Clearing clutter is a very popular topic these days. The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) says on their website “The professional organizing industry has grown steadily in recent years as Americans and others all over the world attempt to gain better control of their lives.” In the midst of the wealth of advice on how to get organized comes a new book by Stephanie Bennett Vogt that gets to the root of the problem – “Your Spacious Self: clear the clutter and discover who you are”.
Vogt’s book is full of practical suggestions. I liked one chapter where she gives a game plan for sorting through all the extra stuff that you may have accumulated over the years. Vogt recommends sorting your goods in four main categories: “Stay”, “Go”, “Throw”, “Don’t Know”. She breaks down each category into sub categories. In the “Stay” category there’s a place for “Stays Put” things – “this is stuff that may need a little weeding and fluffing up, but it remains in the current home,” she writes. Another subcategory of “Stays” is the “Tolerations Pile” – “possessions that you want to keep that need fixing, finishing, or upgrading” belong here. Read Spacious Self for a complete description of the categories and sub-categories. As you can see below following Vogt’s advice helped me sort through some unneeded electronics that had been collecting dust in our home.
Your Spacious Self is far more than your typical “organize your house” book, though. Vogt addresses the spiritual aspect of clutter. “We do not need fixing,” she writes. “The core of our being is not broken. We humans are simply out of touch with our true selves and out of balance. And by extension, our homes and world are out of balance because we are. Not the other way around.” She emphasizes the three “R’s” in getting rid of our physical and emotional clutter: “Clearing raises awareness. Clearing releases attachments. Clearing reveals a spacious part in us that has been there all along.” As I was reading “Spacious Self” I found myself thinking, “wait a minute! This isn’t just a book on organizing my stuff. There are lots of valuable life lessons here.” Emotional clutter is just as inhibiting as physical clutter, if not more so, and in chapter after chapter Vogt gives suggestions on how to clear this insidious type of clutter, too. Emotional baggage that prevents us from living a life of freedom and joy.
Each chapter has detailed step by step procedures to follow in a “Clearing Practice” section, followed by “Clearing Journal” exercises – questions to ponder on what was presented earlier in the chapter. Take the time to do the journal exercises and you will get even more out of Vogt’s book.
And here’s that picture of all those unwanted electronics I collected just before hauling them off to recycling:
I’m still working on the emotional clutter that came to my attention in reading Your Spacious Self. “There is no replacing the wisdom that comes from living life in present time, embracing the shadow when it shows up, and entering each moment with innocent curiosity,” Vogt writes. Her book is a wonderful guide for releasing attachments to the physical and emotional baggage we all carry around. It is the best book on clearing clutter that I have read.
I received a complementary copy of this book for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
