Yesterday I had an appointment with a financial advisor about life insurance. As I grabbed a yellow pad to take notes, I noticed that the pad had some kind of brown gunk on it. I tasted it, and it was sweet. I looked up at the cupboard above the pad and saw that sticky thick brown liquid was dripping down from the top shelf. There was even brown syrup on the ceiling above the top shelf. All the piles of papers around my phone had brown syrup on them, too. When I got on a stool to investigate the source of the sticky mess, I found that a can of maple syrup had exploded on the top shelf. Something I’d never seen before. And it was everywhere—on the floor, on the rug, even on my cat’s feet. I put down some paper towels and decided to tackle the big clean up later. I wasn’t enthusiastic at all. But then my financial advisor said, “Well, you must be having a sweet day.”

Ah—the perfect turnaround thought. I had been praying for the motivation to do some serious decluttering. And I had meant to get started in January, but never got around to it. The task felt too big. But now I had no choice. My exploding maple syrup can provided me with a sweet and insistent invitation to declutter one small area. There was no getting around it. So I set to work. And within a couple hours, I had a lovely clean marble surface around my kitchen phone and a completely organized and cleaned up cupboard. Now the space uplifts me every time I walk past.

And then the realization hit me. I didn’t have to declutter more than a small area of my home at any given time. Just a little at a time. And then—the real challenge—I just had to keep those small areas decluttered. Kind of like keeping off the pounds you’ve lost.

So today I cleaned off another small space—a table in my bedroom that I use as an altar. But instead of putting all my sacred and meaningful objects on it (which just makes it look cluttered), I just put a few—Ganesh, Kwan Yin, a picture of Bruno Groening, a candle, and some flowers. It’s simple and beautiful, and gives me such pleasure.

One small surface at a time. Then maintain it. I can do this.

Earlier this year, I was invited to a potluck dinner and tango dancing at the home of one of the tango dancers in our community. When I got to this lovely home, I immediately wanted to know where the dancing was going to take place. Our dance floor for the evening turned out to be right off the kitchen, in what was obviously meant to be a formal dining room. The room had shiny hardwood floors and was completely bare of furniture. Imagine that! A room in one’s own home could be transformed into a dance floor. Something I’d never even considered. Afterwards, I began to look at my home differently, wondering whether I could transform one of the rooms in my house into a functional dance space.

About this same time, I went for a private Argentine tango lesson with Javier Rochwerger from Buenos Aires. Many of us (from our tango community) take private lessons with Javier whenever he’s in town. It’s far easier than going to Buenos Aires, though that’s certainly on my list. Alive with my newfound inspiration to create a dance floor in my own home, I told Javier about it. He replied, “Now, you’ve become a real tango dancer. I don’t know of a single person who is serious about tango who has an actual living room with furniture in it. Everyone has a dance floor, no matter how large or small.” Wow, again. Unbeknownst to me, converting one’s living room into a dance floor isn’t a new concept. It happens in Denver, Japan, Buenos Aires, and even Portland, Maine. And it appears that it’s a spontaneous manifestation that arises for those of us for whom tango has taken a particularly strong hold.

And so the transformation of my living room started. I first cleared out all the furniture and moved it to other locations throughout the house, finding a new spot for my piano and some other furnishings. Then I asked a friend with a truck to help me bring two upholstered chairs, a couch, a rug, and many throw pillows to a young married couple who were thrilled with this gift. I plan to mirror a couple of walls later this summer (after I finish a bathroom renovation).

To properly “christen” my tango floor, I invited our tango community to a potluck supper the day after the full lunar eclipse in June. I had asked our local tango band Tango Mucha Labia to play. The weather was lovely, candles were lit throughout the living room, and the floor was ready. Before the band played, I asked all the dancers to create a circle around the room. Then I told them how their presence and the presence of the live musicians were key to the christening of my dance floor, a floor that, from a feng shui standpoint, is in the absolute center of my home. In a room that has been used only about once a year for the past 30 years, I proclaimed that the act of reclaiming my living room as a dance floor was also about reclaiming the center of my life.

