If you wonder whether you suffer from mental clutter, ask yourself if this has ever happened to you: 

• Thinking about a problem or rehashing a conversation while driving to your destination and arriving only to realize that you don’t remember anything about the drive at all!
• Doing the laundry while cooking dinner only to walk into the kitchen with an armload of folded clothes to find an open refrigerator door and soup boiling over. 
• Talking on the phone while driving and missing your turnoff.

Three for three?  Read on. 

When did multi-tasking become a badge of honor in our culture?  Brain scientists tell us that multi-tasking is a misnomer – we are not equipped to do more than one thing at a time and yet we have convinced ourselves that not only CAN we multi-task, but we SHOULD multi-task.  In fact, multi-tasking is considered the expressway to high achievement!  Alas, a uni-tasker is simply, a slacker.

I beg to differ.  I’ve been a self-proclaimed-and-proud-of-it uni-tasker going on six years.  I gave up multi-tasking on a memorable birthday much to the chagrin of my family, who were convinced I wouldn’t be able to do it, and then they were upset when I only focused on one person at a time and later banned texting at the table.  Here’s the upshot:  I get more done in less time and am happier with the results of my efforts than when I was a multi-tasker.  Plus, we talk to each at the table. 

Feng shui supports this finding.  A traditional Feng Shui saying:  “Energy goes where the eye goes,” helps everyone understand the energy of a cluttered space.   It’s hard to know where to begin to clear a cluttered space because the eye bounces from one pile to another.  You must start with one item and decide where to put it.  Soon, one item at a time – the space will be clear; the energy will gently flow through again, and you’ll actually feel your nervous system relax.  It’s the same with your mental clutter.  You must start with one thought or idea and figure out what to do with it.  Schedule a time to think about that problem.  Rehash a conversation if you’re going to actually speak to the other person – and schedule a time to do that.  Drive – and really look at the road, your fellow travelers in other cars and the speed limit.   Fold the laundry.  Cook dinner.  You’ll be amazed how much time you’ll actually save!  Put the phone in the back seat while you’re driving.  You’ll hear it ring and know to look at your calls when you arrive.  Experience the clarity of your present. 

Life was not meant to be a balancing act on a high wire; but we can find balance. Use your Feng Shui point-of-view to not only look at the clutter in your home or office, but in your mind as well. 

Happy uni-tasking!

My flip flops

Feng Shui teaches balance and provides practical solutions for achieving it – Yin and Yang. Chances are you know the symbol. Some things are Yin and some Yang. The moon is Yin, the sun is Yang. Night is Yin, day is Yang. Textured is Yin, smooth is Yang. Yin is dark, small, muted. Yang is light, large and bold. Yin and Yang are opposites, but so integrally aligned they don’t exist without the other.  Neither is greater or less than the other.  Both are equally important and equally support each other.  Each holds the nature of the other to create balance and harmony. 

By balancing the energy in the rooms of your home or office you can usually feel the difference in the space. When you look at your rooms, see if you can identify the Yin and the Yang. Sometimes you can easily see you have too much of one kind of energy and the room feels unbalanced.  Sometimes the fix is as easy as adding or removing some of the other kind of energy. For example, a large, high-ceiling room with large furniture has a lot of Yang energy; it needs some Yin – maybe a soft throw hung over a chair with some pillows on the couch and some candlesticks on the coffee table.  A cluttered desk or tabletop usually has too much Yin energy – little things like papers, pencils and bowls cover the space and clamor for attention. Putting things in their place and clearing a space can create a much needed Yang balance.  Simply cleaning your desk at the end of the day is balancing all the Yin of paperwork and files and coffee cups with the Yang of an empty work space ready for the next day. These are the kinds of quick fixes you can do in your home or office daily. 

The day has darkened into evening. It’s time to close the door because it’s getting cold again. I’ll be turning my flip flops in and putting on my boots to go out soon. This is the natural flow; Yang moving to Yin as day moves into night. Flip flops to boots. The quiet of writing will transition to the noise of meeting friends. I have found balance in my day and for that I am grateful. Hoping, when you look, you find some too.

