A lot of people dislike cleaning, or are simply too busy, or lazy, to spend the time to clean and organize their space. However, whether you realize it or not, being disorganized is a real hindrance on the flow of energy in your life.
For those who don’t have enough time, realize this: The more organized your space is, the more time you’ll actually have. Knowing exactly where everything is when you need it free’s up time you would likely spend searching for what you need. When your space is organized, clean and supportive of how you want to spend your time, you’ll find your life flows in a more orderly fashion.
Everyone is trying to find balance in life. So many distractions can pull us in so many directions. We have to make a choice. If your space repeatedly gets disorganized, it reflects your mindfulness and your priorities. For most people there really is enough time, if you prioritize doing what actually serves your life.
Cleaning your environment is a step towards a clearer consciousness
Your environment, and your interaction with it, is a reflection of your internal world. Your environment not only reflects the organization of your mind, but it also influences it. The cause and effect energy works both ways.
If you’re taking care of your environment as a holistic approach to your life, you will be taking care of your extended body. Your home, your work space, is an extension of you.
Cleaning can be a spiritual experience symbolic of you purifying yourself of negative energy. It can also be approached like a meditation. The sheer focus and attention to detail can transform your perspective on life and your sense of well being immensely. You will feel accomplished in creating an environment that reflects a more harmonious lifestyle.
Yoga teaches us about our relationship to our most immediate space; our bodies. When you are attentive to the body, your energy shifts. Clarity and contentment arises. The life force energy flows better when your body is in line with a balanced, attentive, focused mind, and vice versa.
Getting rid of old things can be like a cleansing ritual. You make a bold statement of what truly serves you and what no longer does in the new vision you have for your life. You are literally and symbolically getting rid of things you no longer need, opening yourself up to allow new things to enter your life. What you value is reflected in what you surround yourself by.
When you organize your space, you organize your thoughts.
This is what it’s all about. Organizing your space, will organize your thoughts, which naturally leads to a more organized life. You will have more sense of freedom, awareness and ability to do what you wish to do. The pathway is clearer.
Free Your Mind
As you go throughout your day, you’ll have many thoughts and idea’s that come to mind about so many things, from work, to creative idea’s to errands. Writing them down is a healthy practice of organizing. By writing down your thoughts, you get them out of your head relieving yourself of a cycle of disorganized patterns of repeating thoughts, in the hopes you won’t forget what’s important.
Writing things down in your electronic device can be helpful if it’s not too time consuming and tedious. Another option which helps is the back to basics method of pen and paper. Have paper in a few designated area’s in your home. Writing your idea’s on random paper will only contribute to disorganization and actually is just another reflection of your mind being scattered. Instead, having one or two specific places where you can always go to jot down your idea’s will make your life easier.
Then you can compile what your idea’s are in a more logical pattern, and categorize the idea’s. If you’re writing everything in a list, you can make icons beside each type of thought for easy identification. Such as a star for important work, an eye for inspiration and idea’s, and E for errands, or use colored dots according to category, etc. This will help you keep the idea’s orderly. If you want to save time, have a tabbed book, with each category – easy to flip as you write. This is just one simple way to start giving your mind more freedom.
Designating area’s for each thing, returning them to their place when finished with them, relieves the mind and keeps your space orderly.
Chaos. Now or Then
When you cleanse your space, you are cleansing yourself. Messiness, and accumulating dust, represents energy that isn’t being paid attention to and stagnates. When your area is clean, you will rid yourself of the stagnant energy and have more opportunity to send positive energy out there. The space will encourage and support you to have a more positive energy flow. In return that new, positive energy will flow from you into your environment, to the people and things around you. It’s a win-win situation.
Some people live and work in “beautiful chaos” and swear it works for them. They can handle knowing where everything is. Most people though, are not that on top of where everything is when it’s all over the place, in a mess. If you’re really honest with yourself you’ll realize when the flow of energy really isn’t suitable for you. Don’t fool yourself as an excuse to not take charge of your life. If it works in an area, great, but if your entire house is a disaster area, there’s a problem.