Then band began to play and Mike, the guitarist (who also has a PhD in math), said, “Hostess dance!” And there I was, in the center of my own home, on my own dance floor, on a moonlit night, with one leader after another taking me into his arms and whirling and twirling me around and around in the blissful joy that is tango.

A mere year before I had been terrified to go to the tango practices alone with neither a partner nor dance skills—in an arena where none of my previous accomplishments were enough currency to even get a leader to dance with me! Medical school was easier. At least it was a group activity. But because I had been willing to embrace it with a “beginner’s mind,” I was now awash in the sheer joy of the give and take of the dance, fully present and heart to heart with another dancer—for three intoxicating minutes. My daughters tried it, too, and thought it was like a trip to Never Never Land. No kidding.

But it doesn’t end there. My daughter and I also did a yoga class in the same room four days later. And so, little by little, I am moving out of old living patterns about what one “should” have in a room and, instead, asking myself exactly what I want to be doing with the space I have. A revelation.

As I write this, I’m sitting in an apartment addition to my house that was added on in 1983, the year that I gave birth to my second daughter, who is now 28. Hence I am living with obsolete lighting and dingy paint colors, including woodwork that needs to be brightened up. Luckily, there’s a very good woodstove that keeps me cozy in the winter chill, and the rugs and furniture are nice. I’ve also managed to get my high definition television hooked up. It’s one of the very first models on the market so it, too, is out-of-date. It’s huge and heavy, but it works. 

In the meantime, over at the main part of the house, the family room, master bedroom, and bath are all undergoing renovation. It’s down to the studs. Earlier this fall, even the roof came off! It looked like the house had been bombed. Saturn (growth through restriction and limitation) is transiting through the 4th house of the astrologic chart (home and roots). That’s the macrocosmic view. But back here at home, all the things that were in those rooms are piled in closets and boxes in the basement and garage. 

What that means is that when I move back in, I’m going to have to unload a whole heap of stuff. Because I want the new space to be organized and functional from here on out, I am turning to the work of my friend and colleague Terah Kathryn Collins, author of many books on feng shui and also the founder of the Western School of Feng Shui.

Terah reminds us that our things “talk to us” energetically. Do you have furniture that you’ve inherited from a parent that is dark, old, and depressing, but you keep it because it’s been in the family forever? Do you like what it’s saying to you? Listen closely. One of my friends had an old dining room set that constantly reminded her of the family dinners she had as a child when everyone yelled at each other. She realized that keeping it and eating her meals there was not very nourishing. All the old vibes and conflict seemed to live on in that table. Another friend of mine gave away nearly all of her old clothing and jewelry after her husband died. She was in her 40’s then and felt the need to shed the trappings associated with a difficult time in her life.

How do you know what to hold on to and when it’s time to let go? Terah suggests when looking at an item, whether furniture, a book, or clothing, ask yourself the following questions: 

1. Do I love it? If not, don’t keep it!
2. Do I need it?
3. Does it reflect who I am now in my life and who I want to be in the future?
4. Does it act as an environmental affirmation for me? For example, do I feel uplifted and energized when I look at it? Or does it make me feel sad and depressed?
5. What positive or negative emotions do I associate with it?
6. Does it need to be fixed or repaired, and if so, am I willing to do so?
7. If I were to move tomorrow, would I take it with me?

Letting go is not easy. We tend to cling to the old. But few things are as therapeutic as creating new, clear space—even if it’s just in your sock drawer.

I suggest that you copy the list above and keep it handy to help you decide what to keep and what to throw away. Better yet, get a friend or professional organizer to assist you and keep you on track. You’ll be so glad that you did.

I’ve been renovating my home for a number of months. I moved out of my main living space to a 600 square foot apartment that’s attached to my house. It has everything you need in a tiny footprint, and I’ve gotten used to living with less. In fact, I really liked it. As it became time to move back into my house, I realized that I had been living with a lot of stuff and that piles of it had accumulated in different corners of the house.

