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

• 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.

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!

We are surrounded now by more and more electrical devices, in our homes, at work and in the environment around us. Each of these devices emits what are known as electro-magnetic fields. Electric fields are charges surrounding electrical appliances, such as televisions, computers, etc. Magnetic fields are created when the electrical charge is moving – so they are present only when the object is turned on.

Your body also has an electric and magnetic field. Its electric field has approximately 62-68 Hz of direct current and each cell generates approximately 1.17 volts at specific frequencies (known as signature frequencies). A magnetic field surrounds each cell. It is generated by the movement of the cell’s electricity and its response to the natural magnetic fields of the earth. The electric and magnetic fields of the body work together.

Natural health practitioners have been promoting for a long time the view that exposing our bodies to strong electro-mjagnetic fields is harmful – here’s why:

• Electro-magnetic stress is metabolic disruption that is caused by electro-magnetic interference – this can be due to artificial or natural electro-magnetic fields.
• As these fields penetrate the tissues of the body, they alter the electro-magnetic functions of the body – this affects your energy and vitality, including natural body functions, such as detoxification, rejuvenation and regeneration.
• This is particularly harmful at night when you’re sleeping because at that time your body has a smaller, more sensitive field; you are located in one place for several hours and are therefore exposed to whatever electrical equipment is in your bedroom.

Studies have shown that there are significant health risks associated with use of the following:

• Heated water bed – the water transmits the field directly to the sleeper, interfering with normal sleep patterns.
• Electric blankets and heating pads – the current is too close to the body, which can interrupt normal temperature and circulation regulation.
• Smoke alarms – due to radiation exposure. It’s best to buy radiation-free smoke detectors which use the photoelectric process, rather than ionization.
• Clock radios – keep the cord and radio at least 3 feet away from you body.
• Color television – when the television is unplugged it maintains teh charge for at least 3 days.
• Heating and cooling appliances – they draw large amounts of current and produce strong EMF’s. The magnetic fields go through walls.
• Cell phones – the main source of stress is the transmitter, also the speaker and microphone, which are in close contact with your ear and mouth.

Simple ways to keep yourself safe:

• Keep all electrical items at least 3 feet away from the bed (alarm clocks, radios, dimmer switches, etc.) Where possible, replace them with battery powered substitutes.
• Unplug water bed heaters and electric blankets before going to bed.
• Remove neon and fluorescent lights – replace fluorescent bulbs with full-spectrum or incandescent lights.
• Make sure your electrical system is properly wired and grounded.
• Keep your computer’s central processing unit off the desk and at least 30 inches away from your body.
• Use a tri-pak resonator on your electric fuse box.
• Use a smog buster for computers, televisions, video players and cell phones.
• Use a crystal catalyst bead to protect your body from harmful radiation.
• Use essential oils – they have bio-electric properties that make them powerful tools for working with the energy fields of your body and environment. The air inside your home is often loaded with positive ions, and therefore out of balance. When you spray or diffuse essential oils in the air, the essential oils add negative ions that shift the frequency of the atmosphere, bringing balance.

I am certainly not an expert in this field, but I have witnessed dramatic improvements in my clients when they protect themselves from electro-magnetic fields in ways described above. One particular client had suffered from severe joint aches and pains for years and had tried many different types of medication, without success. She had an electric blanket on her bed, which she removed when she heard about the problems with electro-magnetic fields. Her joint aches and pains disappeared right away. She didn’t even have the blanket switched on every night, just having it plugged into the outlet was enough.

I have heard many other stories just like this one. Even if you’re not sure, one thing is certain – removing electrical equipment or minimizing your exposure to it (particularly at night) is not going to harm you, and you might even feel a lot better, so it’s definitely worth a try.

If you’d like to improve the energy in your business/career/life, consider a coaching session with Linda.

Since your home is energetically an outer reflection of what is going on internally, it can give many clues as to the real state of your personal relationships and also many opportunities for growth and improvement.

Let’s start with the room that energetically represents and reflects your relationship the most – your bedroom. how do you feel about this room? Do you like the furniture that you have? Do you love your bed – is it comfortable? What pictures and accessories do you have and how do they reflect your relationship?

Your bedroom is the most important room in your home because it is th room that is closest to you and has the biggest impact on you. It is important that both you and your partner love your room. It needs to be your personal sanctuary – calm, peaceful, romantic. Here are some specifics to pay attention to:

The bed
This is the most important piece of furniture in the room. It should be comfortable, sturdy and solid. If you have a headboard, choose one that is solid – that will symbolize you having solid support in your life. The bed should be in the command position – meaning that it’s as far away from the door as possible, with the headboard up against a wall or corner and that you can see the entrance to the room from the bed.

