I am not referring to little piles and stacks of the letter e littering your house.
I’m talking about Electronic clutter.

One kind is the old computers, monitors, cables, cords
and other accessories in your closet, drawer, garage
and attic.
Those I’ll address another day……

Today I want you to declutter the stuff on your devices.
The outdated folders on your desk top, 
the two year old emails,
the bookmarked favorites that aren’t,
the contacts you no longer want to contact,
the electronic information you no longer need, use or value.

Start with your desk top.
What do you really need and want to have immediately accessible?
What folders, documents, photos,  and spread sheets are no longer
useful, necessary, or relevant?
The delete key is your friend!
Could you condense the visual clutter by
grouping like documents in one folder?
Or have one folder for each project?

Move on to your Favorites.
Scan through the sites you have bookmarked.
Trash any that no longer are important, no longer concern you,
or you made your purchase and no longer need.
Again, could you put like types of sites/pages in folders?
Blogs, news sites, specific hobbies or interests.

On to email.
Really, do you need to keep emails from three years ago?
Even six months?
Different email programs give you different options
for grouping email that is important or necessary.
Take advantage of your system and use it to help you
keep and access what is important, but dump the rest.
Look through your contacts/address book.
Who needs to be in there?

Those three areas are just a starting point.
Look through photos and decide which are keepers and organize
them to make it easier to access and share.
Look through documents, spread sheets, Power Point presentations,
notes, drafts, graphs and proposals for any you can easily delete
and happily move out of your life!

The less stuff you have on your computer (just like in your life and home)
the more smoothly and easily it will operate.
Storing like with like on your device is as helpful as doing so
in your closet.
By simplifying the look and navigation on your screens
you can make your electronic life less overwhelming.

I encourage you to make friends with your DELETE key.
(Be sure to empty the trash and recycle bins when you’re finished)

Drawers that you can’t shove closed.
Book shelves two books deep.
Slip sliding piles of mail.
Stuffed full linen closets.
Skinnier and skinnier paths through the garage.

These are all signs and omens that you have too much stuff!

Your physical surroundings do have an impact on
the mechanics of daily living.
The effort needed to dig through piles,
avoid dealing with certain areas or
even ignore the chaos takes a mental toll.

Free up space in your home and your mind by
sorting, prioritizing and then organizing 
these overfilled, cluttered, and inefficient areas.

Choose one drawer, one shelf, one surface.
Just start.

Create a less cluttered space as a sign of the life you
are choosing to live now.

Wishing you the most Happiest of New Years!

May 2015 be filled with experiences,
connecting with people you love and care about,
and activities you jump into whole heartedly!

Chose to be light.
Believe that people mean well.
Give someone the benefit of the doubt.
Remember, it really is the thought that counts.
Forgive someone by accepting you can’t change the past.

Do you want to be right? Or kind?

Our lives reflect the choices we are willing to make.
Be brave.
Take a risk. 
Act with integrity.
Honor your most heartfelt desires.

You are the Light and Gift of the Season.
Be Merry and Bright.

This time of year especially it seems that life is full of shoulds.

I should find the perfect presents.
I should bake six kinds of cookies.
I should decorate the house.
I should spend time with family.
I should go to the annual Christmas party.
I should write a Christmas newsletter.
I should___________________.

And just who decided you should do all these things?
Whose voice in your head is it that you are hearing?
And do you really need to pay attention to it?

Maybe some of those shoulds are left over from a different time in your life.
A time when you had different priorities and obligations.
Perhaps they never were things you really enjoyed doing but always did
to please others or to maintain an image or idea of
who you thought you needed to be.

Have these activities become the Clutter of Christmas?
Things you no longer need, use, value or love?
Activities that get in the way of you doing what you really love
with the people you truly care most about?

There is certainly nothing wrong with presents or cookie baking,
decorating your home, or spending time with family.
Unless, of course, you don’t really want to,
or it no longer reflects the life you want to be living.

What’s true is: There is only so much time.
How do you want to spend it?
What choices can you make that support your most heartfelt life?

Your life.
Your choices.
Make them meaningful to you.

Presence and presents, both are gifts.

Which one will you give more of this Season?

It is true that we can delight and charm recipients
with thoughtful and clever gifts.

But how much more meaningful might it be to offer them your presence?
Your attention?
Your acceptance?
Your empathy for their stressful day?
Your compassion for their challenging situation?
Your listening ear and heart?

Relationships are built over time and shared experiences.
Memories are made when we spend time together laughing,
talking, sharing events, activities, companionable silence and
creating our stories of connection.

Give the present of your presence to family, friends, coworkers,
even the clerk at the store, the barista making your coffee,
and the child asking you the annoying question.

Your presence is the Light of the Season.

This Holiday season try giving more experiences and less stuff.
Consider gifts that involve spending time together and making memories.
Gift giving is about acknowledging our connections to others and
a way to thank them for what they mean to us in our lives.

Try to make sure that what you give doesn’t end up as
clutter in someone else’s home and life.
You may think they need another pig for their collection,
or you found the cutest sweater,
or a book you think they’d love.

Chances are, they wish they’d never started collecting pigs,
you aren’t as hip to their fashion sense as you might think,
and they already have enough books they haven’t had time to read.

Pause before you hit the Buy it Now button,
procede to check out, or whip out your credit card-
consider if there might be a way for you to give 
the gift of your presence
as the present.

Most of us have plenty of things in our lives:
All of us want deeper connections.

Give gifts that create connections
and make memories.

ps.  If you find yourself giving  to someone out of guilt or obligation,
habit or perceived  pressure, take a deep breath.  
Give yourself permission to say no.
(You may be surprised at the relief everyone involved feels) 

Thursday is the traditional day that we take a moment and give thanks.
Blogs, Tweets, emails, media stories, and even conversations this past week are filled
with reminders to be grateful and act from gratitude.

Here’s a radical thought.
Be grateful everyday.

Act thankful for your job,
your relationships, 
your home,
your friends,
your family of origin and
your family of choice.

Recognizing the abundance that is already present in your life
can keep you from
over buying,
over spending,
over compensating.

Say Thank You.
(Mean it)

Figure out what’s important.
Let go of everything else.

Anything more than enough is clutter.

I couldn’t possibly tell you how many pairs of jeans is enough for you.
Or how many pairs of scissors you need to have.
Or  how many bags of pasta you need in your pantry.

Everyone has different reasons and justification for why they purchase things,
why they hold on to items, 
or what has sentimental value.

Chances are, if your home or life feels cluttered;
you have more than enough.
That realization is where change begins.

Contrary to the messages we hear: More isn’t better.
More is just that.  
More.
More money spent.
More to keep track of.
More to store.
More to maintain.

Look around your house,
think about your life.
Decide how much is really enough.

Live your life and make your choices from that place.