Your stuff is talking to you. Can you hear it?
It may sound a little creepy, but everything that surrounds you is alive and is talking to you all the time. That's right! I'm talking about the clothes on your body, the pictures on your walls, the books on your book shelf, that pile of magazines in the corner. Even your garbage can is talking to you. This is one of the main principles in Feng Shui.
Can you hear what your stuff is trying to tell you? Here's a hint... Not only is everything around you alive, but everything that belongs to you is connected to your energy. If you can imagine, there are little energetic threads connecting us to all of our stuff, and those threads are constantly sending little messages to us. Some messages are louder than others. What's so cool about Feng Shui is this idea that when you work with your stuff, you are actually working with yourself.
Take a wedding ring for example. Out of context a wedding ring is a small circular piece of metal. To the person who is wearing it, however, this small circular piece of metal contains a thousand stories about the person who gave it to them. Not just about the moment when the ring was placed on their finger but all of the moments leading up to that one and all the moments after.
Now consider a wedding ring that no longer lives on your finger, but lives in a drawer in your dresser. What is that little piece of metal telling you? How many stories are attached to it? How does it make you feel?
Not all of our stuff has a voice as loud as a wedding ring but you would be surprised. Take a moment to think about your closet. Imagine yourself standing in front of your open closet door and looking at what's there. If you like, I invite you to get up and look at your physical closet. What's living in there? I imagine there are some clothes. Take a moment to check in and see how the things in your closet make you feel. How loud are the voices coming from the hangers? What are they telling you about yourself?
It's not so bad now, but I used to have a closet full of clothes that were yelling at me. Telling me that I was fat, that I should lose weight, that it's no wonder nobody loves me, etc... etc... I finally got tired of being yelled at and let go of all the clothes that didn't fit me any more. I wanted to be able to look in my closet and only see clothes that I liked and that I could wear at that moment.
What happened next was really miraculous. After years of steadily gaining weight, I slowly but surely began to lose weight. I didn't go on a diet, I wasn't consciously trying to lose weight, but slowly my body began to change. I have no doubt that it was connected to me taking that long hard look at my closet and letting go.
Try it for yourself and see how it makes you feel. If you're not ready to let go of the clothes, at least put them in the basement or in a separate container.
I invite you to start a conversation with your stuff. See what it's telling you about who you think you are and who you would like to be. Here are a few questions you can ask your stuff
- Do I love it?
- Do I use it?
- How does it make me feel?
- Do I love it now, or did I used to love it?
- Does it represent who I am now, or who I used to be?
- Where did it come from and who gave it to me?
- What does this remind me of?
Have fun talking to your stuff and let me know how it goes by commenting below or dropping me a line at spaceforlife@gmail.com.