Cut Your Clutter – Refresh Yourself
By Patricia Diesel, CPC
Right up there with minding our health and tending to our finances, getting organized is always a hot topic as the calendar turns to the new year. In fact, a survey suggests that “Getting Organized” is one of the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions. January is a great time to get organized because the sense of renewal at the New Year puts us in the right mind set to try new ways of doing things and even living.
Your organization project begins with discarding the old, broken, obsolete or unused items that have accumulated during prior years. Anyone who has ever experienced clutter knows the feeling of being weighed down; you cannot explain the feeling, but there is a gnawing indescribable burden you carry around with you. In your home, a cluttered space can create tension by making you feel that your life is out of control. The stress from living with clutter can be exhausting.
You do not need to live this way. When you de-clutter your life, you cast off the stuff from the past you have been carrying around. By clearing clutter, you can set the conditions for a deep personal transformation. If you address clutter in your life, you can feel as if the weight of the world is released from your shoulders.
A home should be welcoming and inviting, a clutter-free place to entertain friends and family. Your rooms should be pleasurable to the eye, a beautiful place where you can relax and feel good. Your bedroom should be a sanctuary where you surrender for rest to rejuvenate yourself and be free of computers, Blackberry’s and other intrusions. Look around as you read this and think about what you really need in your life and space.
Clearing out your personal space can reap tremendous mental, physical and emotional rewards by giving you the freedom to invite friends and loved one’s into your home without the stress of the last minute “panic pick-up” to put your space in order for guests. Living in an efficient space that is free of emotional freight makes it easier to see and achieve your goals and move forward.
As you evaluate the steps to de-clutter your life, also consider your office. The less cluttered, the clearer your thinking and enhancing your potential to be more efficient and creative. It is not just sanity that can be saved by getting organized, but valuable time. You can waste a lot of time and energy if it takes you 10 minutes to rummage through files and drawers looking for your important paperwork. Work can be stressful, but de-cluttering your workspace is something that you can control.
Your office should be well appointed, where everything you need is easy to locate. Files can be color-coded—red for “hot” active matters, and other colors for other priorities. A clear desk limits distractions to set the stage for doing your best work. Everything should have a place.
Change can be difficult. It is understandable that it can feel scary and overwhelming to part with your stuff, so it is important to begin with baby steps. As a first step, purchase a journal and write down what you want to create for yourself. Get clear on your vision so you can manifest this into reality.
Then start small with one drawer, one closet or one room. It does not matter where you start, but the important step is to start somewhere. If you are afraid of throwing something valuable away, have it appraised. Keep only well-chosen items that bring you joy and delight.
Divine order, sweet bliss; this is what you ultimately achieve when you surrender to the process of letting go of your clutter. I have never seen anyone regret they did; the only thing they might regret is that they waited so long.
