1. Avoid information overload - it seems practically impossible these days doesn’t it? We are constantly bombarded by information everywhere we go. It’s impossible to take it all in. And you don’t want to. The first step is to be clear about what you want in your life and why you want it. This clarity helps you to filter out anything that is not in alignment with your goals.Scan through e-mails, newspapers, magazines, etc., for articles and information that you are interested in. After reading an article, don’t save it or the whole publication, keep a file on subjects of interest to you and write down the resource and contact information. Then, if you want to refer to it again you’ll be able to find it easily.
2. Stop working from piles – if you find yourself creating piles of paperwork, set up files instead in an order that makes sense to you. File your papers away according to frequency of use. Any current paperwork that you refer to frequently should be close by so you can easily access it. Anything you refer to occasionally can be filed in a filing cabinet. Other papers that need to be kept, but that you don’t need to refer to, should ideally not be stored in your immediate space.Keep an up-to-date index of your files to avoid creating duplicate folders and so you can find things more easily.
3. Deal with things now – putting things off that you don’t like to do simply results in a backlog of tasks. Once you’re behind it’s much more difficult to find the time and motivation to catch up. Sometimes you’ll be putting off tasks that can take just a moment to do, but when you add them all together because you let them pile up, it will be much more overwhelming to complete them all. If there is something you can do now, do it. If you have a backlog already, schedule time to eliminate it. And don’t be afraid to ask for help from friends, family members, co-workers or a professional organizer.
4. Use rewards – if you have tasks that you don’t like and you can’t get someone else to do them or help you with them, promise yourself a reward for completing them. For example, if balancing the check book at the end of the month or sitting down to pay your bills is not something you enjoy, then schedule something, like lunch with a friend, as a reward for getting it done. Having something to look forward to can help you get those unpleasant tasks done more easily.
5. Keep track of important phone calls – if you have an important call to make, write down the key points that you want to cover. Check them off as you discuss them and make appropriate notes of what was discussed. Immediately after the call, take any follow-up actions that are necessary, like entering an item onto your calendar or adding tasks to your to-do list.
6. Use a notebook – carry a planner or notebook with you all the time to write down notes, ideas, expenses, important dates, to-do items,, etc. This way you know the information is always in one place and you can refer back to it at any time. Don’t rely on scraps of paper because these can easily be lost.

These are just a few suggestions that can help you to be a little more organized and a little less overwhelmed. What strategies do you have that help you to be more organized and get things accomplished?

(based on information provided from Organizers Network of Orange County)

Webcast Recording – How to Eliminate Clutter

When this happens, what can you do? It’s a question I am asked quite often, so here are a few techniques I like to use that you might find helpful to move you forward.

Stream of Consciousness Writing
This is a bit like journaling, but instead of just writing down your thoughts or how you feel, the idea is not to think about what you’re writing. You’ll want to write for about 10 minutes, which your mind might resist because you’ll reach a point where you don’t know what to write. Keep writing anyway, because that’s what you want. Keep writing without thinking about it and you will access your subconscious mind, which can give you answers and insights you were previously unaware of.

You’ll want to use specific statements, depending on your own situation, but here are some examples:

• I am frustrated because …
• I am angry because …
• I am not making the progress I would like because …
• I will be successful when …
• I’m afraid that when I achieve the success I really want, I will …
• I’m afraid that when I achieve the success I really want, others will …
• The best way for me to make money right now is …

This technique can reveal some valuable insights. You may find that what you write seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with the issue you’re dealing with. But pay attention, because it’s what is keeping you stuck.

If you don’t like writing, but you love drawing, you could always draw instead of writing to see what comes up for you.

Surrender Book or Box
Create a special book or a box that you can use to write any issue that you’re feeling stuck with. You write it in the book, or write it on a card or piece of paper and put it in the box. Once it’s there, you simply surrender it. Know that it will be handled, that the solution(s) will come to you and you will know when you need to take action and what action to take. You let it go.

Again, this is a very powerful technique that I have used many times with great success – both for myself and for my clients.

De-Clutter
If you have clutter somewhere in your  home or your office it means the energy there is stuck. This reflect some aspect of your own energy that is stuck. When you clear the clutter, it can help you become unstuck. It may seem hard to believe, but it’s true.

These are simple but powerful techniques. Give them a try. I like to use all three. Try them and let me know how you get on.

It is important that you love your bedroom and everything in it and that it is kept clutter free. There are many other aspects of your bedroom that you may not have considered but they are very important, so I’d like to cover a few of them here.

