Design for Life: Making Space and Clearing Clutter

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Photo By Robert Reck

"Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes that make them useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there."

—Sixth century B.C., Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching (Wildwood House, 1991), translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English

I dreamt the other night that a friend told me she’d found some wonderful vases to put in her home. They were six feet high and four feet across, voluptuously shaped like Ming vases. The vessels’ entire purpose was to remain empty, and they were highly treasured.

I awoke knowing exactly what the dream meant: I need more space in my life. That doesn’t mean I need to add a room or push people away. It means I need more unstructured time, less junk, more peace. I suspect you know what I mean.

In traditional Chinese terms, we tend to be a yang culture: action oriented, mental, hard rather than soft. We think more of objects than of the space around them, more of being in motion than of being still and reflective. When we want something, most of us set goals, make lists, and work hard to make it happen. But we also need yin qualities in our lives: reflection, quiet, softness, receptivity. We can restore our balance by learning to allow space for things to happen rather than always forging ahead toward them.

Physical and mental clutter

The most obvious way to make space is to clear clutter. Get rid of things that take up space but don’t give much in return. Clutter drags us down and makes it hard to do what we want to do. In a modern rendition of Lao Tsu’s verse, feng shui practitioner Nathalie Johnson says, “It’s the space on top of your desk that makes it useful, not the piles of paper.”

Clutter ties us to past activities, unfinished projects, and unproductive mental chatter; it makes us feel behind. Clearing clutter makes room for new activities and inspirations. If you want to engage in a creative project, try clearing out clutter to make room in your mind. My friend Michael burned a duffel bag full of his old poetry to get past writer’s block.

Last Saturday, when I had about twenty minutes to spare, I went through my closet and pulled out everything I don’t love or wear very often. The results were both tangible and intangible: It’s easier to find things, my clothes aren’t mashed and wrinkled, and whenever I walk past the closet, I could swear I feel a new sense of peace and happiness radiating from it.

Feng shui master Nancilee Wydra offers this simple idea for busy people: Each day, set your kitchen timer for just ten minutes, choose one area to focus on, clear out what you don’t need, and organize the rest. You’ll hardly notice a dent in your schedule, but you’ll be amazed by what you accomplish in a week, a month, a year.