Terri Kozlowski
Always Moving Forward
Always Moving Forward
Clutter is stressful and may have psychological causes. Because “we not only have clutter in our homes, but we also have clutter in our hearts,” according to Marie Kondo, famed organizer. According to research, if there is clutter in your home, your mind may also be muddled. And if the mess gets out of hand, it may affect your physical and mental health. So living authentically means to tidy up the clutter in your life.
What is the advice from Kondo? Just keep the things that “make you happy.” But for many people, it’s easier to say than to do, probably because it’s simpler to decide to keep something than toss it out.
Many feel stiff and mentally exhausted when there is clutter all around them. It can be unpleasant since the more clutter there is, the harder it is to scan and organize your surroundings to identify what you need or carry out your plans.
Everyone who lives (or works) with you or is close to you is affected when your clutter grows out of control, when you don’t put things away, and when you eventually run out of places to put them. If your family or coworkers are complaining all the time, or worse, tripping over piles of stuff, if your neighbors are criticizing the mess in your yard, or if you avoid inviting guests over because of the mess, those are likely indications that your cluttered life is out of hand. It’s time to tidy up.
The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past. ~ Marie Kondo
You might wonder if you’re a hoarder or just someone who hangs on to things. Or someone that enjoys gathering particular kinds of things that others might dismiss as ordinary dust collectors. True hoarders amass possessions to where their living quarters are dangerously disarrayed. And they experience extreme grief at the thought of getting rid of anything—even things that most people would consider junk.
At its worst, hoarding makes living areas unsafe to occupy. It becomes challenging to do tasks within the cluttered space, dust and mold buildup occurs, hallways and doorways are blocked, and the area becomes a fire hazard. A real hoarder experiences negative consequences from their living situation on a personal, professional, and social level. They may also experience other mental health problems, such as anxiety or depressive disorders.
However, it’s most likely that you don’t belong to the 2% to 6% of people who have a true hoarding disease. Rather, you merely lead a crowded life that may be out of control. Regardless of where you fall on the clutter spectrum, tidying up and organizing your space would improve your life.
You can get a sense of who you are, what you value, and what you have done from your physical space and the items that occupy it. A lack of self-control and a muddled sense of identity might be indicated by excessive clutter.
Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor – it’s anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living. ~ Peter Walsh
Have there ever been times when you felt so defeated, your life so out of control, and the universe so indifferent to your needs and ambitions that you simply had to tidy up? You can understand the profound relationship between your innermost self and your circumstances by paying close attention to these urges. It’s as if you believe by rearranging your possessions, you will also rearrange the molecules of your inner life.
Your settings both reflect and impact your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing, according to Feng Shui. Other areas of your life frequently feel stalled when your space grows cluttered and disorganized. A messy home not only reflects a disorganized mind, but it also makes it difficult to concentrate and think effectively. Stopping the item-by-item decisions that could help you regain control of the chaos and enhance your sense of life control becomes easier and easier.
You eventually give up. The task appears impossible, and there is so much debris that you are unsure of where to start. You tell yourself, “Someday, when I have the time, I’ve got to tidy up.” One day you’ll wake up feeling rested and energized, and mysteriously through some unseen grace, you mysteriously gain the focus clarity and enthusiasm that will finally inspire you to dive in and get it done, clearing clutter becomes an abstract goal that you put off until a mythical future time. You always wait for the perfect time to start something, therefore starting never happens.
Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. ~ Albert Einstein
When you think in this way, you are tackling the clutter challenge incorrectly. Setting your surroundings in order will make it easier to regain your sense of clarity and order than attempting to regulate and arrange your thoughts in a chaotic environment. You lose vitality and soul when your space is messy.
It’s challenging to accomplish tasks, take in quiet time, or spend time the way you actually want to when your surroundings are cluttered. Your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual stamina are low, your stress levels increase, and you become sluggish.