Books in the bedroom – many people like to read before they go to sleep. I certainly do. But it’s also a good idea to really consider what types of books you’re reading before you go to bed. Each book has different energy attached to it, such as the subject matter and even the energy of the author. I’ve said before that everything is alive with energy, and that includes books.

Be careful about reading books that are about violence, tragedies or have sad endings. They can affect your sleep or even, on a deep sub-conscious level, begin to affect your health or your relationships.

It’s not a good idea to keep too many books in the bedroom. Just have the one that you’re currently reading, or one that you like to refer to. A bookcase full of books in the bedroom brings too much energy to a space that needs to be calm.

Don’t treat it as an office or exercise room – the energy of the bedroom is about sleep and it’s about relationships – your romantic relationship, as well as your relationship with yourself. It is your most personal space and the energy should be very calm and it should represent your relationship (or the one you’d like to have). When you bring in the energy of work and/or exercise you are bringing in energy that is very active, which will interfere with your sleep, your health,, your relationship and your life generally. It can very quickly create a sense of overwhelm.

There is also a lot of stress that can be associated both with work and with exercise. With work, you may feel as though you can never ’switch off.’ You always have work on your mind – of course you will if you don’t have a personal space where you can detach from it. You are bringing in your work energy – the energy of your day at work – into your bedroom. This is a recipe for even higher levels of stress.

As far as exercise is concerned, again, this is very active and not the right energy for a bedroom. It is often something that you feel you ‘have’ to do, rather than want to do (pressure). It may even be something that you feel you ’should’ be doing but are not, in which case you are being surrounded with the energy of guilt and even failure.

Don’t overdo the furniture – you’ll want to have plenty of space around the bed and to make sure that you don’t have too much furniture in the room. Allow the energy in the room to circulate freely (including underneath the bed). Allow the room to breathe. If you like big, heavy, dark furniture, make sure the room is an appropriate size to accommodate it. You don’t want the room to feel crowded or overwhelmed with furniture. Overall, you don’t want your bedroom to be too dark (except at night when you turn the lights off).

Generally speaking, lighter woods and other natural materials are best for beds and bedroom furniture. Avoid metal beds because they can conduct electro-magnetic fields.

Think about where the furniture came from as well. If it was given to you by somebody else, or is left over from a previous relationship, think about the energy that it is carrying related to that person and your relationship with them. Is that energy positive and supportive? If not, you’ll want to consider replacing it when you can.

These are just a few simple tips that can help you turn your bedroom into a personal sanctuary that supports you in all ways.

It’s important to understand that there are many levels to this issue and many complexities that I couldn’t possibly cover in one article. So what is discussed here is more of a general overview to help you recognize if you are in this pattern and to what level.

To find out if this is a pattern that has become your reality, start by taking a look at the following questions to see if any of them apply to you:

• Does somebody else (spouse, parent, friend, etc.) like to make decisions for you, so that you find yourself deferring to them on most things?
• Do you hold yourself back from expressing your desires or opinions?
• Do you find yourself going along with what the other person wants/doesn’t want and then feel upset or resentful – and probably guilty for feeling that way?
• Have you lost all sense of what you want, because it’s been so long since your opinions or desires even mattered?
• Are you afraid to discuss certain topics with this person because they will get angry, upset or stressed and so you avoid mentioning them, even though you may want to discuss them?
• Do you find yourself minimizing your accomplishments or holding yourself back in some way so as not to upset this person?
• Do you feel that you cannot be your true self around this person or even that you have completely lost all sense of your true self?
• Does this person undermine you when you have made decisions or agreed on things together?
• Do you feel constantly criticized and not supported?
• Have you squashed your dreams and desires because it would make this person feel uncomfortable?
• Does your home reflect the other person’s tastes, likes and desires and not yours?
• Are there things about your home that you would love to change, but this person won’t let you, or he/she has control over what does and does not get done in the home?
• Are your interests, passions, hobbies, dreams or desires ridiculed or minimized by this person?
• Does this person make you feel guilty if you enjoy yourself or do anything that you really love to do?
• If you challenge this person about something they’ve said or done that you didn’t feel was right, do they turn it around and make you the one who is ‘in the wrong?’

If you said yes to one or two of these questions, the situation can probably be quite easily changed by you making a few changes in your energy, specifically some of your beliefs and programming and how you feel about yourself.

The more of these questions you said yes to, the more difficult it can become. It’s definitely possible to change, but the more entrenched you are in the pattern and with the person, the harder it is.

What it all comes down to is how you feel about yourself, what boundaries you set, and what your beliefs are about what’s possible. For example, I know many very intelligent, very talented and successful women who feel intimidated in their relationship with their spouse. Often (but not always) this can stem from a fear the spouse has that if you become too successful, you will leave them or not want them any more, so they subconsciously try to control you.

