What’s Hiding in Your Stuff? Decluttering Your Writer’s Life (1)

Part 1: Ego Energy

Ever wonder why so many self-help books and articles suggest that you remove the clutter in your life? It’s not the things themselves that you need to remove, although there is something to that, rather it is primarily the energy of the excess belongings that interferes with a spirit-centered life. So, what’s hiding in your stuff? And why does all that stuff hurt, rather than help, you?

The first energy that hides in your belongings is ego energy.  When you buy a book because everyone else is reading it, or because it looks good on your coffee table, that’s ego energy.  When you have all the accoutrements for a hobby but you really don’t do anything with them, that could be ego. When you have all the latest electronic gadgets, and then the very latest gadgets as well, that could be ego. When you have so many clothes that you can’t store them, or too many books, or too many CDs—you get the picture.

Ego is the energy of insecurity, and it shows up as competition, pretending, proving something, or keeping up with the Joneses. Ego worries what other people think. Ego wants to be in the in group. Ego wants to be better than the folks next door. Ego suggests that you live as if money were no object, even if you don’t have enough.

We all operate in ego energy to some degree.  Ego is buying a designer handbag for a 4 digit price tag, or designer jeans with a three digit price tag. Ego is a room you never live in that is always clean while the rooms you do live in are swamped with clutter. Ego energy can be hiding in a house that appears spacious and well-decorated, but which has so many belongings in it that caring for them is onerous.

But what does all of this have to do with your writing?

More than you might think. Ego energy can be thought of as mortal energy—the vibration of being alive for a short period of time in a world where the resources are limited and competition is necessary to survive and reproduce.

Our creative selves, on the other hand, hold divine energy—the vibration of celestial abundance that knows we are children of beauty and magic and that we are supported in all the aspects of our being. To connect with this divine light, we must step away from the limitations of our ego selves.  We must rise above daily worries and jealousies, to the place where our best words are waiting for us.

Releasing clutter, therefore, brings that aspect of ourselves to the forefront. As we learn to live in clear spaces with minimal possessions, our lives are infused with buoyancy that lifts our hearts and calms our minds. In that kind of space, it’s easy to hear the voice of Spirit and to write the words that are waiting for us.