Winter is upon us. For many, the requisite seasonal decorating frenzy of the holidays inspires efforts to declutter, and ignites a spark to pare down an abundance of possessions.

Lockdowns created a focus on tidying and spaciousness.

The Covid-19 quarantines of the early 2020s led to a shift in perspectives regarding personal living spaces. Even in the current post-pandemic environment, people are spending increased amounts of time working and engaging in personal activities at home.

Wintertime means more time indoors, further highlighting those piles of accumulated possessions. But shorter days also provide a perfect time to find and discard unnecessary objects found in drawers, closets, rooms, and garages.

People used to postpone this dreaded chore until retirement or after their children moved out, which is when downsizing typically becomes more important. But since the pandemic, many have shifted their focus from downsizing or relocating to a smaller residence to "rightsizing" in their current home. Even Marie Kondo, that well-known geisha of good taste, has shifted her perspective on organizing households.

Goddess of neat changes her tune

The decluttering craze found a champion in Marie Kondo, the litter liberator. Her emergence on the scene coincided with the lockdowns, creating a literal decluttering craze. It seemed everyone wanted to conquer their clutter, binging on her series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, spurred on by her best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

Now a young mother, Kondo has modified her original zest for orderliness. In a recent NPR interview, Kondo discussed her latest book, Letter From Japan. It seems the reality of living with small children now informs her worldview. Kondo acknowledges that “curating” possessions is more important than tossing them. This “revelation” about how to tame possessions parallels the history of human acquisition itself – and the ancient art of feng shui.

Roots of clutter

Accumulating objects and easing excess date to the dawn of civilization.

In fact, the Western history of the word clutter traces back to the 1400s and is related to the word, clot – loosely meaning “collected in heaps, crowded together in disorder, to litter or to crowd a place by a disorderly mass of things.” Yuk.

Improbably, the word signifying correcting this condition – the verb decluttering – didn’t exist until 1950, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Yet, in the half-century since decluttering’s appearance, experts on the how, why, and when to clear our untidiness abound. There are even articles in juried scientific publications proving that if we live in a mess, we may need a shrink to unshackle ourselves from the despondency it creates.

Feng shui precedes Kondo

Predating all the contemporary tidiness fuss, the medieval cluttered hovels or even 1950s Mid-Century Modern architecture and design, was the Chinese practice of feng shui, an ancient art that is possibly the first system developed to create joy and promote wellbeing by tending to our surroundings.

Dating back approximately 3,500 years, feng shui developed alongside early societies that were moving from hunter gathering to farming and domesticating animals. In other words, no longer nomads, these folks settled down, built permanent homes, cities, and societies, and began accumulating stuff.

The term feng shui itself translates as “wind-water,” signifying its earliest practice to site a safe place for dwellings with a main purpose to create abodes where families could flourish.

As time progressed, the movement morphed into a tradition to help locate important buildings, palaces, and monuments, focusing on elements in both natural and man-made environments.

Feng shui’s three Asian concepts

At the heart of feng shui is the concept of qi (pronounced chi) referring to “a complex natural force generated by a combination of both real and abstract sources including sunlight, cosmic influences, color vibrations, the movement and quality of the air around us, the flow of water, the nature of our thoughts and emotions, the form of objects, and more.” Most critically, and completely in line with Kondo’s concepts, qi influences how a place feels, how you feel in it, and if you can circulate in the space harmoniously.

The next part of the practice concerns yin and yang, terms more familiar to Western ears, meaning to create a balance, such as between light and shade or movement and stillness. Too much of one or the other causes disruption and therefore lack of harmony or joy.

Finally, there are “The Five Elements” of feng shui. The elements are wood, associated with growth, vitality and creativity; fire, embodying passion, energy and transformation; earth, symbolizing stability, grounding and nourishment; metal, representing structure, clarity and precision; and water, for flow, intuition and calm. Though a bit esoteric, the presence of each element in the home and surroundings, placed according to ancient precepts, contributes to serenity, energy, productiveness, and overall health and wellbeing.

Feng shui has been applied to businesses, gardens, public spaces, and homes. Practitioners work with concepts such as natural light, views, colors, plants, images, water and fire features, materials such as wood, steel, stone, and more. Homeowners who employ feng shui create vivid yet calming spaces. Objects are curated according to ancient natural principals. Unlike merely decluttering, there is an aura of magic and the mystical in this practice.

Scientific verification

A Psychology Today article lists five reasons to pare down “disorderly masses,” citing scientific documentation about how and why this creates a sense of wellbeing. Experts maintain that living in clutter contributes to low subjective wellbeing, unhealthier eating, poorer mental health, less efficient visual processing, and less efficient thinking.

The conclusions seem irrefutable: The advantages of streamlining outweigh simple housekeeping by elevating happiness at home and work, while also benefiting physical health and cognitive abilities. As with the ancient Chinese beliefs, decluttering allows one to flourish.

This doesn’t mean creating totally sterile, overly Zen environments, devoid of personal touches. Thoughtfully curated collections can also define and please.