally means its once useful purpose has expired.

To create flow in your life things must be constantly be coming in and going out. You must let go when no longer needed and receive when necessary. Once you block stuff going out of your life ( by holding onto your clutter with scarcity and fear of lack) you stop the flow of abundance.

3. Unhappy relationship clutter:
Keeping stuff from past unhappy relationships keeps a part of you tied to that relationship and tied to the past.

There is absolutely nothing healthy or advantageous from hanging onto memorabilia or gifts from a past unhappy relationship. Be strong, be honest and ask yourself, what is the benefit for holding onto these things.

If in doubt as to your attachment and the draining effect then try the “energy up, energy down” exercise.

4. Depression clutter:
People with depression tend to have a lot of things stored on the floor. Stuff on the ground pulls your energies down and encourages you to withdraw from the world emotionally.

If your floor surfaces are covered with lots of stuff make an effort each day to start moving things up from off the floor. I guarantee it won’t be long until you start noticing a difference in your moods and how your home feels.

5. Addiction clutter:
Compulsive buying for the sake of it and addicted to sales and bargains without any thought simply adds to the congestion and confusion already filling your home and life.

Take an honest look at your stuff and see if you have any addiction clutter floating around. Better still never go shopping without a list, consciously choose what you intend to bring into your home and for every new item purchased throw out at least two. Keep the energy flowing.

6. Need to impress clutter:
You feel your sense of self worth is reflected by the appearance (or value) of the stuff in your living space. You generally don’t like many of your possessions but have them because they are the latest trend, most impressive or even most expensive.

Filling your home stuff to impress your ego or others, simply means you are out of alignment with your life and the energy in your home. This can be as obvious as a bookcase full of books that you never look at or even care about. It simply gives the impression you are well read and knowledgeable.

7. Unhappiness clutter:
Buying stuff to make you feel happy again is a quick fix solution. It does not bring deep long lasting satisfaction to your life and the item you bought only brings happiness momentarily. Unhappiness clutter can then turn into guilt clutter when you realize a few days later you don’t really need it and feel guilty for buying it.

8. Emotional hiding behind your clutter:
Overfilling your rooms, cupboards and home with stuff is often used to hide from the outside world or your true self. It keeps the attention away from you and focused more on the hundreds of nick knacks you have everywhere.

9. Denial clutter:
If you are scared of change then you will have denial clutter. You have a sense that your world may fall apart if you start removing serious amounts of clutter from your home. You may be consistent in throwing out surface clutter but when it comes to a serious clutter busting session to invite wonderful change you consistently tell yourself this item or that possession is not clutter.

Do you really need all those plates and salad bowls in your kitchen or clothes in your wardrobe?

10. Other peoples clutter:
When you look after stuff for other people get clear with how long you are minding it for. Short term is generally fine as you are being helpful. If however their stuff turns into annoyance or frustration then your act of kindness has evolved into energy draining clutter that’s not even yours. Your friends or family need to find other arrangements or put it in storage.