How to Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui
I often hear people talking about how you can ‘clear your clutter with Feng Shui’. At first, I thought they were simply referring to the general Feng Shui principles of managing your environment and space – and literally going about your business to clear your clutter with Feng Shui. If you’re an avid Feng Shui follower, on a clutterholic, you’re probably aware that there is a book called ‘Clear your clutter with Feng Shui’ by Karen Kingston too.
In relation to the general principles on how to clear your clutter with Feng Shui, I offer some of my own guidelines. The foundation behind Feng Shui solutions has always been prevention over cure. Thus, when you clear your clutter with Feng Shui, you are undertaking in a cure (by removing clutter), and prevention (by preventing future clutter from entering your life and space). For most people, this is a simple systematic process which can be completed over a weekend, moving from room to room in the house, and clearing out old and unused items (believed in Feng Shui to contain old and potentially bad energy). This is how, in principle, you clear your clutter with Feng Shui.
Now onto the book. Despite the title, ‘Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui’, Kingston’s book is really more about clearing clutter than applying Feng Shui. Sure, Kingston is a Feng Shui practitioner, and there is mention of the bagua here and there, but at its core, ‘Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui’ is a book about…. Clutter! All aspects of clutter, decluttering, how to deal with clutter are covered in the book. What I loved the most about the book was its emphasis on individual motivations and reasons behind why people collect and accumulate clutter – be it inheritance, sentimental value, habits or otherwise. Kingston has dug deep into the world of clutter and come up with a goldmine solution for addressing it.
I do have a couple of observations about ‘Clear your clutter with Feng Shui’ however. The first are its organization principles – principles where Feng Shui could be applied. To be fair, the book is sold as a book addressing clutter and Feng Shui (yes to the clutter part, not so much to the Feng Shui part), not for organizing your home and belongings. The second is the new-age, quasi-religious and spacey feel to the writing and recommendations. I think the important thing here is to keep an open mind and take the writing at face value and for what it is – a deep look at how clutter has psychological affects and consequences, and what can be done to address it. If you must dig deeper into the semi-ephemeral aspects of the book, consider it a manifesto into the cognitive maps and processes of a highly efficient organizer and declutterer. ‘Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui’ is highly recommended for its thought-provoking writing and general principles on managing your belongings – let’s get going and clear your clutter with Feng Shui!
You can find Clear You Clutter with Feng Shui on Amazon here.