Clutter clearing after a bereavement
Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston - Readers' letters
With each load of clutter cleared, my spirit feels lighter
Four years ago, my wife committed suicide. For a good 2 years before that, she was existing in a dark hole of physical and psychological pain. For some time after her passing, I was stuck in a cycle of guilt and regret -- what could I have done to change the course of events?
As I began to emerge from the darkness after her death, I found your book, Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. Your work opened my eyes to stuck energy throughout my house, at my office and within my body. Since then I have been taking a carload of the past to the recycling center each week. With each load, my spirit feels lighter, more in the present and ready to move forward.
After years of seldom leaving my home, I have gone hang gliding off of Mount Tam, learned to telemark ski here in Vermont, attended workshops at a nearby Zen center, started a meditation practice, and later this month I am taking a scuba certification course. I am calmer, more focused, and better able to help others instead of wallowing in my own self-pity and pain. For me, your work has been a tremendous catalyst, transformative, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. ~ K.H.
Clutter clearing after a bereavement
I lost my husband (sadly) on 22 December 2010 to breast cancer. Over the 26 years of being with him, I collected physical clutter in my home (hoarding) and body clutter - a lot of fat from binge/comfort, unhealthy eating, reaching a weight of 105 kg (about 231 lbs) at a height of 1,6 m (5' 2"). In addition to this, I had cluttered my mind up with so much negative energy that I couldn’t see the big picture any longer, and carried lots of baggage from my past into my marriage, and kept packing and packing.
After my husband died, I wanted to die, and the first four months were a nightmare. I landed in a heap in hospital and had an experience there spiritually in my quiet time whereby I began to focus on the bigger picture. I began to turn my grieving into happiness, as I knew my husband was healed of all his pain and in a better place, and if he could see me, to know what clutter I was living in would have pained him.
I went home and on my own, without reading your book or hearing from anyone else, started to clear the years of clutter, things and stuff I had hung onto, thinking it was my happiness. I removed all my husband's clutter, things and stuff as well. On a friend's advice, I then joined a programme to lose the clutter on my body, and lost 33 kg. With the physical and body clutter cleared from my life, my mental clutter began to disappear.
I am now reading your book, Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui, and my, what a revelation. It makes so much sense as I have experienced it in my journey. ~ Jill, South Africa
I'm energized and no longer feeling overwhelmed
I read Clear Your Clutter a year ago in one day and was very excited. However, I did nothing to clear any clutter. My life took over with stress at my job and the illness and loss of my mother. I was more lost and overwhelmed than ever.
Five months after my mother passed, I needed something to help me get my head above water. I picked up your book again and was SO energized and excited. I have cleared clutter that has been stored and gathering dust for over 20 years! Bags of things have been thrown out and SO much is ready to be donated to charities.
During this month of sorting, discarding and cleaning, I was given an unexpected check for $5000, found out about an inheritance of $3000, found gift cards and gift certificates worth over $400, found out about more income that will be coming monthly, and gathered about $75 worth of change too. The additional income has been wonderful, but more than that, I'm energized and no longer feel overwhelmed. I'm comfortable and happy in my home. I'm reading about Feng Shui and applying the principles at home and in my classroom. Thank you for getting me started! ~ E.S.
Clutter clearing after a husband's death
Your book has made such a difference in our lives! Thank you! We bought copies for all of our family members and just this morning I got a call from my mother saying how much she appreciated it. She now feels ready to move on after her husband's death. Thanks! ~ Charlie and Michele, USA
This book finally helped us to declutter
I read five books last year on de-cluttering. None of them really helped us. Turns out we collect clutter for entirely different reasons. Books that try to deal with "personality" just didn’t seem to work for us. Books that more or less said "get over it" also didn’t work. But we have to pare down because we are going to move twice in the next two years (ugh.)
The secret to Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui was to find why we both were keeping some things. (There is a section with helpful questions about why you keep stuff, such as inheriting it, sentimental feelings, habits, family habits, and even grief.) In our case, a friend from childhood and a parent had both died within two years and this caused a desire to cling to a lot of old things.
Excess clutter is thought to sap energy. It certainly saps concentration and gathers asthma-inducing dust. Now our apartment looks better, breathes better and yes, smells fresher and thanks to this book. First one I’ve ever read that could help two different people living together because it deals with the individual motivations behind the junk they keep.
Clutter clearing my parents' belongings
I was introduced to your book thru a Facebook page about clearing clutter that quotes you and your book often. The quotes were always inspiring so I purchased your book and it arrived yesterday!
I am in the midst of what I call the "Big Dig" - sorting thru lifetimes of stuff. I moved back to my parents home in 2001, putting the majority of my own home into storage. I moved back into my childhood home to be with my parents and to help them financially and physically. In 2005 I entered a new stage of life - caregiver. One of my sisters moved back home also to help me to help our parents.
Within the next years, our father had a heart attack, then 2 years later a stroke which took his life. Our mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, my sister who came home to help me was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer a year after our mother. Our dad died in 2007, my sister in 2010, our mother followed 4 months later (to the day) in January 2011. Devastated is an understatement, but I started the sorting thru the stuff in our home and it became like therapy. The more I cleared, the more I gave to a charity that was helping veterans, the more progress I saw I found my thoughts were clearing also.
The last 3 weeks I fell off the declutter train I was on, hell, I was the engineer! I started reading your book and I can feel the motivation welling up inside me again. I know I will finish this book before the day is done and I will back on that declutter train, this time I believe it will be an express train. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! ~ Sincerely, M.M.
Clutter clearing while recovering from a heartache
I'm in the middle of clutter clearing and find it again immensely satisfying letting go of the old and simplifying my life! I've found out that while recovering from a heartache, it is easier to let go of things/clothes/ books/CDs etc., and give myself a fresh new start, a new beginning. I never buy anything new while I'm going through any stuff in life, because it's the time for letting go. I don't want the old painful energy to mix up with the new. I know that when I'm finished clearing my stuff/my life, I'm ready to begin again, buy some new lovely clothes and vibrant colours, refreshed thoughts and outlook on life, and to rock´n´roll!
Clutter clearing and space clearing is a way of life, a way that works for me, thanks to your important books and knowledge that you share with us. Million thanks! ~ Johanna, Finland
String too small to save!
Two sisters had the unfortunate job of clearing out their recently deceased brother's house. He was known throughout the area to be a saver of string. Balls of every color and texture were stacked, rolled and stuffed everywhere. Down in the basement among the smaller balls was a can with a piece of tape labelling its contents... "STRING TOO SMALL TO SAVE"! Ha, ha. Hope you enjoy this little letter and thanks again for helping me gain a little more SPACE. ~ June, USA
