DAY 11 - CREATING A CLUTTER-FREE LIVING SPACE

DAY 11

Feng Shui, pronounced “foong-shway”, is the ancient Chinese art of harnessing the heavens and the earth to bring health, wealth and good fortune. The main idea behind Feng Shui is to allow beneficial energy or, as Chinese people call it, “ch’i” (which literally means cosmic breath), to flow into your house. To really apply Feng Shui teachings, you would probably have to demolish your house and rebuild it, reposition your rooms and change your furniture and décor, which would probably end up ruining you! Although you might not have the means to do that, there might still be some elements you could apply from the teachings of Feng Shui, in order to improve your life (love life, financial situation, social life, career, etc.). That is, of course, if you believe in it!

When I first got interested in Feng Shui, a couple of years ago, I obsessed with it. I mapped my house, changed my furniture around, redecorated, repainted the wall. Since that first encounter with this ancient belief, I’ve calmed down. The fact is no one can deny that every single space holds some kind of energy. When you walk into a house, you can feel happiness, sadness, confusion, stress, etc. Energy surrounds us at all times.

When I went to Egypt with my husband a couple of years ago, I remember being invited for dinner at my aunt’s house. Now, you need to know that Egyptians love knick-knacks, little decoration pieces that gather dust.  Her house was full of stuff: furniture, knick-knacks, tapestries, everywhere you looked, there was something. When we left her house, I was so tired...I felt like I had been depleted of my energy for lack of breathing space. Whenever I am working in a space that is messy, I can’t think as clearly. Rest assured, I’m far from being a clean freak, ask my husband! But I have to say that I really feel as though I’m breathing more calmly and more deeply, when everything around me is in order. And yes, probably energy, and why not the positive cosmic breath, flows better when you eliminate clutter...

So today, I went on a THROWING SPREE. Although it was hard for me to get rid of some of the things I threw out, I thought that if I didn’t remember I owned it in the first place, it probably wasn't that important! It really felt like I was getting an exfoliation treatment, shedding old skin to get a new, softer complexion. It hurt a little, I had some doubt, but in the end, I feel renewed. And as I’m writing these lines in my new clutter-free living space, one question remains: Will I be able to keep it that way, or will I soon start accumulating junk again?