17 Jun Feng Shui: Spring Cleaning with Intention

Every year about this time a lot of us get the urge to haul old clothes out of closets, empty dresser drawers and even wash windows. We do this under the name of “spring cleaning.” As nature begins its cycle of rebirth and new beginnings, we, too, want to make a fresh start. Spring is symbolic of our own “begin-again” theme. Sometimes it seems that if everything could be thrown out and we could begin all over again, somehow that would be better.

Using Feng Shui intentions, your spring cleaning projects can not only get rid of old things you don’t want anymore, but it can also represent new feelings or attitudes that can now find their way into your life. It’s important that, before tossing out the victims of your spring purge, you extend gratitude to those things that are moving along. After all, they once served your needs; there was a time when you wanted those things and bought them. If you didn’t personally ask for some of the things you’ve now got in your possession and want to get rid of, you can still honor their presence—-someone once thought they were valuable enough to have around.

Keeping in mind the mental layout of the bagua on your space, you can begin your spring cleaning projects by being aware of what area is being “cleansed.” In washing your windows, pay attention to which area of the bagua each of the windows is falling into so that you can hold an intention of clearing your vision. As you suds up and rinse off winter’s film from the windows in your Career area, it will be significant if you hold the intention of finding vision around some issue in your career. Likewise, in your Wealth area, you can “see” better ways in which to enhance that area if it’s a problem. You may get some creative “vision” in the Children and Creativity area with clear eyes to see the world (clean windows).

Always be mindful of what area of the bagua is being affected as you start to clean out closets, drawers and cupboards. They all hold the potential of bringing some changes into your life. As you take inventory in a pantry that happens to be in your Health area, you can enhance your efforts by adding the intention of good health. When things are in order, when old expired items have been discarded and you’re reminded of the message that the pantry is sparkling clean, your health can be “in order,” old health issues can be discarded and you can be assured that your health is likewise “sparkling clean.”

If a closet in a spare bedroom has long been your nemesis, once you realize that it’s holding back some flow of money, you will probably be more enthusiastic to tackle it.

If cleaning out your back stairway seems pointless since you’re the only one who has to hop around the boxes, bags and debris, again if you realize that it may be clogging up any marriage possibilities, it may not seem so meaningless. Metaphorically, you have prevented easy access to you from any potential partner.

Over and over I see home offices where I can’t find one square inch of clear area either on the desk or the floor. Despite the presence of three or four chairs, there’s still no place to sit down. Stacks and piles of old magazines, files and newspapers litter the visual landscape and overwhelm your eyes. Not surprising, concurrently I see careers coming to a halt or stagnating by the individuals who are trying to work in this environment. It doesn’t matter where the office is located in the bagua. It’s function affects the career of the individual working in that space. If the office is trashed, the career will not function smoothly and will prevent the flow needed for a career to soar. Spring cleaning in here may be
your priority.

Similarly, the bedroom affects your Partnership area no matter where it falls in the bagua. If your bedroom is in the Wealth area and is left in a state of confusion, it will not only affect your money but also your partnership potential. It’s not surprising to find someone unhappy about their relationships when wallpaper is peeling off the bedroom walls and the carpet has been hopelessly stained. Your spring cleaning project might begin in this room by getting rid of anything old and useless.

There’s an effective procedure to perform, supported by Feng Shui principles, when getting rid of items that have lost their meaning and usefulness in your life. Rather than just chuck them into garbage bags and haul them away or leave them for recycling or garbage, spend a few minutes taking stock of what’s leaving your life. Remember its past importance in your life—-there probably was a time when you really wanted some of those things. You might even have paid a lot of money to get some of the items. Nevertheless, they need to move on. Thank the items, bless them and see them being used by someone else who is just as enthusiastic as you were when you first acquired them. Then (this is the important part), ask to have all the energy returned to you that may have been draining you while these objects were in your space. This will keep you from feeling exhausted at the end of your spring cleaning.

We all know what a wonderful feeling it is to have an area cleaned out and straightened up when it’s been a long overdue project. It’s important to keep the big picture in mind and to remember the relief that will be ours as we re-claim our space and begin anew for spring.