Summertime and serenity—close your eyes and you can almost hear the waves and feel the sun on your skin at the beach, or maybe you prefer the pleasant coolness of a backyard breeze as you relax on the deck or patio with a cold glass of iced tea.
Not so fast.
Truly enjoying summer, and feeling serene in the season of relaxation, depends on much more than seeking out your favorite havens or making the right plans.
In fact, the summertime things we love—the beach, backyard, walks in the woods, visiting air-conditioned museums, weekend trips, dining outdoors—don’t by themselves have the power to enrich your life or make your lifestyle feel satisfying.
Reaping the dividends of summer, or any season, depends on achieving a body, mind, spirit, and harmonious living environment balance that’s free of clutter.
When we talk about clutter, we’re most commonly referring to the home, but clutter infiltrates all aspects of our lives.
Peter Walsh, the Australian organized favored by Oprah, who has the new Australian TV series “Space Invaders,” says, “Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor, it’s anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living.”
For many of us, clutter in the home is simply the most visible hindrance to lifestyle harmony. We’re also dealing with clutter in connection with our health and wellness, our mind-body-spirit alignment, perhaps our finances, and also our relationships and emotional well-being.
When the experience of a summer beach day doesn’t live up to the anticipation, these are the reasons why; it’s not the traffic or parking, a crowded beach, too much sun or the logistics of finding food. Those are simply circumstances that trigger the discontent lurking in the underlying issues.
We have all seen those who are able to roll with almost any hiccup on their adventures without letting it spoil the mood or their enjoyment. That’s because their lives are closer to clutter-free side of the lifestyle alignment meter.
Living spaces are at the heart of all of our challenges. You might say our homes are the foundation upon which we can build contentment, or struggle with discontentment because of an often almost-paralyzing level of clutter. You simply can’t be clean in mind and spirit if your house is a cluttered mess.
Extending those thoughts to the bigger picture, and having clarity and control with regard to wellness, health, and all other key aspects of your life is the formula for an empowered lifestyle.
In a story on the joys of cleaning, Real Simple magazine quoted experts whose comments also describe the benefits of the KonMari Method of comprehensive tidying and decluttering.
Rebecca Beaton, Ph.D., founder and director of The Anxiety & Stress Management Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, told Real Simple, “Disorganization degrades a person’s sense of self-worth. If you feel like your space is cluttered and dirty, it’s difficult not to internalize that.”
Conversely, Karen Maezen Miller, a Zen Buddhist priest in Southern California, said in the story, “By turning toward what you would rather not face, you are making a profound, radical transformation in every aspect of your life. You begin to feel much more comfortable in your life, you feel competent, you feel fulfilled.”
Reaping the rewards from that day at the beach this summer, or the afternoon or evening spent on the patio, depends on whether or not you have embraced a journey to clear away clutter across all aspects of your life. If you’re ready to cleanse and declutter, or underway in the voyage, coming home after an adventure will feel like a sweet reward in itself.
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Encouraging and guiding these types of transformations is what I do as The Tidy Lifestyle Doctor, which combines my work as a Certified Gold KonMari Consultant, my role as a lifestyle coach, and my 30 years of experience as a Chiropractor, Reflexologist, Reiki Master Practitioner, and Acupuncturist.
Through KonMari, I guide clients in a lifestyle enhancement journey centered on keeping things that nourish the soul and discarding the rest, with decisions informed by the fundamental question, Does this spark joy? This often leads to working with them on broader “healing” for the body, mind, and soul as part of shepherding an emotional journey to a place of peace and clarity (with the benefit of a clutter-free living environment in which to enjoy it).
Email me at [email protected] or call (203) 772-8883 to discuss what’s misaligned in your home, your body, your mind, and your spirit and we’ll determine an action plan. Call me at 203-910-6185 for more information specifically about my healthcare practice.