
As a veteran clutter-clearer I know that’s part of the process, though. Already all the stuff piled up on top of the wardrobe has gone. A third of my clothes inside the wardrobe have also gone - to the charity shop. All I’ve got left to wear are things I absolutely love!
To aid the process I’ve been repeating, mantra-like, some great affirmations: ‘As I clean up and clear out my home, I’m cleaning up and clearing out my life’. I have a strong sense that I’m clearing the way, preparing the ground for change in my life. I’ve been finding coins, ‘change’, all over the place. I love the symbolism of that!
There’s a strong relationship between the process of spiritual awakening, spiritual emergence and clutter clearing. After my 2003 crisis, I clutter cleared my entire life; left my job, gave up the flat I was renting and went off on an extended retreat. In the aftermath of my 2006 crisis, I nearly moved lock, stock and body to Italy. Luckily, as I was packing my beautiful home up, I realised it wasn’t the right choice. I hadn’t recovered enough from the worst of the crisis to be in a fit state to make those sorts of decisions.
If you’ve been through a profound period of inner transformation, even of spiritual emergency, you may well have found yourself naturally having the urge to clear out your home, and, in the process, your life. When we go through a spiritual upgrade our old ways and our old stuff no longer work for us. We need to clear them out to make way for the new. This is all part of what I’ve identified as the Third Key Phase of moving successfully through spiritual emergency. You can read about that in my book.
So I’m busy making way for the new to enter my life, with not much of a clue as to what that may be. There are certainly plenty of fascinating new books coming my way as I start researching my next writing project! So if our monsoon is getting you down or you’re feeling a bit stuck, I highly recommend a spot, or two, of clutter clearing...