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Organizing Thought
By Laurie Finkelstein
Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist
ACE Certified Personal Fitness Trainer
My friend Elizabeth Selders led a fascinating organizing workshop here at my home/office recently. For those of you who couldn't attend, you missed a fabulous presentation! There were a lot of "aha" moments as Elizabeth reviewed the implications of being disorganized: wasted time, stress, depression, procrastination, conflict, disharmony, embarrassment, living in the past, financial loss. My ears perked up when she told us that we can eliminate 40% of housework simply by being organized!
The concept of organizing is more personal than I expected – it's not just bins and lists and shelves and categories and files. Organizing our lives and managing clutter is a process of identifying our habits, defining what we want, systematizing our thoughts, and then taking action, little by little, to transform our lives. It's about respecting and caring for our selves, our space and our possessions. It's about appreciating and cherishing everything that we have.
It's no surprise that these are the same Universal Principles that apply to creating anything we want in life. For example, getting fit and healthy is not just about diet and exercise and looking good on the exterior. It's also about identifying our habits, defining what we want, systematizing our thinking, and taking action, little by little, to transform our lives. It's about respecting and caring for ourselves and our bodies. It's about appreciating our lives and cherishing our abilities and what we have to offer the world.
What an amazing time in human history we live in today. An entire category of business is thriving just helping us to organize, store and manage our stuff. It's also amazing that the "weight loss industry" is a multi-billion dollar industry. How do our bodies become cluttered? It's as if we say to ourselves, "Well, I don't really need this now, but I want it, so I'll save it for later." But instead of storing it in the refrigerator or pantry, we store it in our bodies as excess weight and have to carry it around with us.
Many of us are living in unprecedented abundance. Just walk into your local superstore and look around as if you had come here from another country, or another planet. Everywhere we look there is wall-to-wall "stuff." Our lives are filled up and spilling over. We need so little to survive, yet we want so much. Everywhere we go, we are being enticed and tempted ("Buy this!" "Taste this!" "Eat this!" "Save on this!"). Yet, when we finally get more, whether it's more food or more stuff, are we really any closer to achieving what we desire? Or are we farther away? I think that what all of us really want is to be filled up on the inside, spilling over with love and joy and peace.
So the BIG QUESTIONS, for both organizing and weight loss, seem to be:
- How can we enjoy and appreciate all of the good things life has to offer without losing control or overindulging?
- How can we learn to identify when enough is enough?
- How can we make the time to identify our habits, define what we want, and systematize our thinking?
- How can we gain a bigger perspective of our lives?
- How can we be more selective, more discerning, set better limits, and maintain a degree of restraint, while still allowing for spontaneity and freedom?
- How can we do what we want to do, while still doing what we have to do?
It takes mental energy to ask the big questions. We may be afraid to ask because we think that making changes is going to be hard, or even that we're not capable of changing. We may not know what to do, so we're afraid to look at our situation honestly. Remember that where attention goes, energy flows. When we find our "stuck" places in life, asking the Big Questions can help us to get our energy flowing again.
Elizabeth has some great ideas and resources to help focus your attention on organizing your life. You can contact her at info@chaostocalm.net to inquire about a class for your group or organization, or for professional organizing services.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback.
Laurie
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