Clutter reduces one’s power. Messiness is both a sign and the source of trapped energy. It stops energy from flowing through your home and your life.
Many people lament at their lack of professional or artistic inspiration, or they complain of lack of direction or purpose in life. Their homes don’t represent who they are or what they hope to become. These folks are surrounded by items that have been left on the shelves after the relevant stage of life has passed or that were permitted to enter the room unchecked.
The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t. ~ Joshua Becker
All of this is obstructing due to clutter is a clear perception of oneself energetically. Every time you gaze at anything that is ignored, unwelcome, or unattractive to you, your vitality will be sapped. If you don’t like it, no amount of beauty or worth can help you or your house. In a comprehensive definition of clutter is, “anything that you do not love.”
Everything around you ought to be helping you. It’s time to take action if the items in your space are not assisting you and improving the quality of your existence.
When you take action, the feelings of failure, exhaustion, and melancholy that you get when considering your clutter will start to fade. Starting is difficult, but once you do, the magic will happen.
You can find your genuine path in life and determine who you want to be by eliminating the clutter. You can actively decide to surround yourself with items and imagery that reflect and support your true sense of self with the help of this new vision.
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~ Hans Hofmann
Here are five things you’ll discover as you tidy up your life and reconnect with your authentic self.
Minimalists establish their values before constructing their life around them. Living in accordance with your authentic self means basing your actions on the things you value most. You keep your principles in mind and remember to live life on purpose rather than in default mode. The things that are most important to you receive your best effort.
Living a minimal lifestyle eliminates the extras, leaving only the lovely and necessary. Your life becomes lighter as you let go of unnecessary possessions, unloved obligations, and unhelpful patterns of thought. You start to feel more liberated, unburdened, and like your authentic self once more as you discover the real you below all of your belongings. Every item you give up brings you one step closer to being a lighter, freer, and purer version of yourself.
You may let go of the pressure to keep up with the Joneses by living simply. And you stop being interested in your neighbors’ most recent technological innovations when you’re focused on what really matters. Even while you know that the standard is unattainable, the more you look, the more you want your life to reflect what you see others have. Your impulse to spend, buy, and amass is driven by the egoic comparisons you make. If you understand that life isn’t about amassing things, you won’t care if someone has nicer possessions than you. It will free your mental resources because you’ll be concentrating on your own values and improving your true self.
Living simply involves spending less time maintaining, cleaning, and organizing possessions. You now have more time for introspection. You can take some time to sit in solitude and consider things like, “Are the decisions I made today in line with my values?” and “Do my goals align with my authentic self?” In order to stay grounded and present throughout the day, being tidy also provides you room to add more pauses to your life. These can be used to check in with yourself and ensure that your attention is on the right things.
By removing the “should’s” from life enables you to discover who you truly are. Tidy people are less influenced by outside forces since they don’t maintain an image that conforms to the social standard. The messages that you “should” be different or own other items to fit in, which you receive from the media and your surroundings, just… cease. As you strive to become a better version of yourself and develop your authenticity, the only “shoulds” you entertain are those that relate to the person you were yesterday.
Outer order contributes to inner calm. ~ Gretchen Rubin
Writer Brené Brown said: “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who you think you’re supposed to be and embracing who you are.” In actuality, the world needs you just the way you are, not the way your ego or anyone else imagines you to be.
Being tidy allows you to focus on what matters most is you. It gives you the room, time, and energy to concentrate on what you want. Working towards authentic living increases the joy and significance in your life and the lives of those around you.
It’s never too late to live more consciously and fully as the person you were really meant to be.
Having a simplified, uncluttered home is a form of self-care. ~ Emma Scheib
Do you need help to tidy up your life? Are you looking for a way to reconnect to your authentic self? Do you need someone to help reframe your perspective about your stuff? If so, please reach out to me at TerriKozlowski.com and we can create a plan for you declutter your life and reconnect to your authentic self.
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