Remove anything that is stored underneath the bed – items under the bed can create stagnant energy that affects you as you sleep. If you have a king-sized bed, put a red sheet over the box spring to ‘heal’ the split down the middle.

Clutter
Remove all clutter from the room. It stops energy flow and will create problems in your relationship. It will affect both partners, because it will drain your energy until you both find yourself feeling more and more tired and lethargic, lacking motivation. This is when arguments can occur.

Artwork/accessories
Choose artwork and accessories that are calming and peaceful. Things that represent your relationship, such as a wedding photo or something that you brought back from your honeymoon or a vacation, or just a nice, recent photo of the two of you together.

Remove anything that is not conducive to a happy, harmonious relationship – you can put pictures of the rest of your family, children and pets anywhere else in the house, but save the bedroom for pictures of you and your partner and artwork that reflects romance or is particularly meaningful to both of you.

Colors
Choose warm colors, as opposed to cool colors. Any colors that have warmth to them – so, for example, instead of white, choose cream, or go with colors that have a hint of red in them (this does not mean that you should paint your bedroom bright red!) Warm colors help to create warmth in your relationship and foster close communication.

Things that intrude
Keep things like televisions, children’s toys books, desks, computers, exercise equipment, etc., out of this room if you possibly can. These all intrude on your relationship and come between you. They are also ‘active’ with energy and you want this room to be soothing and calm to promote restful sleep. If you have trouble sleeping, look at how much energy is in the room and see how you can calm it down. For example, mirrors are very active with energy. If you have a lot of mirrors in the room (such as mirrored closet doors) you may find you have trouble sleeping. If so, try covering up the mirrors before bed for a few nights to see if your sleep improves.

There are many other ways in which your home reflects and impacts your relationship – this is just one room. But it is the most important room. Making changes here can bring about powerful and positive change in your relationship very quickly.

Discover more powerful tips, tools and techniques for improving your relationships with the Getting the Love You Want and Deserve tele-series. A series of 6 recordings by Relationship and Gender expert Carolyn Casey and Energetic Edge Expert/Feng Shui Success Strategist, Linda Binns.

Whenever you want to bring in something new, you must be ready to let go of something to make room for it. When you think about everything as energy, then it makes sense that in order to create something new in your life, you have to let go of old energy.

In Feng Shui we recognize this as we talk about clearing clutter or removing items that no longer have current value for you. The purpose in doing this is to remove old, negative energy that is keeping you stuck or tied to the past. This helps to make room for what you do want to come into your life.

But this doesn’t just apply to your home, or to your office environment. The same concept also applies to your personal environment – your thoughts, beliefs, actions, life situations, relationships. To be able to open up to new energies, you have to be able to let go of the old. To be able to manifest what you want, you need to let go of what no longer serves you. This is true in every area of life.

For example, if you want to lose weight, you will have to let go of something in order to have the new reality of a fit, healthy body:

• You may have to let go of hurts from the past that have caused you to gain weight now

• You may have to let go of beliefs that do not serve you – such as I’m not good enough or feeling that you need to be ‘invisible.’

• You may need to let go of old habits, such as eating unhealthy foods and not exercising.

• You may need to let go of people who are not supportive – who encourage you to eat what is not good for you and tell you that eating healthily and exercising are a waste of time.

• You may need to let go of feelings of guilt or shame and non-acceptance so that you can learn to accept yourself and love yourself enough to do what you need to do to have the body that you want.

If you want to attract a loving relationship:

• You may have to let go of hurts and disappointments from past relationships

• You may have to let go of limiting beliefs, such as I don’t deserve to be loved

• You may have to let go of people in your life who tell you that you can’t have what you want, or who are not supportive.

There is a saying, and I’m not sure where it comes from, but it’s very appropriate here: “To reach for something greater, you must first let go of what’s in your hand.” I think that sums it up quite nicely.

If your life is already full, you will have trouble attracting new experiences and opportunities. You’ll have to let go of something to make room for what you want.

You can certainly use your environment to help you with this. When you let go of physical things in your home or work space, you are releasing energy that you don’t need. This, in turn, will help your personal energy and will help you to let go of people, situations, beliefs, etc., that no longer serve you.

Even more interestingly, when you actively look for what is no longer serving you in your life with the intention of letting it go – new, unexpected and wonderful opportunities just start showing up.