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Behind closet doors

By on July 31, 2012
Living as we do in a materialistic society, we accumulate things. Fortunately for aesthetic purposes, we do not need to have everything we own be visible 24/7. The genius who invented closets deserves a lot of gratitude. While closets are a great way to store what we use without it being in our line of vision all the time, they do bring about their own kind of Feng Shui challenges.
 
Because closets hold things that aren’t needed all the time, they should be used for that purpose. That means that draping clothing all over your furniture, floor, and bed should be kept to a minimum and storing them in your closet should be done as much as possible. I realize explaining this to a teenager can seem like an exercise in futility, but it makes a difference to one’s state of mind to not have things that are not essential in the moment lying all over the place.

Take the last letter off the word ‘closet’ and you have the word ‘close’ – and that’s what you should do with a closet: close the door. Closets exist to hold things inside, and therefore their doors serve as an appropriate barrier between the inside and the outside. Leaving the closet door open on a regular basis can impact communication boundaries: there is the tendency to speak out with our inside voice and/or to withhold what actually should be said. Not only is it important that the door be kept closed when it’s not in use; the door should also function optimally; otherwise, it can still impact communication and the bridging of inner and outer worlds.

Closets will only hold as much as they will hold. It is not uncommon to see closets jam-packed with clothes in piles or on a chaotic conglomeration of hangers. Just like bookcases shouldn’t be filled to capacity, closets too are at their best when filled up to 70%, which leaves space between items for air (energy) to circulate. If you try to take out a shirt and several others start to fall out because they are so tightly packed in, then you definitely have too much in the space!

One very successful client of mine had the most organized closet I’d ever seen. She had a rule that she would release an item of clothing each time she acquired a new one, so this space was never filled beyond capacity. She always looked like a million bucks too and was pleased with everything that she owned.

So why do we keep clothes for years? Of course because we think we look good in them (or may again someday). While that may be true, do we look as good as we did when we got the items, or are we looking at ourselves through an older lens of perception? Because clothes relate to how we present ourselves in the outer world, they are closely linked to self-image and therefore to self esteem. If we don’t update our self-image and continue to relate to ourselves as we once were, we might be selling ourselves short by failing to recognize how we have changed. Whether or not we think we are looking/being/feeling as good as we once did, not acknowledging the current reality will do little to improve matters. By all means keep some clothes that still look good – but be mindful as to whether you are trying to hold on to a time when those clothes were new. We can actually have a more fulfilling experience of having a ‘new’ experience that’s truly new – but of course need to be mindful of not trying to have a present-time experience only through clothes shopping, or of using clothes as an inappropriate crutch for self esteem.

If your closets aren’t completely overloaded, you could make the space even more appealing by having something on the walls. Why not have an attractive framed piece of art or poster in there (or, if it’s a small closet, even a framed card)? Making space to create a framed statement can help turn the closet from a purely utilitarian room into a space that is more aesthetically attractive. I don’t suggest photographs of family members, friends, or lovers in there, as they can challenge the openness of the relationship, but art or other attractive displays that do not inhibit the practical use of the space and which add to its appeal are an absolute bonus. Attractive bowls or dishes to hold jewelry or perfumes can also fuse some elegance with practicality.

Other hints:
– aim to have all hangers be the same cut / style so that they help clothes hang more uniformly create zones according to the category of clothing
– an appropriately-sized chest of drawers or cabinet inside the closet can be an attractive and practical way to provide more storage options

May your inner and outer worlds be seamlessly bridged.

Mark Ainley is a Contemporary Feng Shui Consultant and Emotional Stress Consultant living in Vancouver. A former 5-year resident of Tokyo, Mark consults with clients internationally to help them design living and work spaces in alignment with their goals. He also provides consulting in emotional stress management, as well as in the connection between facial structure and innate behavioural and communication patterns. He can be reached through his website: www.markainley.com

About Mark Ainley

Mark Ainley is a Contemporary Feng Shui Consultant and Emotional Stress Consultant living in Vancouver. A former 5-year resident of Tokyo, Mark consults with clients internationally to help them design living and work spaces in alignment with their goals. He also provides consulting in emotional stress management, as well as in the connection between facial structure and innate behavioural and communication patterns. He can be reached through his website: www.senseofspace.com and www.markainley.com.