This week trying doing just one thing to unclutter your life.

Put your keys in the same spot very day when you come home.
Hang up your coat, don’t just drape it across the chair.
Set your dirty cup inside the dishwasher, don’t just set it in the sink.
Sort the mail, every day.
Add the item of clothing you know you’re never going to wear again to the donation bag.
Call and make the appointment with your doctor, or dentist, or to get the oil changed.

One small action.
Just start there and see where it leads.

(I’m here, cheering you on!)

Knowing the why can make the how easier.

 Any change you’re hoping to make in your life, whether it is to declutter, or lose some weight,
or change jobs, or stop biting your nails
are much more likely to happen if you are honest about why you want the results.

Should isn’t nearly the motivator people assume it is.
And appearance and perception can change in a moment.

To create real and lasting change we need to spend time looking beneath our initial reason
and find the real desire that is fueling our want.

Being  honest in our heart of hearts will make the space for intention to manifest as results.
Getting clear on where we want our results to lead keeps us motivated and willing to stick with changing our habits and routines. 

Understanding and being honest with ourselves about what is important and valuable
makes our interior lives more closely aligned with our outward appearance and actions.

Go ahead, set some goals and intentions for this new year.
But before you fill that bag with clothes to donate,
or stock up on carrot and celery sticks,
or send your resume out:  Get some clarity about the real results you want in your life.

If you need some assistance in setting the goals, or staying motivated, or holding yourself accountable,
here are some links that might be helpful:

Happiness Project:  Tips for Keeping Your Resolutions

Unclutterer: Keeping New Year’s Resolutions

Zen habits:  How to have the best year of your life.

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.” 

Neil Gaiman

My wish for you this Season is for things to be imperfect.
 And for you to be okay with it.
In fact, for you to  find joy in things not looking like the advertisements.
For you to be touched by people’s misguided gifts.
I wish you might relax enough to be amused by your family interactions, not threatened or angry.

I wish that you could see how charmed the people who love you are by your imperfections.
That it’s really okay that your life is a little messy, and you truly are doing the best you can at this moment.

Hidden under the pile of wrapping paper, the tangle of ribbons, the powdered sugar dust on the cookie plate,
tucked into the small moments of joy and satisfaction,
centered in the laughter and nostalgia, is what truly makes the season Merry and Bright:
Love for ourselves and our good wishes for others.

Wishing you Peace in your Heart.
And a Perfectly Imperfect Christmas.

What gives you Comfort?  Who gives you Joy?
What gives you Joy? Who gives you Comfort?

Over the next week consider where you find Comfort and Joy in you life.

Is it time with friends?
A cup of tea and a gingerbread man?
Sharing your time and talents?
Laughing out loud with family?
Stockings hung by the chimney with care?

Spend time with the people and activities that truly mean something to you.
Feel Comforted.  
Open up to Joy.

Give yourself the gift of paying attention to what moves your heart.
That’s where you’ll find the real magic of the Season.
And a glimpse of Peace on Earth…..

Presence, not presents.

This month seems to center around the giving of presents.
Take a moment and consider the gift of your presence.

Most mental clutter is a result of worrying about the past or planning for the future.
Our minds love to engage us with stories of what should have been,
could have been, might be, and if only.
We fail to notice who and what is right in front of us.  
We listen with half an ear, planning our next comment, or considering what’s left on our to do list.

By taking a breath, pausing and paying attention to this moment, this person we are with, this gift we are wrapping, 
the way the lights glow on the tree, the words to the carols, the taste of the cookie, the smell of the tea; we practice being present.
(It is a practice.  It needs a lifetime of repetition……)

This month give the gift of your presence.
Pay attention to this moment.  
This conversation.
Pause in the rushing.
Feel connected.

Your presence is your most heartfelt gift.

The Holiday Marathon has begun.  Shopping and  wrapping and baking and decorating and parties and pot lucks and gift exchanges and travel plans and traditions and, and, and.  
Exhausting to think about and impossible to not feel like you’re behind before you’ve even begun. 

If you’ve been engaged in the process of decluttering your life,
if you’ve made some much needed space in your home,
if you’re trying to have a simpler more connected life,
then step away from the December More is better Madness.

Take a breath.  
Decide who and what about the Season has meaning for you.
Concentrate on doing one or two things that warm your heart and reflect your kindest intentions.

Bake one kind of cookie.
Decorate just the tree.
Offer your regrets to the party hostess.
Give fewer gifts.  (Most people don’t need another pig for their collection)
Turn off the television.
Sit quietly with just a candle burning.
Be grateful.  

It’s only a race if you choose to run.
Walking will get you to the same destination,
with more time to enjoy the sights and sounds along the way.

Give thanks.
Give compliments.
Give someone the benefit of the doubt.
Give someone your full attention.
Give up trying to be perfect.
Give from your heart.

Have a meaningful Holiday.
It’s your choice.

Oh, and Unstuff a turkey too if you get a chance!

Most kitchens have them.  
The drawer that is stuffed, crammed, filled with this and that, random little bits, anonymous pieces, parts and pennies, pencils and the cat’s collar.
The repository for the ‘I don’t know so I’ll shove it in here’, Justin Cases’s things, and the it’s too far to put it where it really lives, so now it is out of sight and out of mind.

Is that really the best use of such valuable real estate in your already crowded kitchen?
Even though you think you’ll look there to find the tiny screw that holds the thingy bob together, or the extra flash light bulb or the key to the -oh dear, what is that key for?

There’s a reason it’s called the Junk Drawer.

Today’s mission is to ditch the junk, keep what you really use and need, and arrange the drawer so you can see what you have and where to put it  when you’re finished with it.

So pull out the drawer, dump it out on the counter top or table and start sorting.
You’ll need the trash close by, along with the recycle.
Make groups/piles of like items.  Pens and pencils, loose change, batteries, rubber bands, miscellaneous nuts/bolts/screws…
Let the mystery items go. (It’ll be okay, I promise.)

Surveying your groups, what really needs to go back into the drawer?  And of those items, how many of each?
Are there are other places in the house that make better storage sense?  Your office?  The medicine cabinet?  The tool box?
Could some of the items live in an over the door clear shoe organizer-perhaps on the back of the door leading to the garage?
Those items would still be readily accessible and visible.  
Think small tools with small tools, flashlights and their batteries together, etc.
Find logical homes for things.  Store like with like.

Consider a drawer organizer for the things you’ve decided to keep in that drawer.
Having dedicated spaces for items will keeps the drawer from reverting to the mess it was.

The next time you’re tempted to just toss something into the junk drawer, 
pause and ask yourself:
  Why am I keeping this?
  If I really do need to keep this; is this its best home?

Sorting, prioritizing and organizing even one drawer in your home makes a difference.
Try it.  
You’ll be happy faced with the results.

Some people think “learning” is “knowing.” 
But that’s not learning; that’s repeating what you know.
Learning is not knowing. Learning is getting a lot of things “wrong.”

Don’t prepare yourself against surprise and not knowing; prepare yourself FOR surprise–say “I don’t know” or “I was wrong” more often. It liberates you from perfectionism.   Patti Digh