For some, life is so busy, weeks can go by and everything piles up. Where everything is, represents not only what you did mindlessly, but also the choices you made to. That shirt on the living room floor – you made a decision to leave it there. Those dishes on the counter, that pile of paper on your desk, all got to where they were because of actions you took, or didn’t take. Where are you focusing your life force energy, and where are you neglecting applying yourself for your own benefit? If you don’t do it now, know that later will eventually become “now”, and you’ll be in exactly the same place.
If you’re the type of person who’d rather have someone come in and clean your space, fair enough, but if you continue mindlessly messing up your space because someone else will take care of it, you are missing the deeper point.
Remember, cleaning is more than just the surface of things. It gets down to the core of who you are and your willingness to transform your internal and external way of living.
It’s easier when it’s in harmony
Cleaning and organizing just one area can start you on an all new path. It can be overwhelming to consider tackling everything at once and will leave you scatterbrained. Break it down, and give yourself smaller area’s to focus on. If you try to do everything, you’ll be all over the place doing a little here and there, instead of getting into that meditative zone of honing in on an area with attention.
You don’t have to spend all your time cleaning. Once an area is clean choose to do small things that will help maintain it’s cleanliness. For example, don’t wear your shoes in the house. This drags random dirt in, reflecting a scattered mind.
This is the point – changing your relationship to your space and how you see and interact with it will realign how you view your environment. It will also enhance how you get to experience your time overall. The little things you choose to do, and don’t do, will transform your space and your life. This will lead to a feeling of being more aware and in harmony with yourself and all around you.
Flow vs. Order
Well what about flow, if I focus on such precision am I blocking flow, will I be too controlling? This isn’t about controlling everything and living in a rigid, logical manner. That is what happens when obsessive compulsive behavior occurs; the logical side is on overdrive, leading to imbalance. If you’re fanatical, you know you’re off track. Nothing can be perfect, its the intention that matters. Freaking out at people who may mess up your cleanliness also reflects rigidity in an unhealthy way.
In fact, the very opposite of obsession is the intention here because this is about uniting your logical side of organizing with your creative, flowing side, in balance. When you’re organizing and cleaning your space, trust what feels right, not just what you think would be right. When you approach your space in a more holistic manner, you’ll notice the movement of energy flows so much better in your life. You’ll feel lighter, and more capable. Your creative self won’t be hindered, but will instead be liberated.
This also isn’t about living in a sterile environment without any creative input, color or spontaneity. Instead, it’s actually about giving you clearer thinking and attentiveness to yourself so your creative side can flourish.
Speaking of creativity, organizing your art area will make your art projects that much easier to focus on instead of searching for the tools you need. Painting, for example; with all your paints organized, your brushes, water, pallet, etc., your mind will be relieved of thinking where each item is when you need it, and you’ll be able to focus on the creative aspect itself. Your creativity will be free to work within an order you designed specifically for the task with your intention. The same goes for your office space, or any area where you would do best to designate an area for each tool for easy access.
Consider this: the world as we know it is abundant with possibilities, but beneath all the options are the laws of nature that exist as a framework allowing us the freedom to choose many directions. Order in the universe is necessary for the life force to flow. You can choose to align yourself with order, so your life force can flow in the direction you wish.
Music is a great way of clearing the energy of your environment. Loud music that has a good beat, shakes up the vibrations of your space, literally. If you play music that has a positive melody, you are promoting that consciousness and harmony into your space. For example, classical music like Mozart changes the way your mind works, and will also motivate you by giving you a positive mood. Cleansing your space will be enjoyable.
Practicing cleaning your space and engaging in a positive relationship with your environment are expressions of self care. Care for yourself. Your body is your temple, your space is your castle.
We’re going to be providing many more tips on enjoying your space like this soon. Stay tuned. Join our mailing list for updates, and follow us on twitter.