Any relationship is about growth and hopefully you will grow together. However, sometimes one person in a relationship or family strives for growth while the other(s) want to stay the same. They feel threatened by your growth because they fear it will take you from them, make you feel superior to them, etc., so they make you feel bad for even wanting to change and grow. They don’t want things to change, they want them to stay the same – which means you staying the same, because they feel threatened by you changing.

Mostly this all happens on a subconscious level and you may not even be aware that it’s happening until you’re so deeply entrenched int eh pattern that you have no idea how to get out or you’re afraid of what will happen if you try to get out of it. What the other person is doing to you is manipulation, pure and simple. Not consciously perhaps, and not intentionally perhaps, but ultimately, that’s what it is.

The first step to changing it is to recognize it. The second is to become aware of how big of a problem it is. The third is to realize that you have to make a decision about what you want. The choice is yours – even if it may not be a comfortable one. You can choose to stay in the pattern, recognizing what’s happening. Or you can choose to make a change.

You make a change by learning to value yourself, by speaking up for yourself, by setting boundaries. Hopefully, the other person doesn’t realize what has been going on, is not doing it intentionally and, once the pattern is pointed out to them, is willing to change it. Or, what often happens is that you simply take responsibility for yourself, you change your energy and the other person changes along with you. But be aware that you cannot change somebody else – to create change, you have to focus on changing yourself – and they either respond positively to that or not.

You have to be prepared for the fact that the other person may not be able to come along with you though, and you may have to distance yourself from them in order to truly be able to be yourself and do what you want to do with your life. The choice is yours and it’s not always an easy choice. As with everything, awareness is key. You must know that it’s not right for anyone to ever hold themselves back and make themselves small because they’re afraid of upsetting someone else. You do have a choice and this leads you to step 1 – acknowledgement that you have allowed someone else to control you.

Interestingly enough, one of the things that can really help you in changing this pattern is your house. Since your house is a reflection of you and what’s going on in your life, if you change the energy there and assert yourself, your energy, and your presence more in the house, it can help you with the changes you need to make on a personal level.

There is so much more I could say on this subject, I could probably write a whole book or at least a report. But my intention with this article is to bring this to your awareness, because it’s an issue for more people (particularly women) than you may realize.

• Make sure everything is in good repair – remove and/or replace all dead vegetation. If the plants are to be replaced be sure to consider the mature size of the plants so that you are not faced with overgrown vegetation. Trim or remove any overgrown vegetation that is blocking pathways, doors or windows.
• Make sure fences, gates, paths, stairs, banisters, etc. are in good repair. Remove the clutter. Create appropriate storage areas for trash, fire wood, tools, etc.
• Welcome people (and energy) to your front door and into your home. The threshold represents your relationship with society and provides a welcome transition area when moving from one space (outdoors) to another (indoors). make sure the front door opens fully and does not stick. Also make sure that the area is free of toys or any other objects that create a need for caution.
• If necessary, complete the shape of the house by using any combination of landscape, patio, walls, arbor, porch, deck or room addition.
• Wherever you can, use curved, meandering pathways, patios and garden walls. Use strategically placed pots or plant material to soften edges that cannot be changed.
• Create a protective embrace and ensure privacy around the sides and back of your property using fences, trees and bushes. Also provide protection from busy streets, cul-de-sacs, or T-junctions using fencing, trees, bushes and other landscaping.
• The goal is to create a beautiful view from every window and door in your home.
• Your exterior experience will be enhanced by creating an environment that appeals to all five of the senses (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch).
• If possible, provide a path that is separate from the driveway, and is specifically designed to lead people to your front door. When a path and driveway are shared, it indicates that the car, just by virtue of its size, is more important than the people. This situation is made worse when your garage sticks out further than the rest of the house.
• Consider the addition of a water feature to your front yard. Be sure to place it with the water flowing towards the house.

When you pay attention to the energy on the outside of your home, it helps to improve the energy on the inside. It also provides a warm welcome to you when you arrive home and to anyone who comes to visit.

Clutter can fall into any one of the following 4 categories:

• Things that you do not need, use, want or love
• Things that are untidy or disorganized
• Too many things for the size of the space
• Unfinished or broken things

So even if you have a place for a particular item, yet you don’t need, use, want or love it – then it really is considered to be clutter. It is cluttering up your life energetically and taking up space in your life (and your home) that could be used for something else.

