Simplify for Spring

:: Refreshed. Rejuvenated. New Mindset. New Goals::

The New Year is an unofficial time that one organizes what new objects they have accumulated over the winter months. Just as Springtime is the unofficial time to get your home into a simpler mindset. Reducing pounds of clutter you might have added to the weight of your house over the colder months inside. You are starting anew this season. Cleaning the dust out, painting, and washing blankets or windows are some of the ways to help your home feel refreshed this season (of your life). But the real spring cleaning comes from the INSIDE, out into your home.

Clearing out clutter is a mentally challenging task. It is not easy in the least. How hard it is to get past the holding onto of material things! (Matt 6:19-21) The worst part for me is the I might need it someday syndrome. I see myself as a creative person and if I hold onto it long enough I feel that I usually do use it. But in the meantime I anguish over keeping that object. That stationary, nonliving/talking object affects my emotions!

( We unloaded 7 full bags to Goodwill yesterday)

Feng Shui is a Chinese practice that is rooted in energy. Believing that each home has positive and negative elements. That your environment should be in alignment with nature and the flow of energy. While I don't believe in the practice of feng shui I completely understand the philosophical principles that the idea is based. I firmly believe that every object(s) has an emotion that it produces in your body. So, instead of saying something is filled with positive and negative energy you could simply say "emotions".

For example, you have a messy pantry. Things are in disarray because you have no idea what the space holds, dust has collected, and you have plastic bags thrown in from previous shopping trips. You cringe or hold your breath just opening the door dreading to venture in. But that icky feeling doesn't just stop when you have the door closed. But because your pantry is also located next to the door you leave by each day, you are walking passed it multiple times. So now, even when you aren't opening the door you feel the "energy" or emotion drained out of you. Your brain is thinking things like " I'm a failure because it's so cluttered", embarrassed that someone else might see it, or stressed because it is one more thing on your never ending list. Even if you don't think these things specifically, your body feels them.

This is the idea of emotions and clutter playing a part in your everyday life.

So, my project around the house for the last few days was to....

• TOUCH. Seriously, go around and clean every object. Touch it. Fondle it! :)
• You could ask yourself the basic organizing questions of ..
• Do I use this?
• Do I love it?
• Why am I keep it?
• But the issue of the heart is ....
• Does it fall in line or aid in my current GOALS?
• And what EMOTION does it produce in me?
• Giving myself permission to declutter- Nothing is off-limits

My current vision or goal for my home is for there to be less plastic and fluff, and more bringing nature inside. I want more flowers, natural fabrics, and wooden toys in our spaces. Quality not quantity, to stop holding on to something just to have it for some day, and becoming truly content with what God has entrusted me. Less is definitely going to be the new more in our home! :) So with this outlook I can now go throughout my home and see what does and doesn't align with my spring decluttering.

Now that you have set goals for yourself on the inside, your home will become a reflection of your priorities this Spring.

"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. "

Henry David Thoreau