Personal energy management for professional clutter clearers

The question our clutter clearing trainees are most often asked by their case study clients is, ‘Why on earth would anyone ever want to become a professional clutter clearing practitioner?’

Clutter humour

From the perspective of someone who views their piles of clutter as their most daunting nightmare, a career in clutter clearing is the last thing they would wish upon anyone. But for people who have a certain type of structure, who really enjoy creating order out of chaos and helping other people to reclaim their lives, it’s an ideal calling.

However, it is fraught with challenges that most other professions do not have because in order to work with people’s clutter, it’s necessary to go to their home and immerse yourself in the stagnant energies that surround all their stuff. It takes a person with very particular qualities to actually enjoy exposure to such densities of energy, and exceptional skills to be able to handle them without any untoward side effects. This article has been written specifically for wannabe clutter clearing practitioners to give some insights into this side of things.

The energetic side of clutter clearing

One of the main reasons that clutter clearing is so effective is because it’s not just physical items that are cleared from a client’s home. There are always stagnant energies that accumulate around clutter and astral imprints that are embedded in it that are removed too. These energies build up in layers over time and will affect a person at deep levels they may never be aware of. The energy of their home will feel stuck, and there will be a corresponding stuckness in the person’s life too. The exhilarating sense of freedom most people experience after clearing their clutter is largely due to the energies in their home (and therefore their life) starting to move again.

This is wonderful for the client, but what about the clutter clearing practitioner? The longer a client has had their clutter, the heavier and stickier the energies around it will be, and the more likely it is that some of it will get stuck to them. Occasional exposure to this is usually fine, but day after day, year after year, it will wear most people down unless they have personal energy management techniques to deal with it. The lack of this is one of the most common causes of burn-out for professionals in this field.

Is there a way to protect yourself?

Some declutterers and organizers I meet use psychic protection techniques they have read about in books, such as visualizing themselves in a bubble of light, or using ritual chants, invocations, or spells. Some methods I’ve heard of involve putting sponges, black tourmaline, or nine rounds of orange peel in your pocket (I’m not making this up – these are real examples from so-called experts).

For anyone who has believed and trusted in any of these methods, it may come as something of a revelation to learn that in my experience, they have no basis in any known energetic principles. How they came into being, I have no idea, but somehow they have been perpetuated and even become widespread in some circles. When I meet and spend time with people who have been using these “protective techniques”, I see no evidence of them having worked. They tend to be energetically toxified in one way or another.

Tell-tale signs of energetic toxification

Some of the symptoms are:

  • Feeling exhausted or energetically dumped after a session
  • Flu-like symptoms after a session or the next day
  • Skin problems
  • Feeling overwhelmed
  • Neurotic behaviour
  • Uncontrolled urges to do the kind of things you advise your clients not to do
  • Developing addictions or compulsive behaviours such as staying up late at night, gambling, spending too much time on social media, etc
  • Food cravings after a clutter clearing session, especially sugary treats, carbs & alcohol
  • Weight gain (your body not handling the exposure to energies)

So what can you do?

In the same way that if you immerse yourself in water you will get wet, so if you immerse yourself in clutter it’s inevitable you will pick up some energies. Some people are naturally more resilient to energetic toxification, but all professionals can benefit from learning how to handle this side of things better. While there’s no magic fix-all, there certainly are techniques that can help, ranging from basic practices that anyone can do to more advanced skills that require increased levels of awareness, perception, and subtle body development.

To give you some examples, here are three of the practical recommendations that I included in my talk at the annual conference of APDO (the Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers) in the UK in March 2015.

Avoid touching your face, head, or hair
Prevention is better than cure, and something that can make a big difference is to learn to avoid touching your face, head, or hair while handling clutter. Most people are not even aware that they do this, but a study conducted by researchers at the University of California in Berkeley in 2008 discovered that on average, people touch their eyes, nostrils, and lips about 16 times per hour, and some as often as 100 times an hour.

The study was conducted to bring greater awareness about the transmission of diseases, but it has great relevance to professional clutter clearers too. In my experience it doesn’t seem to matter too much if you touch your clothing or other parts of your body, but touching anywhere from the neck up has an energetically impacting effect. Training yourself to stop doing this can make a huge difference to how gunked you feel at the end of a session.

Don’t wear black or grey
Black has its place in certain types of spiritual work but has to be used very specifically and wisely. While it may seem to be a very practical colour for professionals to wear because it doesn’t show dirt, black attracts low level energies and increases the risk of picking up perverse energies that are often found in homes where there is a lot of clutter. Grey is also not a good colour to wear because it is the colour of limbo, halfway between black and white, and will tend to promote indecisiveness in clients about what stays and what goes.

If you absolutely must wear black or grey then only wear it on the lower half of your body, contrasted with a warm, uplifting colour on your upper body. But be aware that navy, brown, and deep shades of other hues are all far preferable to black or grey as a base colour.

Shower before and after clutter clearing
Water is a great purifier. When working as a professional clutter clearer, showering each morning is a must for the simple reason that stagnant energy is very sticky, and the cleaner you are, the less it will stick to you. And showering and changing your clothes when you arrive home is important too, to wash off the energies before they sink in too deeply through your skin. Feeling grotty, becoming grumpy, developing a headache, or being unduly tired are all symptoms that can usually be averted in this way. It also helps to drink plenty of water during the day to wash energies through.

Related article
About professional clutter clearing

Copyright © Clear Space Living Ltd 2016


About Karen Kingston

Karen Kingston is a leading expert in clutter clearing, space clearing, feng shui, and healthy homes. Her two international bestselling books have combined sales of over three million copies in 26 languages and have established themselves as "must-read" classics in their fields. Her best-known title, Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, is now in its fifth edition. She is best known for her perspective-changing insights and practical solutions that enable more conscious navigation of 21st-century living.
This entry was posted in Clutter clearing. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Contact

Clear Space Living Ltd
PO Box 11171, Sleaford
NG34 4FR, United Kingdom

UK Company No: 12067211
VAT Reg No: 339 267 376

International Directory
of Practitioners

All countries