Clutter affects you in many ways and the way it affects you depends on a few things. It depends on what type of person you are – for example, if you are someone who wants everything to be in its place and can’t stand it when things are not all neat and tidy, then when something is even slightly out of place it will upset your energy. So if you happen to be living with someone who is untidy and disorganized and can’t stand to throw anything away, your life will feel pretty stressful all of the time.

How clutter affects you also depends on how much of it you have. For example, whether it’s simply that your closets, shelves and drawers are disorganized, or that you don’t have a clutter-free surface in your house. Where in your home the clutter tends to accumulate is also an important factor, as well as how long you’ve had the items. The longer you’ve had them, the more they will affect you in a negative way.

Here are just a few of the effects you may experience from a cluttered environment:

• Feeling tired and lethargic – the more stuff you have, the less you feel able to deal with it. It, quite literally, drains your energy. So much of your energy is tied up with the ’stuff’ that you don’t have enough left to get you through your day effectively.
• Keeps you stuck in the past – if you tend to hang on to things from the past, energetically that will keep you stuck in the past. That’s not to say that you can’t keep certain mementos and things that are important to you, but you don’t need a lot. The more of it you have, the more stuck in the past you are. And if these things are important to you, then why would you keep them stored in a box in a basement or the garage, instead of somewhere that you can see and enjoy them?
• Creates confusion and disorganization - you will waste time searching for things. When you can’t find things it makes you feel frazzled and rushed, and it may make you late for appointments. It tends to create chaos in your life. It’s a way of sabotaging yourself and holding yourself back.
• Attracts to you people who mistreat you – if you don’t love, honor and respect yourself (and a cluttered environment is a sign that you don’t) then you will attract people who don’t love, honor and respect you. Sorting out your home can improve all of your relationships.

These are just a few of the ways in which clutter affects you. As you can see, it’s about so much more than just the ’stuff’, which is why I say it’s not about the stuff. It really isn’t. When clutter accumulates, it’s simply a reflection of what’s going on inside you, of how you feel about yourself and your life.

When you start to think of the things you have in terms of energy, instead of simply seeing them as inanimate objects, it helps you to let go of the things that are not important and focus on the things that really are.

When we look at your home energetically we can see how it is linked to all parts of your life. As energy or chi travels through your home, garden or office, it impacts your prosperity, career, relationships and health.

By taking a look at what is going on in the health area of your home, you can often make a direct association with a particular health issue. The portion of your home that relates to health is located at the middle of the far left section of your house as you stand facing the front of the building. Once you locate this area, there are several things you can do to help encourage chi to flow smoothly, resulting in better overall health.

One of the easiest steps you can take is to remove any broken items from your home, particularly from the health area. Things that no longer work the way they’re supposed to, such as a stopped clock or a broken chair, can actually create health problems. For example, the broken chair could be associated with someone in the house experiencing back problems, especially if the chair is located in the home’s health area.

Because wood is the element most closely associated with health, and blue and green are the best color choices for creating harmony, incorporating these materials and colors into your home’s health area can be very beneficial. Placing healthy, live plants in the area is an easy way to bring wood, together with greenery in this important portion of your home.

Another strategy involves decorating your health area with pictures or items that represent good health. These items vary from person to person because individuals associate different things with robust health. However, it’s important remember that exercise equipment with do nothing for your chi (or your waistline) unless it is regularly used. In fact, putting a treadmill in your health area and then ignoring it could do more harm than good. Unless you plan to regularly use your exercise equipment, get rid of it. Any unused items, including exercise equipment, are energy drains regardless of which portion of your home they reside in.

While your home’s health area is the place to start to improve your physical well-being, other areas of your home may also impact your health. For example, very high ceilings, a rear entrance directly opposite the front entrance, a bathroom or stairway located in the center of the house, or stairs directly opposite the front door all tend to create energy drains that may result in fatigue for the home’s occupants. To remedy this, hang a round, multi-faceted crystal in the problem area in order to create and circulate additional chi.

Sleep deprivation can certainly have a negative impact on your overall health. If you suffer from insomnia, it is a good idea to look at your bedroom and determine how you can improve its energy flow in order to promote a good night’s sleep. Some common causes of sleep problems include too many mirrors in the bedroom, colors that are too bright instead of soft and restful, pointed corners or objects that tend to create “energy arrows,” and items stored under the bed, which generate stagnant, negative energy that is absorbed by your body when you’re in bed.

When you balance and harmonize your home’s energy, you can become healthier, happier and more prosperous.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost;
Since out in the world we find
success begins with a person’s will,
it’s all in your state of mind.

