Feng Shui Your Life

You cannot be successful in the way you have dreamed of if you are stuck in the quicksand of clutter. — Jayme Barrett, Feng Shui Your Life

I'm not a feng shui expert - I call one in when I need one. But I'm aware of the general principles - at least those of one school - having read (and enjoyed) The Western Guide to Feng Shui by Terah Kathryn Collins, and Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, by Karen Kingston.

And now I have another book I'm enjoying. Author Jayme Barrett first mentions clutter right at the start, under Feng Shui Essentials, saying, "Clutter is one of the biggest deterrents to creating good feng shui in your life."

In her chapter dedicated to clutter and space clearing, she goes on to identify four types of clutter:

Common Clutter: You have too much unused, unloved, unnecessary, and messy stuff littering your space. Examples include junk mail, broken objects, old newspapers and magazines.

Symbolic Clutter: You have objects that consciously or unconsciously affect your emotions and thoughts in a negative way. Examples include unsuccessful projects, gloomy artwork, and disheartening books.

Energy Clutter: ... Examples include photos of people who disapprove of you, gifts from past relationship, and inherited furniture you've kept out of guilt.

Mental and Emotional Clutter: These are unresolved emotional issues, tasks you've been avoiding, and draining relationships.

The chapter goes on to talk about the importance of a clutter-free life, reasons that clutter builds up, and steps for getting rid of that clutter.

Another section of the book deals with the bagua - a map of nine energy centers that you "superimpose on the layout of a house, apartment, guest home, office, or room." As Jayme writes about each center, she again stresses the importance of eliminating clutter; it's in her list of "no-no's" for each one. The book then goes on to provide suggestions for each room in your home: bedroom, bathroom, foyer, home office, etc.

One of the many things I like about this book is that it doesn't try to dictate one right way of doing things. A number of suggestions are provided for each space, and Jayme also says, "It's better for you to love your space than to have absolutely perfect feng shui everywhere."

I got this book from my library, and found I kept wanting to highlight things - so this is one of the few library books I'm going to wind up purchasing.