Some consider a well-lived life to be an art form unto itself. This is certainly true in the Chinese art form and lifestyle practice of Feng Shui which endeavors to infuse every aspect of a person’s life and environment into balance.
This is a core concept in a lot of eastern philosophies. Feng Shui attempts to achieve a state of Zen by understanding the chi or qi of different structural elements to then artfully position them to achieve balance with their environment.
All this emphasis on artistic expression and making the most out of the structural elements and energy plays perfectly into a wide range of innovative organizational concepts. Many of which can be infused into your own home to streamline your life and bring your closets into balance with meeting your everyday needs.
Clutter Can Complicate the Mind & Closet
A cluttered mind is typically out of balance, and the same is true for your closets. Clutter doesn’t just express your mind’s inability to let go of the things that don’t serve you. It also tends to get in your way, making it next to impossible to find what you need expeditiously.
Clutter in your life, and your closet then also becomes a form of frustration. It can be reflected in your mind, in your life, and in how the rest of your day flows. So, clutter in your master closet or walk-in closet is essentially getting your day off to a bad start from the start.
When decluttering your closet, try to practice the art of holding onto it for a few seconds. Then truly and honestly ask yourself if it belongs in your closet. Give yourself permission to donate it, dispose of it, or just move it elsewhere for long-term storage.
This will go a long way toward helping you eliminate clutter to make more mindful space in your closet. It will also help you prioritize the things you want to keep in your close-by environment and how you want to use them.
Develop the Desire to Donate
In the course of decluttering, you’re probably going to have to confront some challenging choices about what to keep, what to dispose of, and what to donate. This is a time to give yourself permission to relive a memory or two with a cherished sweater that you don’t wear anymore or a hat you wore to the big game that simply doesn’t fit right anymore.
Then practice the art of letting go of those old memories and everything that comes attached to them. This frees you up to donate those items so that other people can use them. Who knows, they might make their own memories that carry on with them long after you have let them go.
Free Your Foyer Closet
The foyer or entryway closet is another place where abusive energies can foul your day. Clutter, disorganization, and even other family members intermingling their items can cause a lot of disharmonies. This results in you walking out of the door in disharmony, and returning after a long day to be greeted by more discord.
Just like in your master closet, you need to make room for the things that do matter, and then declutter or remove the things that don’t belong. This starts with doing simple things like moving out-of-season jackets and outerwear elsewhere for mid-term storage. By staying in season, you’re more likely to stay mindful of your day.
Make sure everyone has their own space. Each kid and every adult in the household should have their own cubby, hangers, hooks, and jackets. This encourages everyone to stay organized, and it also reduces the risk of arguments when one person feels like another one is taking over their space.
Supplying seating is another thing that boosts the positive energy of a foyer or entryway closet. Kids and adults alike will have more positive energy at the start and end of every day if they can sit down to tie or take off their shoes. Rather than the frustrated energy produced by trying to bend over awkwardly in a narrow hallway to squeeze on a shoe or pull a muddy boot off their tired aching feet.
Boot/shoe trays are also a wonderful addition to any entryway or foyer space. They collect rain, melting snow, mud, salt, dust, and all other debris to keep your floors clean and stain-free.
Update Your Décor For the Most Positive Energy
In Feng Shui ambiance matters. While spartan, bare closets certainly make things easier to find, they don’t do much for your overall energy or mood as you go about your day.
Take the time to think about the times, and ways you use a lot of your most popular closets. What things do you feel right now? How do you want to feel when you’re there?
Then try to imagine decorations and accessories that match these energies. This will infuse you with the balance and positive energy you need at all the critical steps of your day.
For example, let’s say you normally have a hard time getting up in the morning and getting your day started. Perhaps a sunflower motif in your master bedroom will brighten things up. Sometimes adding just the right splash of color can change your vibrations to the right tune.
Use Aroma For Added Ambiance
Much of your memory and your emotional balance is tied in some way to your sense of smell. This is why aromatherapy is such an effective tool for getting your mind right and moving you through the challenges of each day.
So, when your closet smells like a dank, basement of a dusty old library, it stands to reason that it’s going to affect your mood and your sense of balance. Fortunately, there are a lot of simple, yet highly effective ways to boost the aromatic mood of just about any closet.
Scented candles help elevate the aromatic presence and emotional vibrations of a walk-in closet.
Organic potpourri enlivens linen and hall closets permeating towels and other everyday items with pleasant scents that carry on throughout the rest of your home.
Vanilla-scented oils and scent sticks in a pantry bring you back to the pleasant days of youth when most of the world’s ills seemed to be solvable with a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie in hand.
