ORDER

Have you noticed that about this time of year, we see how the earth is changing from cold and dark to bright and sunny and beautiful! NATURE is waking up; sending lighter days and flowers and grasses and a feeling of lightness to our lives! It is also a time for spring CLEANING for ORDER to be re-established in NATURE and in our lives.

It truly is a time of REVELATION for each of us. Somethings are REVEALED to bring about lightness and clarity and begging for some ORDER. Then we can APPRECIATE what we hold dear, what works for us and guides us to a new way of being that makes hum along more smoothly. In NATURE things can take care of a lot of the clutter but in our lives we have to do it ourselves to be able to have things be the way we want them.

I was thinking about writing about clutter etc last week and yesterday a woman called me asking me to teach another Organizing class! Big surprise! I can't teach a class now but I can write a blog supporting people to start their SPRING cleaning soon. I love this! Organizing is my passion and I was an organizer for 22 years so I know about this and love nothing more than to support and guide people to 'clear out' their extras and create ORDER in their environment and in their lives!

I can imagine that this is either good news or bad news for you; it always is when confronted with a task or project of magnitude. It is not possible to achieve ORDER and BEAUTY without some assistance from ourselves. The reason why it has to be this way is because WE made our own situation. No blame here, just facts.

Besides the art of sorting and discarding, there is another part to this process that is essential:

There is some homework to be done before and during our ORDERING.

1. We will need to be WILLING to sit down and do some writing, preferably in a notebook, spiral or           bound to do some preparing.

2.  Begin by writing down why we want to do this spring cleaning?  This is a time to really look at our lives and write what is meaningful to us and how we want to live  for  the rest of our lives. This will assist us in determining VALUES in our lives.

3. Make this a sort of journal in which we write about ourself and how we feel about what we are about to do. This will undoubtedly include, sadness, pain, loss, fear, joys, anger, excitement and gobs of memories! IT IS ALL GOOD!!! We all need some breathing space, some clean air and a way to enjoy our  beauty and ORDER in our home!

     This may seem like a big waste of time but I can assure you that if we're serious about this project we will complete the whole process including the writing AND the sorting and cleaning thoroughly. IF we do not PAY ATTENTION to all these details, we often get bored and tired and 'throw in the towel' and say it isn't worth the effort! IT IS WORTH THE EFFORT!!!!!

Following these guidelines will help boost our progress along . . .

3.  Buy your notebook and some trash bags and 6 letter-legal size boxes at an office supply store. These boxes stack well and can be used to easily sort through items. These are very important! The bags for disposing of trash or give away clothes, soft items, and the boxes for storing items till we can go through them later, example books and papers. This is VERY IMPORTANT! Gather up papers, books, photos etc and put them immediately into a box, DO NOT sort through them then! The goal here with most items is to REMOVE them from where we have them now, to create a 'space'. (After removing items off a shelf or cupboard, clean them well then put items of use and need back). 

A word about books: books are one of the hardest items to part with so as we take a book off a shelf DECIDE right then if want to give it away or not & place in any box to give away, library or wherever. Here's where we can be ruthless. 

So . . . lets get started. . . 

This is a PROCESS that begins with an ATTITUDE adjustment that enables us to be OPEN, WILLING,  ABLE and DEDICATED to proceed in an ORDERLY manner. First of all, let me say that it is fine to have assistance from another for lifting, shlepping, possibly sorting BUT each person has to make his/her own decisions about what to keep and use or enjoy and discarding or donating the rest.

This is an adventure, any way we slice it, and needs to be honored and respected like taking a trip, or moving, for instance: It needs to start slowly, collecting tools and items to help us along. give ourselves some time to get acclimated to the idea and the process. PAY ATTENTION to your ATTITUDE. If you feel you have been working on this too long, take a break or continue later, just keep going or you will be right back where you started only more frustrated!

THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK; After you have EMPTIED a shelf, drawer, etc, it MUST be wiped down or cleaned! This ensures that we won't 'PICK THINGS OFF' & SQUEEZE other stuff on them to ?save time, space??? RETURNING items to a cleaned space is such a reward! A man I knew once opened his nail drawer, removed 5 nails, closed the drawer and went on to something else. Not much satisfaction in that!

Be careful about setting 'goals' that are not realistic. If you have a particular date in mind, don't put too much pressure on yourself, then it becomes a chore. I would suggest working 4-5 days a week,spending anywhere from 1-3 hours each 'session,' too little, don't see enough difference, too many, become tired and bored. Some tasks are very straight forward and quick, like going through the 'same' of something like plastic bags, (there will always be more), while others, sorting through papers, photographs, (ahhhh a big one), books, take time AFTER the big sorting is finished. These things are what the letter-legal size boxes are for.

Important point! The first 'sweep' going through belongings is the OBVIOUS clutter and moves through quickly. Then at some point we have to go a little deeper and clear more out. This does not happen consecutively, usually. Be patient! We do want to feel ACCOMPLISHMENT but not overwhelmed.

Before we actually start with the sorting, take the time to write, walk through your home checking out any obvious things you want to keep, then what we want to clear out. By the time we actually start to de-clutter we will be more in the mood and more WILLING to proceed. Make this be a GAME, and YOU are the winner in your own home and time frame!

Next time, I'll suggest the ORDER in which you proceed in your home. It matters which room or area to do first and perhaps second in terms of CLARITY, ENERGY and ACCOMPLISHMENT. AT the end of each session, it is a good idea to write a few words or phrases about what you ACCOMPLISHED that day. Great satisfaction!

Once you have laid a healthy groundwork, you can relax a bit and congratulate yourself on the perhaps, hardest part, getting MOTIVATED! What are the options? Continue living in a home not to your liking or convenience or clear out some CLUTTER and RECREATE breathing room and loveliness?

Enjoy the beginnings

of a very special journey

Into your life! 

You'll find a treasure!

BLESSINGS