As we embark upon this new year, while it is a time for that new diet as we recover from the binges of the holidays to shed the unwanted pounds they have brought, a time to embrace our new year's resolutions affirming our ideals and aspirations for a better future, it is also a time to let go of the old energies which may be lingering in our homes to make way for the new. The start of a new year presents an opportunity to turn our attention to the energetic remanants lingering from the past, for a fresh start of the new year.

Listed here are some simple space clearing tips that anyone can use to clear our spaces of the vibrational imprints of the past. Although these tips are by no means comprehensive, they will provide a quick and easy way to align the energies of your environment with your intentions for the new year. These 6 C's of Space Clearing will empower you to sweep out the old and make way for the new in your environment.

1. Clutter: To our subconscious mind, clutter triggers images of stagnation, stuck energy and places where Life doesn't move. It usually represents the things we are resisting and where we don't want to put our attention. Simply put: clean out the clutter. Piles of laundry, papers, boxes, mail...whatever it is, when we see clutter, our mind equates it with chaos and dead energy. So make a point to dive into your clutter like a heat seeking missile. Go straight for it, put it away, find a home for it, make decisions about it, address it! Once you move that dead energy in your home, you will be surprised at how it moves in your life!

2. Corners: Keep them especially free of clutter as corners are the places where the Life energy or Ch'i of our environment comes to a stop like traffic at a four way stop sign. Put things in your corners which move energy: a fountain, wind chimes, or even a plant will keep the energy moving and flowing instead of stagnating. Use some common sense and your intuition. Trust how it makes you feel. There are many rule books out there, but ultimately, if you feel more harmony, peace and joy when you look at that space, you will usually be on the right track. An altar is usually a nice way to redirect the dead energies of a corner. Put things in the corners of your home or office with intention because these are special energy spots in the house.

3. Closets: Clean them out! They are the bowels of our homes and offices, the storage bins for old, dead energy. If you don't use it, loose it! Keep your closets clean, neat, and free of unwanted, old, unused items. Yes, you looked marvelous in that dress you've been holding onto for the last five years, and one day you'll loose that extra 10 pounds and will fit in it again, but for now, give it to a friend, or family member who can use it. When you loose that weight, you'll owe it to yourself to buy a new dress! Don't allow your closets to become black holes, or they will reflect that energy.

4. Ceremony: This is sadly lacking in our modern society. Where we do have any kind of ceremony it is usually around a sporting event, food, or commerce. Ceremony is a time when we honor life, the seasons, and those aspects of living beyond the physical. It brings us in touch with the worlds beyond our everyday, and reminds us of a vastness of Life beyond our immediate attention. Make time for ceremony in your life and your home and you will open a doorway into another dimension beyond this one allowing fresh new ideas, inspiration and energies to flow into your home.

It could be a simple ceremony like a ribbon-cutting ceremony to initiate the new energies of your place, or popping of the champagne cork to signify the bringing in of the New Year. Whatever the ceremony, when you do it with intention and awareness that ceremony heralds in the energies of your intention in a much more profound manner than when we simply and perfunctorily go perform the same act. Even the simple ceremony of smudging a new dwelling can be quite profound when done with an awareness of the intention. Burning a candle each night and ceremonially letting the problems and worries of the day burn in the fire, is a simple ceremony and one which keeps the energies of your home clean and clear of the burdens of the day. Ceremonies to acknowledge and honor the ancestors of the past, through music, song or dance, is another way in which ceremony helps to keep the energies of your space clear and clean. Keep ceremonies simple and heartfelt and they will do wonders to keep the energies of your space aligned with higher dimensions and energies.

5. Consciousness: The power of this cannot be overstated in my experience. Where we put our consciousness, we put our life energy. So find the aspects of your home or office where you have vacated your consciousness, those closets, corners, and dead zones that you pretend are not there, or wish weren't. For some people, it could be a room where their dead parents used to live, or where the kids used to live before they went off to school, or the pile of paper in the office that calls out for help, but we pretend isn't there. Put your consciousness into that space, with intention, and yes, even ceremony, and notice the MAGIC that happens when you do! Energy flows where attention goes!

6. Cycles: There is a rhythm to Life, a time for growth, and a time for death. Cycles are important to observe: moon cycles are often used for planting, cutting hair, beginning new projects. Similarly, observing the cycles of the sun of day and night, being more active during the daylight hours, and winding down in the evening when there is less energy available. As well there are the larger seasonal cycles, solstices, equinoxes, and the times in between them (what the Celts called the cross quarter days.) When we are in tune with and align consciously with these cycles of nature, the rhythm of Life, we find more harmony and balance in our lives.

The season of Winter is a natural time to go inside--hibernate in the cave like the bear--reflect, pull our energies inwards, a kind of death to the old, so that we can go forward in the Spring with new energy and enthusiasm unencumbered by the past. Then, beginning on Feb. 1st (ground hog's day) we enter the cycle between the Winter Equinox and the Spring Equinox, a time traditionally honored by the Celts as the time to plant the seed of the new idea so that it may sprout in the Spring. When we follow these cycles, we harness the Life energy of the planet begin to dance to the same beat of Life. So by paying attention to the cycles of Life, we begin to work with them to receive the gift of their energy.

With some small investment on our part, we can dramatically change the energies of our environment making our homes a sanctuary to reflect our highest intentions and dreams.

(excerpted from the best-selling book, the