How to Change Your Life While You Clean Your House

Here is a simple practice that is really powerful and motivating. You are doing something you would be doing anyway, but you’re doing it with an expanded vision that gives far-reaching results. And a surprising bonus is: it actually makes cleaning house fun!

We can all probably agree that our environment feels better when it is decluttered, clean, and organized. Let’s start with the given that this makes sense physically and psychologically, and then take it a step further.

If we approach these clearing activities metaphorically or symbolically, we can benefit even more.

The idea here is that as we declutter, clean, and organize any area of our home (or property, vehicle, office, etc.) we are improving an area of our lives on an even bigger scale than just that physical area of our environment.

What’s in a Dust Bunny?

Everything we are around on a regular basis has energy ties and some type of connection to us, whether we are conscious of it or not. We can envision this as thin threads going from us to everything we own (and some things have big fat ropes!)

As we clean, clear, move, or give any attention at all to these things, the changes reverberate into the larger pattern of our lives that these things are tied to. We can see a correspondence between our life and the location, the article, and/or the activity. In other words, as we clear things, we not only clear that area of our home directly but ALSO an area of our life that’s represented symbolically by that physical area, its contents, or the action we are taking. I would say that this is always true, but especially so if we do it with conscious intent.

Can you see the ramifications of this? How powerful and far reaching this can be in helping us make improvements in all areas of our lives?

And even when things are simply neglected or left to gather dust, never being used or appreciated, those areas of our lives that they relate to are often deteriorating as well. The dust itself is like old, leftover consciousness that begins to smother their vitality. (I am reminded of Dr. Masaru Emoto’s brilliant work with the water crystals, where he showed that plants receiving negative energy fared even better than those that were totally ignored–except for being kept alive, that is. Amazing!)

Next time you clean or declutter, pay attention for the next hours, days, or week and see if you can notice any side-effects in the area of your life that that area might represent.

You Can Decide What You Want to Change

Conversely, if you want to make some changes in a particular area of your life, consider what area of your home or what type of belongings can or do represent that, and then go about cleaning up that physical area. You can consider it intellectually and see if you can get a felt-sense of it too.

Besides resulting in significant and sometimes surprising improvements in that life area, a great side effect of this way of going about clutter-clearing is that it can be a great motivation to clear/clean and even make it more interesting and enjoyable.

You can use your own ideas about how a physical area of your home or a certain activity might tie to an area of your life (get creative, it’s all valid; get intuitive, even better) and/or you can use established systems such as Feng Shui, Vastu, etc. to establish the correlations.

Charge It With Intention

It can be even more powerful to think or even say out loud as you are clearing what it is that you are intending, e.g.

As I mop these dust-bunnies out from under my bed, I am gently removing:
a) the unnoticed debris left from past relationships, or
b) my random worries that have been keeping me awake at night, or
c) the “dust” that indicates my lack of action in reaching out to my husband/wife, or
d) the scary monsters that I now have the courage to see in the light of day

You get the idea. This sounds like a silly example (and maybe it is) but declaring your intentions really does add oompf. Try it out!

Better yet, play with it! Go ahead – let those dust bunnies fly! Turn your feather-duster into a magic wand!

Just be warned: you can’t always predict what new adventure may open up to you as a result! My best personal story is of cleaning out the stuffed full closet in my office and coming away with tons of released energy, a newly redecorated room, and a revived career.

Some Ways You Can Start Today

The connections are endless, and many (or even most) are specific to us as individuals. But here are a few that most of us have in common where you can make a start right away.

• General decluttering, cleaning, and organizing seems to remove the cobwebs from your energy systems in general, making you much more clear and decisive. It also has the added benefit of making you more alert and intuitive.
• Do you have lots of old financial files that will never again be of any use? Papers or statements you’re afraid to look at? Give them a spring cleaning and notice how your finances are revived and positively activated.
• Book shelves are like magic. No sooner do I give away books that I have outgrown, then I am introduced to new areas of fascination and some of the empty spaces begin to come alive with new materials.
• Sorting through old photos is a powerful way to revive or let go of relationships, including relationships with a “you” of the past. This is often quite therapeutic and can be very healing, even when you didn’t know healing was called for. (And be prepared to possibly hear from some of these people out of the blue.)
• Thinning out or organizing things that represent mental activities (reading, tracking, planning, figuring) can go a long way to actually help clear your mental clutter such as worrying, judging, criticizing, and over-thinking.
• Clearing communications areas (such as email or that little address book with phone numbers from two decades ago) can help free up your energy for those relationships that do matter.  Organizing the new or decluttered space can help you be more clear when listening and speaking.
• Clean and decorate the “helpful people” area of your Feng Shui bagua (a complex topic but the  short form is the south-east direction of a space) to keep that energy moving.
• Attend to areas that hold vitamins, herbs, medicines, health and personal products and watch your physical health improve.
• “Thinning out” in general can help you let go of a craving for excess food and you will likewise thin down.
• Cleaning basements can go to the foundations of who we are and what we stand for, including our subconscious patterns. It can take a brave soul to dive into the “dungeons” but the results can be amazing.
• Cleaning up that pet cupboard, tossing or giving away those things they’ve outgrown or that are old and worn will revive your relationship with them and improve your pets’ well-being as well.
• Spiff up the outside of your home or your outdoors areas (or even your car) as representative of how you show yourself to and connect with the world at large. You just may find yourself wanting to have a party!

I first heard of this idea many years ago through Denise Linn on one of her podcasts from her weekly show on Hay House Radio. Since then I have proven it to myself time and again, with positive and enduring results.

Are you willing to try it? What have you found? Any related suggestions? Talk to me!

[Beautiful photo of actual dust bunnies by psyberartist]