Decluttering Your Physical Space Can Help the Real You Shine. Here Are 6 Tips for Getting Clear in 2024

Are you ready to lighten your load in the new year? The good news is that decluttering isn't about being a minimalist or forcing yourself to get rid of stuff. It's about radical honesty. That means getting real about:

• Who you truly are

• Whether your inner and outer environments reflect and support your true self

• What is the perfect amount of stuff for you (your sweet spot!)

In the current climate of seemingly endless alternate realities, perhaps one place we can find common ground is that we are all souls, temporarily here on Earth. Our true soul nature is presence, acceptance, peace, connection, joy, harmony, love, and letting go. It exists side by side with the ego aspect in each of us—the false self we sometimes mistake for our true self—that keeps us in a trance of lack, separation, judgment, competition, not-enoughness, accumulating, and holding on. We are of two minds, and the mind we operate from most determines how much "stuff" we carry around. Remembering who we really are and living that knowing will free us from clutter.  

Set Your Intention

To create a life with less stuff and more you, take a moment to set your intention for 2024. Ask to be shown what your soul is longing for right now. The answer may come as an image or a single word, as Maria has written so beautifully about, or a phrase or a feeling in your bones. Trust what you perceive. Some examples are peace, space to do my art again, lightness of being, or mine for this year, which is agency. Once you identify your soul intention, symbolically place it right in front of you, where it can lead the way in the new year. From here, you won't need to focus on "fixing" your clutter problem. The things in your life that are not in alignment will reveal themselves and gently begin to let go of you.

Get Mindful

We can have clutter in our inner environment—untrue thoughts, negative emotions, low vibration energies—or in our outer environments—relationships that aren't nourishing, ways of relating that affirm our false selves, habits that diminish our energy and health, and too many possessions. All forms of clutter are the ego made visible. A stuffed drawer, a belief you are better than, a relationship secret, a frantic energy, a habit of judging, a nightly wine binge, a trash can in the laundry room overflowing with lint, a trash can in your heart overflowing with guilt, or a dirty shelf piled high with mismatched Tupperware all reflect the same thing: a soul not being true to itself. 

Freeing yourself from clutter requires mindfulness. You must become an expert witness of your thoughts, emotions, energies, ways of relating, and physical environments. Observe with radical honesty and curiosity rather than judgment. Imagine yourself as an owl in a tree, quietly scanning for the soul and ego functioning in yourself and your world. How many things actually live in your home, basement, garage, purse, and trunk of your car? Does that friend lift you up or drag you down? How does holding onto resentment from your first marriage serve you? What does your bathroom cabinet reveal about you? What makes you feel alive and grateful? What happens to your energy when you binge-watch that crime show? Which works better, collaborating or competing at work? As you practice observing, you will become better able to distinguish the things in your life that are of your essence. 

One special note for these times of societal upheaval, trauma, and disharmony. As you witness, pay particular attention to your emotions. Emotional states such as fear, anxiety, loneliness, overwhelm, and anger are heightened right now. These emotions activate our sympathetic nervous system, flooding our bodies with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. In contrast, our natural state is parasympathetic nervous system activation, which is characterized by relaxation, neutrality, and calm. Discover what coping skills bring you to that place. Hint: engage in something of the soul! Turn off the news and turn on some music you love, do some gentle stretching or spontaneous dancing, take out your knitting needles or KitchenAid mixer or pastels, clear out the junk drawer, soften into acceptance, or ground yourself in nature. This is not avoidance; it's purposefully coming into the present moment, the territory of the soul, to allow your system to quiet. When we feel triggered, it is our responsibility to soothe ourselves and restore equilibrium so we don't become yet another ego-identified person dumping clutter on others. 

Take Soul-Affirming Action

My friend Gerry, who is in his eighties, once said to me, "Guess what, Peggy? I'm downsizing…to an urn!" His dark humor held a gorgeous kernel of radical honesty. When we depart this planet, none of our stuff goes with us. And yet, we hold on tight to what we have and chronically accumulate more. Try these strategies to build your release muscles. 

Something In/Something Out 

From this day forward, when you bring something new into your life, be sure it supports your soul self. And when you welcome it in, let go of something in exchange. For example, if you buy a hip new shirt, release one of your old ones or something from another category of clutter, such as one of the five cups of coffee you drink every day or the (unworthy of your soul) shame you feel when you view someone's fabulous Instagram life.

Rely on the Magic of 10 Percent

As you declutter, look to release 10 percent of the things that don't serve your soul and add 10 percent of what does. Here are some examples. Release 10 percent of the old sheets in the linen closet and add 10 percent more beauty by neatly folding what's left. Spend 10 percent less time worrying about the future and 10% more time being in the moment. Eat 10 percent less junk and 10 percent more greens. Put 10 percent less energy into focusing on others and 10 percent more into self-care. Be 10 percent less self-conscious and 10 percent more soul-conscious. Some areas may be more difficult than others. If you can't part with 10 percent of your jealousy or your jeans but can easily release some of those boxes in the garage, do 20 percent there. Aiming for 10 percent makes decluttering doable and creates space for energy to flow. And most people surprise themselves by doing even more.  

Share Freely

Many people have more than they need, and others are in need. To put this in perspective, think of all the houses full of stuff, not to mention all the storage units— fortresses of unshared abundance and stagnant energy. It's staggering. What we hold onto is potentially more valuable to someone else. So, become a living example that there's more than enough to go around. Share whatever resources you have: possessions, words of wisdom, money, emotional understanding, artistry, or hugs. The true value of what you have lies in sharing it.

Here's to reaping the benefits of radical honesty and moving humanity forward back home to our soul nature!

Peggy Fitzsimmons has helped many people get their houses in order through intensive decluttering. A former staff of the Omega Institute, she was a consulting producer on Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday. In her book Release: Create a Clutter Free and Soul Driven Life, she shares spiritual and practical insights for living in alignment with our true soul nature. To learn more visit peggyfitzsimmons.com.