Being a creative type, ‘sometimes’ things get away from me. Like time. And things to be done. So sometimes things stack up ‘a bit.’
Okay, so sometimes maybe a bit more than a ‘bit.’
I am more of the out-of-sight out-of-mind person, and filer / put-away-er. I think that has do with creative juices flowing by what I see. Or maybe because I am a very visual thinker. My husband wants to put everything away, hidden. Which is fine if he’s going to be the one to keep track of it / take care of it. If I’m going to have to be the one to be responsible then that’s not going to work for me. So trying to find a system that will work for us both is ‘a bit’ challenging. Add to my side the growing up with much older parents that grew up during the Depression and in very poor circumstances, it makes things very challenging.
No matter what system you have, things have to be tweaked sometimes. Sometimes a lot. So I signed us up for local organizer / feng shui expert Debbie Bowie’s How To Move That Mountain organizing class. We had first met Debbie long ago when she was just starting her organizing / feng shui business and we took an organizing class from her then. [I went to the feng shui class alone back then.]
We keep growing and tweaking things and Debbie has grown and tweaked as she and her business has grown over the years as well. This organizing class and her new 12 Month Clutter Clearing Community are part of that.
It was the first time Debbie has presented this particular class [How To Move That Mountain] and my brave husband was the only male there. But since he has been used to working with mostly women, he was hardly intimidated or out of place. Well, necessarily anyway. I do think it helped him realize that I wasn’t the only one that had similar organizational issues. Hopefully.
One of the key points Debbie made early on was that you need to identify what you want
- what you want your clearing and organizing to give you, what you want at the end.
Interestingly, women sometimes have real difficulty with identifying what they really want.
I think we are trained to think of others feelings and needs and to put ours on the back burner, if at all. Which makes it difficult to really think about, let alone say, what it is we really want.
Speaking of feelings, once you start looking at things to clear and get ‘real’ about, feelings come up. Feng shui has the belief that everything has energy and affects us. Good or bad [more on that down aways].
Debbie said it is important to let the feelings come, ‘feel’ them, and to address them. I think of it as honoring the feelings. She said we are taught to tamp down feelings, push them away, etc… but that they will still keep coming up.
So it’s better to deal with them. Even if we have to take breaks in our clutter clearing, it’s important to address the feelings.
Once we understand our feelings about what we are surrounding ourselves with and why, we can begin to move it, move it out, and have the life and things we really want. And live the way we want.
Another key point, Don’t Start with Paper.
Unless that is the only thing that needs to be cleared.
Paper is a time consumer since you have to handle each piece and then decide what to do with it and then actually do something with it.
Pick the easiest thing first so you can feel you accomplishment.
Back into the hard things like paper - or a lot of anything tiny.
It’s important to see that you are accomplishing things when you look around.
So pick the easiest and biggest things that will make the most difference right away.
Always straighten up at the end so it will look better. So you feel like you actually did / accomplished something for all your hard work. And it is hard work.
And it gets the energy moving. Which being a Feng Shui expert, Debbie wants to do as quick and early as possible to get the positive energy flowing around.
There were several people in the class that were part of the ‘but I might need it someday’ thought of keeping things ‘in case.’
The feng shui ‘creed’ to start clearing space is to let it go, into the trash, or to someone else’s home, unless 1) you Love it. Or 2) you Use it
So - Love It, Use it, or Lose it.
And get it out of the house Right away once you’ve made the decision. So you don’t take it out of the trash bags or the donate boxes.
It’s also a matter of trust and faith to believe that the universe, or God, or fate, or whatever you believe in, will make sure you have what you need when you need it.
Once you clear out the space for the energy to flow around like it’s supposed to / should. [Which also helps clear the path for good creative energies, like writing. Just a thought.]
I think a lot of people have trouble understanding when they first hear or read about feng shui about how Everything is always ‘talking’ to you. [Just f.y.i. having characters talk to you when you are a writer is okay. Sortta. But anything else, please get help.]
Things don’t actually physically talk - but things are always talking to us in the sense they are always reminding us of something or someone. Good memories or bad. Every time we look at it there is that memory. For everyone that is a reason to figure out if you are happy in your space and with everything you surround yourself with. For people that are sensitive to things like that it can be a real health reason to look at your space and things and question if you are happy. And what it is you really want.
What do you surround yourself with? And why? What do you want?
Everyone has 24 hours.
Every day you have to make choices.
Every day you make choices about what you do with your time and energy
As Debbie has prominently listed around her site -
Is What You Are Holding On To Holding You Back?
And for another one of her points - Ask for help.
For more information to hire Debbie Bowie to help you with your organizing or to sign up for her newsletter etc…here’s more info’ -
Debbie Bowie
12 Month Clutter Clearing Community
tel 804-730-4991
Is What You Are Holding On To Holding You Back?
Debbie’s book -
Rock Scissors Paper
Check out Chapter Summaries here -
Debbie’s Blog -
Clear Clutter to Get Your Dream
If you are interested in learning more about feng shui, this is my favorite book -
Move Your Stuff Change Your Life by Karen Rauch Carter
Can read first chapter here.
For those that have attended past James River Writers Conferences will remember the Very cute, Very smart, accomplished, etc… Marcela Landres who edited the Move Your Stuff book years ago. [And will now help you with your book.]
Here’s to better energy flows, for all of us.
Which will make us better writers. Right?
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