Out of Balance

                                    (photo courtesy of stuartmiles/freedigitalphotos.net)

Life was meant to live in balance.  Is your life balanced?  

If you assess your life in these areas, how satisfied are you in each area of your life:

1.  Work
2.  Health - Physical and Emotional
3.  Personal Environment
4.  Social Life
5.  Spiritual Life
6.  Family Life
7.  Finances
8.  Relationships
9.  Personal Time

"The key to keeping your balance is knowing when you've lost it".  Anonymous

Have you lost your balance and you haven't taken the time to find out?  If you take the time to assess these areas of your life and see what is out of balance, you can take the steps necessary to get it back in balance. The changes maybe not happen overnight and the steps may not be easy but they are necessary steps to live a more purposeful, enjoyable and balanced life. 

Where are you out of balance?   

Buying Peace

                                                    (photo from knowing-jesus.com)


I was thinking about many of my de-clutter and life coach clients and taking a hard look at my own life. Many of us, me included, have tried to buy our peace through different things, either through a purchase or alcohol or a drug or a person or a lifestyle.  We have mistakenly thought, when I get this, do this, have this or am at this stage of my life, I will have peace.  

Unfortunately, we end up accumulating too much, being with the wrong person, missing out on the gift of today or dealing with addictions because of that wrong kind of thinking.  

Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” – unknown - 

Life will constantly give us opportunities that require us to choose peace in the midst of pain, turmoil or the everydayness of life.  The bottom line, you can't buy peace.  You have to tap into the only true peace through God, the One that gives peace "that passes all understanding".  

Finding Clarity in the Clutter

Clarity in Clutter???? How can anyone see or feel anything but overwhelm and a mess when they look at clutter??

Going through the de-clutter process can be very freeing.  It is like a physical weight has been lifted off your body.  While you go through your clutter, piece by piece, bit by bit, you become very clear about what you want to surround yourself with and what you value in your life.  

Clutter clearing is an extremely psychological process and not only will the clutter clear physically but you will see clutter falling away emotionally.  It is amazing the avenues that clutter clogs and the avenues that are opened up, in your physical space and in your mind, when that clutter is no longer around.  

You don't have to be clear about everything right now but the more action you take to clear the clutter from your space and mind, the more clarity you will have.  

Saying Goodbye

As I struggled to write an email to a friend that has been given a short time to live, I am somberly contemplating goodbyes.  
  

I realized, a long time ago, I am not good at saying goodbye.  As a child, I was the girl that was homesick at camp; I cried when my parents dropped me off, I cried when they left after coming to visit, and I cried just about every night.  As an adult, I cry when I am driving away from their home.  I really cried dropping both of my boys off at college and when I had to say goodbye to my beloved dog. I wept, writing an email to a friend prior to her death on August 9th.  I had not seen her in many years but that didn't matter.  There was a heart connection that had never been severed and I hated it for her family, her friends and all those whose lives she touched.  I wept, today, writing the other email to my other friend who will also soon go to be with Our Lord.  I weep for his family, his friends and for the hole that will be left on this earth with him gone.  Recently there have been families that have had to say goodbye to their children, a journey I cannot imagine taking. 

When I work with people, in life coaching and organizing, I realize, we struggle with all kinds of goodbyes. We all struggle to let go of items that represent the past that is no longer.  We struggle with saying goodbye to a relationship. We struggle to say goodbye to bad habits, unhealthy lifestyles, and unhealthy thoughts. We struggle to say goodbye to our comfort zone.  We struggle with parting with memories.  We weep for what was, what might have been and what we sometimes fail to see can be.  '

Goodbye is just hard.  Goodbye is the pain of change.  Goodbye is not just words, it is an unbelievable cry of the heart.  

Goodbye is hard and a period of grieving is an absolute must. But after that period of grieving is over you can choose to continue to grieve what's gone or you can begin to build on what was and continue to try and live your best life now......living with purpose, living with things that bring you joy now.....in other words, living in the present.  

I may never get good at the act of goodbye, but I pray I get better at knowing when to say goodbye, when I need to move on after the goodbye,  and to live the life I have been given.  
  

So for now, I won't say goodbye, I'll say TTFN (ta ta for now).  

Chapters of Life

The last couple of days my schedule has changed a lot.  I've had clients cancel at the last minute.......I've had some unpleasant details to attack..........I've had to manage my time a little differently than I normally would.  

The last couple of weeks my life has changed a lot.  My last child went to college..........I had to put my precious 13 year old dog down..........I've run into a small medical hiccup.........my first grandchild has been born. 

All this to say, I have had to close  some chapters in my life and begin new chapters.  

So, what is it I am supposed to do when things are changing so much?  I am learning.  I am learning to do some of the things that I have put off.  I am learning to have a plan "B" when life is so fluid.  I am learning to breathe.  

                                        (photo courtesy of pixbox77/freedigitalphotos.net)

The last several years have allowed little to no opportunity for me to stop and take a breath.  I have been on the treadmill of life and so now I feel like I have been given a gift to learn more about who I am and what I am about.  I have been given some white space or margin in my life. I have been given time pay attention to what God is trying to teach me and maybe be still and quiet for a minute so He can get a word in edgewise.  I still have some large hurdles to get over and some steep mountains to climb but taking the time to embrace this new chapter and not fighting it will allow me to climb away! 

So what does this have to do with de-cluttering?  More than you'd first think.  De-cluttering has as much to do with your emotional state and mind as it does the physical items surrounding you.  Physical clutter can be the manifestation of a cluttered mind and life.   So, while I've been given this "white space" I am de-cluttering some of my own stuff and de-cluttering my soul. 

So, take a moment.......look at your life.  Where can you give yourself the gift of some margin or white space?  Where can you say no instead of yes?  Where can you put yourself first instead of depleting all of you for everyone else?  Where can you steal some quite moments to sit still and really listen?  

Believe it or not, when you have a de-cluttered mind, it is easier to de-clutter your whole life. Trust me......I know!