Clearing Out Your Basement: Nashville style

Posted by Tisha Morris on May 10, 2010

You don’t have to drive very far in Nashville to see just how much STUFF we have. Like a mile-long yard sale, thousands of Nashville yards have been displaying the trash and treasures that have been stored away mostly in our basements. As a result of last week’s flood, the innards of Nashville basements have been thrown up as if the entire city just went through a bad detox.

And, in fact, the city and its inhabitants are going through a massive clearing.

In my book, 27 Things to Feng Shui Your Home, Number 4 is “Clean Out Your Basement.  I mention that the basement is symbolic of our subconscious mind, specifically those things that we have suppressed. If you want to know what you’re storing in your subconscious mind, then take a look at your basement. Or, in the case with Nashvillians, take a look at your yard. As I drive around and see the remnants of what people are throwing out, I notice a lot of people are getting rid of junk. Not good stuff that was flood-damaged (although there is plenty of that as well), but junk and clutter that had been stored in the basement for years, perhaps even from previous owners.

Nashvillians are cleaning out their basements, involuntarily and voluntarily. This is allowing for each of us to clear out the sludge, the trauma, the repressed emotions, and stagnant energy that has been stored in our basements and in our subconscious mind and body. This is also true for the city of Nashville as everything is connected. What the Planet experiences, so do countries, states, cities, neighborhoods and individuals on some level. And so as each Nashvillian clears their stuff, it is also benefitting the city, state, country and Planet.

Even many in Nashville who did not sustain flood damage are becoming inspired to clear out their STUFF. I have heard so many people, as they see the amount of stuff laid out, realize how little we really need and how so much stuff can just be a burden. The awareness of the weight (literally and figuratively) is at an all time high in Nashville and as the pictures float around the internet, it is affecting and inspiring people all over to clear out stuff.

Ultimately, it’s all about balance. Each of our homes, like our body, needs to maintain a healthy energetic balance. When our body is unbalanced we undergo illness or disease. This is similar to the Planet undergoing natural disasters to find balance. And when our home becomes stagnant with stuff, we must purge it. In my article The Art of Detaching From Our Stuff, I mention how our addiction to stuff began and how to get past it.

You can also read more and implement your own plan to clear out stuff in my book, 27 Things to Feng Shui Your Home, where I talk about the first step to feng shu-ing your home is to clear out clutter.

The benefits of each individual who has had to clear out their stuff from the flood will reap the benefits in the years ahead as if undergoing a major detox program. And the city of Nashville as I have mentioned in previous articles will certainly rise from this flood to new heights and be an example for all cities in the future to come.