Our lives are comprised of events and experiences. Memories are made along the way. All of it is energy. When we think about people, places, and things, we reawaken the energy from that time. Some of it is good, some of it not-so-good. Whatever the case, we often have objects associated with those events and memories. Things like furniture or pictures. A friend of mine kept a tall wardrobe-type cabinet that her father made for over sixty years. Other pieces of furniture she had were from other family members, like her grandmother’s chest of drawers or her uncle’s dining table. Some of those things went to other family members when she moved to carry on the legacy. No matter what, though, she would never go anywhere without the cabinet her father made for her. It was beautiful to see how much she loved her father. At the same time, it made me sad because I saw that it no longer generated the energy of excitement and pride in her father’s work but had become a shrine to him after his passing.

This is not a recommendation to toss everything. It’s a suggestion to look at what you’ve chosen to keep, why you have decided to keep it, and what it really means to you. People often say I’m keeping it for sentimental reasons. It’s a reminder of the good times we shared. The truth is, you can remind yourself of the good times without a physical representation of it. We accumulate too much stuff. We can’t let go of things because they have meaning, but does it? Things only have meaning if we give them meaning. A chair is just a chair, then it becomes grandma’s chair, then it becomes grandma’s chair, where I rocked my babies to sleep. Ultimately, it’s a chair. The value of it is bestowed by us.

Things hold energy, which is why when you go into older homes, you feel that comfortable, homey energy, and when you go into newer modern homes, it feels sterile. It hasn’t had a chance to accumulate energy from people living there. Things in the homes absorb that energy, and it doesn’t change unless the atmosphere around that object changes. If things stay the same, the energy in that object will remain the same and eventually stagnate. If you walk into an antique store, feel the energy. I often feel like I’m slogging through mud. So many objects in one place holding the stagnant energy of where they came from. You don’t want this kind of energy in your home.

From the perspective of Feng Shui, the art of placing things in your home to create the best energy environment, having stagnant energy is not a good idea. Energy should always flow through the house to keep the energy fresh for everyone and everything there. When we hang onto things for sentimental reasons or because we have regrets associated with those things, we trap stagnant energy in those objects. Then, we make it worse by keeping those objects close to us, creating more stagnant energy in our environment. Again, I’m not telling anyone to chuck it all out. The things that bring us joy every time we look at them should be kept if we have the space for them.

The things that incite sadness, regret, or longing due to loss are the things we need to release. It is not in our best interest to have or create that energy frequency around us. That will drag down the vibration that we work hard to raise. Think of it as you’re about to hang glide above the beach on a beautiful day, but you can’t take off running to gain momentum because you have a weight around your ankle. The energy that surrounds you should be things you value. Things that give you hope and joy and make you feel secure.

A friend keeps things as reminders of who she “used to be.” She views them as a record of her past activities, hopes, and dreams. She has boxes of half-finished projects, tools, and supplies of things she will never do again. She keeps saying she will do something with them but hasn’t. In the meantime, she’s surrounded by the energy of the past and leaving no room for what could come to her in the future.

As a side note, the friend with her father’s cabinet no longer has it. She is an older lady in her 80s who has dementia. She lives in a care home and had to be moved into the locked section of the facility to prevent her and residents like her from wandering away. The last time I saw her, I didn’t ask her about the cabinet, as she couldn’t speak by then. She shook her head when I pointed at pictures of her much-beloved sister and asked if she remembered who it was. She looked at the photo fondly, so I knew that even if her brain couldn’t make the connection. Her energy system did. I later realized that it was also what allowed her to recognize me.

Release objects of sentimentality, regrets, and longing if you can. Make room for things that will help you build your best life. Create new memories with laughter, love, and joy. These are what make life worth living.