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re you making room in your life for the life you desire? That thought came to me in early 2014 as I went through the annual process of cleaning out rooms and closets in our home. I had once spent a lot of time scrapbooking and stamping and had a cache of supplies. But as time went on, I found myself spending less time on those hobbies as my interests changed, especially with the addition of grandchildren into our lives.


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Resistance was felt when it came to parting with some of my more whim- sical stamps and the wide variety of ink pads, not to mention the volumes of paper of all textures, colors and sizes which I had amassed. Managing to pare down by more than half, my office still remained overflowing with outdated and unused craft supplies. Like many people, I enjoy the process of organizing. I also like to read and learn how others organize all their “stuff”. I recently read two books that shed some new light on how to deal with all of our belongings (boxing, storing, renting storage units, hoarding). In the first, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, author Marie Kondo asserts that if you follow her process, hers will be the last book on organizing you will ever need. She explains how to get rid of stuff permanently and have a permanent place for everything else. Kondo promotes going through each category (clothes, books, kitchen, etc.), one at a time, where you pick up, touch and feel the energy and emotion in every single item. If you don’t love it, then out it goes. There is no excess storage or even a need for storage containers because, Kondo avows, having organizational products only promotes having excess. So simple, yet profound- ly true. The second book, SoulSpace: Transform Your Home, Transform Your Life— Creating a Home that is Free of Clutter, Full of Beauty and Inspired by You, by Xorin Balbes, claims, “You will explore not only the design of your abode, but also your own interior; how you think, feel and sense the world.” I belong to a Facebook group which was created for this book, where readers share their interpretations, successes and challenges, sometimes including photos. Balbes shares stories of his clients, such as the one who longed to paint but kept all his supplies hidden and out of the way; and another who longed for a mate, but hung the wedding dress from her first marriage front and center in the closet she used every day. The stories made me think, “What am I doing that is keeping me from moving forward in my life?” Do you have something(s) holding you back? Something you want to make


Office reorganization in process.


room for? This month’s issue of Natural Awakenings features two articles on feng


shui—the art of placement for optimizing energy flow, with practical, doable tips to help you make the most of your space and your life. Here’s to ease in clearing, making way for the life we dream to live.


Jackie Flaherty, Publisher NaturalTwinCities.com


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