Dear Karen,

It's a pleasure to communicate to you, Karen. I am moved by your books. I have searched however not only in your books but other Feng Shui and clutter clearing books about how an artist can apply Feng Shui and clearing techniques. My desired art media is found objects, fabric, and any material I can get my hands on: wire, beads, foam, string, paint. Its an infinite set. So this leads to complications when I'm expelling clutter from my home. "I might need this someday", the most common excuse for hoarding, is a literal notion for me as I really do use many of the things around me for my art. At the same time I am a single working mother and my time for artmaking has drastically been reduced to almost no time at all. I love making art though and it is well received so I know it is my path. I have a show lined up for the end of the year so I will make it work somehow, joyfully I might add. I'm concerned for the effects to my Bagua map and the overall condition of order in my home because of these material attachments. I'm so interested in what you may suggest that I'm feeling more hopeful already just by writing this letter to you.

PS. The option of having a studio outside of the home is out of the cards for awhile as I'm striving to get out of "survival mode." I get this mindset could be something to be addressed too; this "survival mode".

I appreciate your time,

Sincerely Yours
- KT in Texas

Karen's reply:

I get hundreds of emails a week from people, asking all manner of questions. Something I have consistently noticed is that people who have a lot of clutter generally use a lot of words to express themselves and tend to write in very long paragraphs, as if they are not taking a pause to breathe (which is what the energy of their home feels like too).

As you may have realized, your email falls into this category, so you the chances are you have some fairly serious clutter clearing to do here.

I suggest you review how many works of art you have actually produced lately from your stash of objects, and also reflect on the following article that was published in the New Scientist, UK on 15 Nov 2003 in the UK. The second paragraph gives very interesting insights into our hoarding urges:

Steven Anderson of the University of Iowa and his team studied a group of pathological collectors. They found that damage to the frontal lobes of the brain impaired judgement and caused emotional disturbances. But only when the injury extended to the right mesial prefrontal cortex, did the patients develop a serious collecting habit too, Anderson told the meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Now Orleans this week.

Previous work in rodents shows that more primitive subcortical brain regions produce the drive to collect food or useless objects. No matter how much they have stashed away, animals will just go on collecting.
We have the same basic drive, says Anderson. But the right mesial prefrontal cortex can normally discriminate between something of use and something that’s useless, and keeps the drive in check. When it is damaged, the more primitive collecting drive comes to the fore.

I really appreciated your book. It has made a big difference in my life. However, I have difficulty in some areas more than others. For instance I have kept almost everything that my 3 children have ever made, drawn, etc. and find I have difficulty giving away all that much of the clothing they have had. My thoughts are for instance, "What if I or they will want to look at all their drawings?" when we are old/older!!!"

Something tells me I am not rational in this. Have you any ideas how I can alter my thinking so as to be free from all this - I guess - clutter?

- W.J., Sweden

Karen's reply:

Speaking as one who has survived totally emotionally unscathed without retaining any of the trappings of my childhood whatsoever, I can assure you that it's perfectly OK to let these things go. Rather than planning to dwell in the nostalgia of years gone by it is far more beneficial for you and your children to deeply appreciate each other as you are. Live in the present moment rather than the past.

If this doesn't convince you then I have another suggestion to wean you off this hoarding tendency. I'm going to reiterate the advice in my book:

If you have particularly fond attachments to items that date back to your tender childhood years, here's something you can do that many people have found very liberating - photograph them for posterity and then let them go. The photos will retain those heart-warming images forever and can be stored in a fraction of the space the items themselves would take up.

In your case I would refine this further and suggest that you photograph only the best and simply dump the rest. Otherwise you will end up with a huge album of photos you won't know what to do with. I'd say that 10 or 20 photos is more than enough for you to capture the flavour of those times.

See also my comments about journals earlier on this page. Artwork and journalling are a very similar process.

Dear Karen,

I loved both your books and I am changing my life with them. "Clearing" is so empowering!

Quick question: What about journals one has written over the years? I have just about cleared out everything I own that was clutter, but I don't think I could do it to the journals.

- Kiri Kirihatz

Karen's reply:

To appreciate my answer, first let me say that I believe journal writing is a valuable process. It allows you to get a better focus on what is happening in your life. However, it is usually what is out of balance in a person that causes them to feel the need to write a journal.

One way you can understand this is to think about when two people who like each other spend time together. They will chatter away until the energy between them is balanced. After that they can experience that magical companionable silence of dear friends, and this is possible because there is nothing more that needs to be said. They are in balance.

My best advice about journals is therefore to write them, extract the wisdoms, and let the rest go. Most people, if they are honest, will find that the majority of what they write consists of processing their 'stuff' (mental, emotional and spiritual clutter) to allow them to get to the essence of what they need to learn at that time.

The art of successful living is to learn from our experiences and move on. If you find yourself needing to keep re-reading journals to find out where you've been, it means you aren't getting to the essence of the experience first time round and then life will need to throw it up again in a different form for you to have another go.

Always write with the intention of getting to the core essence of the matter and getting to a place of knowing that goes beyond words (for those who have taken my Advanced Space Clearing workshop, I am talking here about aspiring to Level 3). When you do this, you will no longer feel the need to keep the writings that got you there.

Dear Karen,

I've recently become interested in genealogy, particularly researching my father's family, since I am the only living descendant. All these people died when I was very young, so I hardly knew them, and when I find a letter or newspaper article or other information about them it fills a 'missing part' of me in some way that's hard to explain.

Because of this, I've started collecting pictures and personal writings of some of my living relatives. Although I don't know if it would mean the same as it does to me, I want my children and grandchildren to have the opportunity to experience the pleasure (if it is for them) of knowing something about their families. Since I am just starting major-league clutter clearing at the same time I'm starting to collect these items (which I do love - at least for now), my thought is to follow what appears to be your advice in other responses - keep them organized and tidy and review them periodically to see if they still have the same meaning.

Any advice?

- Linda Baugh, USA

Karen's reply:

Current projects do not count as clutter, especially projects you feel so strongly about and that cause this wonderful energy 'click' you describe when you find new information. I wholeheartedly encourage you continue and, as you say, keep the items organized and tidy and review them periodically. You're definitely on the right track here.