Thoughts For The New Year

Happy New Year!!!

The holiday season is over and it’s time to think about the new opportunities that are available to us with the coming of a new year. Here in Western New York, we always have the added challenge of the winter weather which can be so unpredictable, with the exception of the gray skies, winter snow and blustery cold. But in spite of the challenges of the weather, we can still grab opportunity. Since we’re stuck indoors so much of the winter, why not take advantage of that indoor time and make our homes all they can be from top to bottom?

With the New Year comes new beginnings. But so many of us thwart the ability of opportunity to find us because our homes are full of things we collect and hold on to. Without even realizing it, our possessions have a tendency to accumulate and the next thing we know, closets are over stuffed, dresser drawers won’t close and basements aren’t navigable. To allow opportunity to find and reach us, we must make a pathway for it to do so. In order to do that, we must take on the ultimate challenge and tackle the #1 Rule of Feng Shui: we must DE-CLUTTER.

I write extensively about the need to declutter and I know it’s a daunting task to many. Usually it is so daunting because we apply so much emotion and mean-ing to objects. There is nothing wrong with that at all. Some things we will always just have to have because of what it means to us, not because it serves a purpose. But what I am asking to you to consider is this: how much of what you possess do you absolutely, positively, most definitely have to keep?

My guess is your answer would be: not nearly all the things you are holding onto!

This is a good example of what I’m talking about. Clutter has a bigger effect on our lives than we think. Upon first glance at this bookcase, it doesn’t seem bad at all. It’s be­ing utilized for it’s purpose it’s storing books and CDs. But it is surrounded by other objects as well a TV above it, electronics on it and the books and CDs don’t re­ally have any order to them.

Paring down the contents of the bookcase and moving it to a different wall made a big difference and a huge impact in this room. It looks and feels clean and organized and the energy surrounding it has the freedom to move. There’s no place for the energy to get stuck and stagnate.

In the same room, this is the clothing storage unit before we addressed it. These stor-age units come in handy in apartment living, which is where this room is located. But they have a tendency to be messy if they are not orga-nized properly. Try to feel what this would be like if it were in your room. (Maybe you’re living with something like it already?)

Here is the storage unit reorganized and repositioned. It was previously on the wall where the bookshelf was located. It works better here under the TV. We added another storage cube and more can be added if de­sired. It looks much neater, cleaner and definitely more organized. Keep­ing like colors together as much as possible adds to the feeling of order­liness as well.

If you can feel the difference by looking at these before and after pic­tures, can you imagine the impact you will make by addressing the clutter in your home?

I hope you enjoy the holiday season and are ready to seek out opportunities that are waiting for you. In the meantime, I wish you all Peace, Balance and Abundance!

Happy New Year!!!

Feng Shui Rochester

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