You know how it is. At first you see it, but after a while it’s just part of the background. Then something causes you to see it with fresh eyes—perhaps an upcoming visit from your obsessive-compulsive mother-in-law—and you go into a panic. If you’re like a lot of people, you need a plan before you can even begin. If you don’t have a plan, you’re likely to feel overwhelmed and tired before you’ve even done anything.

If you don’t know what I mean, take a second to look under your kitchen sink. You’ll be shaking your head, too, wondering how it’s possible that you’ve held onto decrepit looking cleaning products longer than some of your favorite outfits.

You may not know that there’s a connection between good Feng Shui design and de-cluttering. Feng Shui is the placement of furniture and belongings in a way that supports your lifestyle. Sometimes it supports the life you’re trying to move towards as well. For example, you can change things to welcome more romance, strengthen your finances, improve your health—you name it.

I’ve been a fan of Feng Shui for many years and enjoy getting my home just so. Two of my favorite Feng Shui authors are Terah Kathryn Collins, who wrote The Western Guide to Feng Shui, and Karen Kingston, who wrote Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui is highly motivational, and it’s fun. One thing you learn is that clutter has no place to hide in Feng Shui. Even crammed in a closet, the chi or life’s energy that exists all around you and in your home can get stuck, causing areas of your life to stagnate. If a Feng Shui expert visits your house, he or she can tell you what areas of your life are likely to be stagnant and problematic just by looking around your house.

So I’m no stranger to de-cluttering and I know it has benefits. My ritual usually involves releasing things I want to banish from my life, including relationships, possessions, and cluttered thoughts, which no longer serve. But with the renovation deadline at hand, I needed a little help, a little inspiration, to get my home organized for the next phase.

I found that help by way of the Fly Lady (Marla Cilley) at http://www.flylady.net/. I got this song on her Web site, and it’s a great inspiration. I’ve loved her advice about a shiny sink being a good place to end each day and set the stage for the next! Check this story out on her Web site.

Marla’s advice (and de-cluttering system) is great for anytime, but especially for spring. There’s something about this time of year that makes us want to start fresh, with a clean slate. (I learned a most fascinating tidbit about this today. A massage therapist colleague, who does colonics, said she can always tell it’s spring—the number of people who schedule colonics increases dramatically. Happens every year. Talk about deep cleaning.) It doesn’t matter where you start, whether inside your body or outside—they’re related. But I recommend that you chose one area and spend just 15 minutes on it.

Marla points out that most of us who accumulate clutter are actually perfectionists. We don’t get to the cleaning that needs to be done because we don’t have enough time to do it “perfectionly.” So, we don’t do it at all! The answer is baby steps. Just 15 minutes per day. And a shiny sink. This approach is contagious. Neatness and a shiny sink breed more neatness and more shiny surfaces over time. The Fly Lady system for creating order works even if you have young children. Peace eventually replaces the stress of clutter as you get systems in place that really work. Don’t get discouraged.

If the spring’s energy isn’t enough to motivate you, know that clearing your clutter can also save you money, lower your stress level, and may even help you lose weight! People who live in messy spaces end up going to the store to replace something that’s not used up, but rather lost in their own home. When I was de-cluttering my bathroom, I found eight new toothbrushes and four packages of cotton balls I didn’t know I had.

Your living space is a reflection of your inner self. If you’re living in clutter and chaos, don’t be surprised if you have trouble making decisions, have more aches and pains, and are more lethargic than usual. To be healthy, that chi has to circulate, and when it doesn’t circulate freely in your home or in your body—your health can suffer. You become stagnant and stuck.

So clear a little clutter. Just one space that would make your life easier. Then write me and tell me if you notice any changes in your physical body, like weight loss or more energy. I’d also like to know how making changes in your environment contributes to healthier emotions and greater mental clarity. Of course there’s also the fact that when you remove clutter, you allow exciting, new, fresh things to come into your life automatically! Very exciting stuff. Watch for this to happen. It’s amazing.