A few months back I invited you to start small – clean out a desk drawer.  If you did that, I hope you found that button you had been missing, a spare $20 and maybe even your grandmother’s recipe for strudel.  As our new year dawns I’m recommending a larger project that will change the energy of your space from the inside out.  Cleaning your closets and other storage spaces can change the energy of your entire home.  How can that be?  Feng Shui is very democratic – there are no spaces more important than others; all are of equal value; all deserve equal attention.    Clutter on the kitchen table clogs energy as much as clutter in your linen closet.  And, just like a weight loss or strength and energy building plan for your body this project for your house will take time and commitment.

Make a plan:  pick a closet or storage area to clean and put a date in your calendar.  Get the tools you need and use them, for example, three boxes marked: 

1)      Keep

2)      Throw away, give away and/or sell

3)      Can’t decide

Several organizations pick up gently used items at least once a month here in our neighborhood; the next time they call and ask if you have any items say, YES!   Your local animal shelter would love to receive old towels and blankets for their kennels.  My local library welcomes boxes of books for their annual book sale.  If you’ve never tried Craig’s List to sell items of value, this is the time to try. Uploading photos really helps to sell items and it’s easy to get started by just going to www.craigslist.com.  (We sold a ping pong table in a day.  I took photos at 10 a.m., we looked at the price of used tables and priced ours accordingly; we posted our table, got a call 20 minute later and sold it that afternoon.)   

Take before and after photos of your closets and post them on your fridge to stay inspired.  Work-out with a friend and help each other clean – your trash could be there treasure, or, and this is more likely, your treasure may really be trash and you just need a friend to tell you.   Think of this project as a  “Biggest Loser Contest” for your house, with you as the winner.   

Your house will feel lighter; energy will flow more freely, and new things will come into your life since you’ve literally made room for them.  And that’s a great way to start your new year!

As a practitioner I like to remind people that nothing can hide from feng shui eyes – meaning, it’s great to have the top of your desk cleared off but that doesn’t mean you can sweep it all into the big file drawer and close it.  The ancient Chinese believed that feng shui was the great equalizer; all spaces are equally important and each is aligned with an aspect of our lives.  Meaning:  the drawer (unseen when closed) is as important as the desktop (seen all the time).  So, get ready for some creative chaos – because truly cleaning and clearing something out means literally and figuratively opening up the drawers and laying it all out there. 

Which is exactly what my daughter – the recent college graduate – did when trying to get a handle on her new life out in the “real” world.  Her desktop was all set up for her job search – laptop, dictionary, thank you notes, creative “toys” to spark her imagination – but when it came to finding something she needed in the drawers – a pen, a notepad, tape, her camera, the digital photo card reader – she needed to sort through everything to find the one thing she needed.  Her solution:  take it all out and lay it on the couch so that when she needed something, she could find it on the couch, use it and put it back in the drawer in a spot delegated for that item.  This task took a week or two.   In the photo below you can see all of the items in her drawer laid out on the couch. 

Everything laid out from the drawers.

The subsequent photos show the couch as items were taken and used.  The last photo – which still has quite a few items on it – shows the desk items that didn’t make the cut, e.g., weren’t used in the two weeks of creative chaos this project took.  What happened to those items?  Some were reclaimed by family members (“I forgot I loaned those to you.”)  Other items were put in the give-away pile.  Many items were recycled or thrown away.  Happily, the couch has resumed its life as a place of rest and relaxation and the desk drawers are organized.

Couch in creative chaos Day 5

She has an Anthropology degree so her project had a ring of Darwinism to it, as in “survival of the fittest” office supplies made it back into the drawer.  Plus, she wanted to document her project over time;  hence the photos.  As her mother, I was thrilled with all the cleanliness and orderliness, and as her feng shui consultant I wanted to know:  did it work?  What of new opportunities now that this energy had been cleared?  She’s thrilled with the call back and first interview for a job she wants – which she received after the drawer cleaning adventure.   (Unlike the ads where the fine print says “these results aren’t usual,” with feng shui, this kind of result is almost guaranteed; I have the testimonials to prove it.) 

The items that didn't "survive" the chaos

What needs new energy in your life right now?  I suggest you clean out your messiest drawer with the intention of clearing out some space in your mind and heart for something new to enter.  Let me know how it goes – e-mail me your cleaning-out-the-drawer stories and I’ll post them on my blog (with your permission) – lwgrillo@thrivingspaces.com.