Do you have messes you’ll get to some day? I bet you do -- little pockets of clutter, long list of to-do’s, projects that aren’t quite finished and improvements you’d make if you could find some time. Things like the outdated address book, the burned-out light bulb, the missing button, the half-finished home-improvement project, piles of unopened mail.
Do you tell yourself the messes are no big deal? That they don’t impact your life in any way? Before you put off dealing with your messes again, consider the hidden costs of living with them.
Messes interrupt your peace of mind. They’re like and endless tape that loops through your mind – is your favourite shirt missing any buttons or can you wear it to the important function tonight? Do you have enough time to do all of the things on your long to-do list before you go on vacation?
Messes sap your energy and reduce your self-esteem. Every time you encounter one of your messes you get the familiar feeling of frustration that you haven’t cleaned it up yet. It leaves you feeling disappointed in yourself and frustrated that you can’t seem to handle even small projects.
Messes limit what your reach for in life. They feel like underlying evidence that you haven’t got your act together. Why would you think you’d be successful at something truly important if you can’t seem to organize your linen closet?
Messes keep you separate from people. They probably surround you in your home and prevent you from inviting people to your home until you clean up the messes.
Messes keep you from the delicious feel of personal pride. You know the satisfaction that comes with a job well done and the pride that you’re on top of things and doing what needs to be done. Messes are an obstacle to feeling that pride, but also one of the surest ways to experience it.
Are you beginning to agree that cleaning up those incomplete, disorganized muddles is important? A solution is to roll up your sleeves and start to slog away. Some of the best ideas I have found for doing that are listed in my decluttering article.
Showing posts with label messes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label messes. Show all posts
Monday, June 23, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Get rid of things that don't serve you
When I pruned the shrubs in my backyard, some sprouted quickly, evidence that the plant was growing fuller and stronger. One group of cedars, however, appeared to be just a dry skeleton of branches that was all but dead. Although it took several months for sprouts to appear, the plants did recover but very slowly.
The plants that recovered flourished after pruning had received more attention over the years while the cedar hedge had been so neglected that it died inside. The overgrowth had restricted the plant’s access to the elements essential to life (light, water, air) and it had deteriorated.
The plight of the plant can happen in our lives as well. When our days are filled with too many things, we feel stuck and stagnant. Like the neglected plant, we struggle to get enough of the things that keep us feeling balanced and healthy. Once we lop off some of the extras, we feel lighter and freer.
Activities and expectations that are not serving us keep us heavy and unbalanced. In order to get clear about what we want, we need to take some time to get quiet and ask ourselves what is true for us in our hearts. Two tools that I have found to be effective are:
· “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” This is the advise of William Morris, furniture designer and founder of the Arts and Crafts design movement. This can be a powerful catchphrase when deciding what to keep and what to pitch. Donating your unwanted items to a worthy cause can make the releasing more bearable.
· Eliminate clutter ten things at a time. Take a few minutes to quickly put away or get rid of ten things. Ten things, that’s all. This brief burst of activity will give you satisfaction, and may even be done while you’re on the phone or waiting for someone. By the end of the week, you’ve eliminated 70 items and by the end of the month, 300.
· Give yourself an immediate sense of space and order by quickly boxing up all the things in a room that you don’t need right away or use frequently. Label the boxes with their contents and plan to go through them later. Usually, I don’t miss the things in the boxes and when I go back to them, I get rid of almost everything.
As soon as we release some of our clutter, we feel the freedom and openness a plant feels when it is pruned and we are better able to grow and expand in new directions.
The plants that recovered flourished after pruning had received more attention over the years while the cedar hedge had been so neglected that it died inside. The overgrowth had restricted the plant’s access to the elements essential to life (light, water, air) and it had deteriorated.
The plight of the plant can happen in our lives as well. When our days are filled with too many things, we feel stuck and stagnant. Like the neglected plant, we struggle to get enough of the things that keep us feeling balanced and healthy. Once we lop off some of the extras, we feel lighter and freer.
Activities and expectations that are not serving us keep us heavy and unbalanced. In order to get clear about what we want, we need to take some time to get quiet and ask ourselves what is true for us in our hearts. Two tools that I have found to be effective are:
· “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” This is the advise of William Morris, furniture designer and founder of the Arts and Crafts design movement. This can be a powerful catchphrase when deciding what to keep and what to pitch. Donating your unwanted items to a worthy cause can make the releasing more bearable.
· Eliminate clutter ten things at a time. Take a few minutes to quickly put away or get rid of ten things. Ten things, that’s all. This brief burst of activity will give you satisfaction, and may even be done while you’re on the phone or waiting for someone. By the end of the week, you’ve eliminated 70 items and by the end of the month, 300.
· Give yourself an immediate sense of space and order by quickly boxing up all the things in a room that you don’t need right away or use frequently. Label the boxes with their contents and plan to go through them later. Usually, I don’t miss the things in the boxes and when I go back to them, I get rid of almost everything.
As soon as we release some of our clutter, we feel the freedom and openness a plant feels when it is pruned and we are better able to grow and expand in new directions.
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