Life’s battles don’t alwasy go
to the stronger or faster hand;
but sooner or later
the person who wins
is the one who thinks….”I CAN.”

-Author unknown

Consider that everything you have in your environment – all of your possessions – has energy. It is alive with energy and it is also alive with your memories and associations. We don’t usually look at things that way, we usually see them as, well, just things. Inanimate objects that we either like or dislike, use or not use.

When you realize that things actually have energy and that they are connected to you, it also becomes clear how, the more things you have, the more they can weigh you down. I was watching one of the television programs on hoarders recently, and although these are very extreme examples of how things take over people’s lives, the principle is still the same whether your house is full like their or not so full.

The more you have the more it holds you back. Energetically it keeps you stuck. You stop not only new things but new experiences from coming into your life – perhaps the very experiences you long for, or the resources you need and want. If you want to create any kind of change in your life the best way to start is to let go of things you no longer need, use or want.

Consider also that your possessions are alive with your memories and associations. Everything has a story. The question is, how does that story support you? How does it affect you? If you have something that reminds you of a difficult time in your life, a time of struggle, then energetically you are keeping the memory of that experience alive by keeping the object. If you have something that reminds you of someone who treated you badly, it’s just the same as having the energy of that person in your home with you.

Why would you want to keep things that do not hold positive memories for you? Why would you want to keep things that you don’t need or use? Why would you want to keep things that you don’t like? All of these things will affect your energy. All of these things will keep you stuck.

So this year, as you contemplate spring cleaning, keep this in mind. As you let go of things, realize that you are letting go of old energy. Realize that you are gaining your energy back and realize that you are making way for new, more positive people and experiences to come into your life.

You will feel refreshed and renewed. Your vitality will be restored if you keep these questions in mind as you sort through your things:

• Do I love it?
• Do I need it?
• Do I use it?
• Does it bring me joy?
• Does it have positive memories and associations for me?

Now doesn’t that just make you want to go and find things to release from your space? Well don’t let me stop you – go and get started right now!

First of all, I would say that if you’re feeling overwhelmed then you have to give yourself permission to ask for help. If you need help with organizing and de-cluttering, contact a professional organizer. If you need help with decorating, find a good interior designer, preferably either one who can work with what you already have to re-arrange your home, or one who loves to shop. You can tell him or her what your style and budget is and let them shop and bring ideas and suggestions to you.

Whether you hire someone to help you or not, the first thing to understand is that you don’t need to do everything at once. You’ll want to do things in stages. I recommend that you start with two main areas:

The garage
What you see when you arrive home has a major impact on you. Your home should be like your sanctuary. It’s where you should be able to relax and renew yourself at the end of the day. When you arrive home after a hectic day at work you want to get a sense of renewal and support as soon as you get there. Usually, the first area you see will be your garage. If your garage is full of boxes of things, or things that you don’t have a home for, or it has just become a dumping ground and, worse still, you can’t even get your car in there, then instead of feeling nourished and supported when you arrive home, you’ll feel just the opposite. When you’re greeted by chaos, your life will feel chaotic. You will feel as though you can never get away from things that need to be done. You’ll feel constantly tired and overwhelmed.

Most people will not bother to do anything with the garage because they don’t feel it’s important. But if it’s the first part of your home that you see when you arrive home, then at the very least it needs to be clean, tidy and organized, with plenty of room for storage. To go a step further, paint the garage a beautiful color, hang some artwork on the walls (this is a great place to hang your children’s artwork, if they happen to enjoy drawing and painting).

Your bedroom
This is the most important room in the house. It is the room that is closest to you and has the biggest impact on you. This room really should be your personal sanctuary. First of all, make sure it is free of clutter and don’t store anything underneath the bed. Choose soft, warm, relaxing colors for your bedroom. Remove the television or at the very least put it in a cabinet so you can close the doors on it at night. This room needs to be calm and peaceful – so remove anything that suggests activity, such as exercise equipment, computers, even books. It’s okay to keep one or two books beside your bed, but don’t have a bookcase in here.

Choose furniture that you love and a solid, wooden bed that has a solid headboard. The headboard of a bed is symbolic of the support you have in life, so it’s best if it’s solid, not open – no bars. Keep your favorite things in this room – if you don’t love it, remove it.

If you address just these two areas, you’ll start to feel more of a sense of peace, of being in control. When you’re greeted by a calm, orderly space when you arrive home, and you can retreat to the sanctuary which is your bedroom at night, you will receive the support and the energy you need to make progress elsewhere in your life. Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to deal with the whole house. Focus on these two areas first and you’ll soon find clarity coming to all areas of your life.