The Difference Between Clutter and Mess

When people think of Feng Shui, the first thing that often comes to mind is clutter. “Oh, isn’t that like clearing your clutter and stuff?”

Well, it depends who you ask. Certainly more traditional schools of thought do not associate clutter clearing with Feng Shui. In fact some downright scorn the idea that organizing has anything to do with the art of placement. On the other hand there is a whole score of books and articles on Feng Shui and de-cluttering.

So what is the real deal?

Here is how I look at it. There is a difference between ‘clutter’ and ‘mess’. Mess is the sort of stuff in our homes that moves. It’s the kids’ homework, the papers that we need to leave out so we don’t forget to pay the bills, its the laundry. Messes are made when we live our normal lives and have stuff to deal with. We may deal with it right away, or we may deal with it next week, but we will deal with it in the near future.

Clutter on the other hand is stuff that we can’t deal with. It may hold emotions for us, we may feel sentimental about it, we may carry guilt over getting rid of it. Clutter may not have a proper place to live. In this case we really have to ask ourselves if it is needed or wanted or if it should be donated or re-homed.

Clutter creates stagnant energy. It also creates a particular feeling in the physical body. It’s the kind of stuff that makes you avert your eyes, or makes your stomach churn when you walk past it. Clutter should be dealt with.

On the other hand many creative and inventive folks do so in very messy spaces. In the book ‘A Perfect Mess’, it is even speculated by authors Abrahamson and Freedman that penicillin could not have been discovered in a sterile and uncluttered laboratory.

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So, here’s the deal. If it makes you go ‘ugh’ when you walk past it because it belonged to your dead Auntie, or because your kids played with it when they were 5, or because you feel guilty that you bought it in the first place and now you don’t like it. It’s time for some clutter intervention. (I suggest professional help).

If it is just the stuff you are working on this week, or this month, get over it or get to it and quit worrying about it. Even the Feng Shui lady says so : )

Mia

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