Unclutter your life

On the surface, it may seem like collecting objects is a harmless pastime.  In some cases, that may be true.  After all, what's the risk in buying another pair of shoes? What's another book, magazine subscription, box of antiques or rubbermaid container of old papers? If you're someone who drowns in stuff, or who worries about someone else, the idea of collecting may not serve everyone concerned.  Who is it supposed to serve? Did you ever consider messages in this?

As you pin down your beliefs, you will evolve to recognize that what you say and do in your life reflect how you feel inside.  Consider the benefits of being able to tap into what drives your desire to collect or store oodles of things for a rainy day.  How you spend money or even pick up cheapies at auctions or fleamarkets is telling you something about yourself.  The question is, are you ready and willing to listen to the signs?  Are you up to change and unclutter to live the life you deserve?

1) How do you feel about yourself? If you feel a sense of entitlement or that you deserve more than what other people have, what might this say about insecurity, self-worth or emptiness?  Who in your past may have influenced such conditioning? If you can't define "enough", you're missing things in life that crave attention. You may be influenced by more than the success syndrome or "keeping up with the Jones'."

2) Do you have control issues?  Perhaps you've come to believe that if you don't do things your way, your environment won't be acceptable? Let's say you fear being judged or misunderstood and you fear people will mis-label you. Imagine what it would be like to release your control issues. You would not longer feel you had to compensate for what you didn't have.  Let go of fear of loss and create a new life.

3) Where is your focus?  Your subconscious mind stores ideas, but doesn't qualify what is good, useful, bad, incorrect, acceptable or unacceptable.  Your beliefs evolve from what you hear other people tell you repeatedly and what you choose to retain.  Identify root causes of beliefs, what you're really saying if never have enough of clutter; do you lack approval, purpose, affection, success or other intangibles?

4) Do you fear change?   How do you feel about doubting your ability to adapt to your circumstances? You may detect low confidence or seek to hide your clutter because it represents your embarassment about your lack of courage to change.  If a pattern you detect isn't working, if its causing you to feel uncomfortable, this is a sign it would benefit from a new approach.

5) Motivated for or against?  Some people act to avoid certain results and other people work to create more desirable results.  You may stack newsprint because you don't make time to read it or you plan to move in 5-10 years.  Yet, it may actually reveal a sense of desperation or struggle, something you feel powerless to change.  You are as empowered as you truly choose to feel. 

6)  Should you reframe your life?  What is it that enables you to feel committed and doing meaningful things?  If you feel you must work long hours in order that people not assume your lazy or taking short-cuts to success, then you may be unconsciously neglecting other parts of your life.  As you decide to let certain mindsets and behaviours go, you prepare yourself for new kinds of abundance. The clutter you haven't made time for is what represents the life you'll leave behind.

In over your head?

If you're a person dreaming or juggling projects and desire to make them happen, how would you know if you're in over your head? How would you know whether you bit off more work or goals than you could realistically accomplish in the time you'd set out?  You may not realize it, but you take risks to change what you know or do. You may not have reflected much on this before.  Its helpful to re-orient yourself by reviewing whether it would be in your best interest to change your course of action.

1) Ask yourself key questions.  What do you like about where you are and what you do? What kinds of situations are indispensable?  Are you competent at your current tasks? If not, could you be taking steps to get there or would you be better off doing other things? Does anyone or any condition give you reason to feel threatened?

2) Get to the 'nitty-gritty'.  You need to get to the clinchers with honest answers.  Whether you step back to consider your life in general, career, relationships, leisure activities, emotional issues, transitions or other matters, you need to understand whether you focus time on the things that mean the most to you. Where you focus your energy is perceived as your priorities whether or not you believe this yourself on a conscious level. Aim to reduce your focus to a few priorities.

3)  Do you feel trapped?  If bills are piling up or many things in your life seem to be piling up or falling apart, perhaps its time to rethink how you organize your time.  Feeling stuck is a mindset you create when you realize you're unhappy about something and feel you have limited options.  You always have more choices that you believe.  You're in a trap if the more you do something, the more you feel you must continue.  Remind yourself that you can reach out to others for help.

4) Tap into your emotions.  If you feel anxiety or stress, or overwhelmed about what you have planned or what someone else has planned for you, then you may have reason to slow your pace or review differently what's ahead.  As you gain new insight into your values and beliefs, you'll gain a better sense of whether your life can be better than it is and what you wish to do next.

5) Know your motivation.  What are the real reasons why you feel in over your head? Are you results-oriented, impatient and unable to get what you want? Why is it that you're wrapped up in situations that cause you to feel uncomfortable? How might you invite them into your life? Once you figure out this angle, it will be easier to determine the step-by-step process to get out of it.

Shoot for the Moon

Many people will reflect back on their lives about chances they took and wonder why they did it.  They may not like how results have evolved. Perhaps you know someone who feels regret?  Risk-taking assumes you think a bit about the implications before you take action.

The reason you would assume an experience is risky was because some potential outcomes aren't desirable. Yet, possible appealing outcomes are strong enough to motivate you to take chances beyond your norm.  As you conetmplate taking risks, consider these preliminary questions to sink your heels in:

1) Where does your allegiance lie?  What you're willing to gain or lose is often linked to your priorities, those people or situations which enrich your life. How does it affect your choices?

2) How do you need to suffer?  Ever heard the line, "no pain, no gain?" Some people assume they must offer something in return for their eventual sense of success. What will you give of yourself? Will it be physical exertion, emotional stamina, or some other branch of who you are?

3) What needs would you forego?   Taking risks implies you feel ready on some level to embrace change.  This kind of attitude involves reviewing and redefining your basic needs and perceived needs above and beyond that.  As you change, your needs will evolve. To risk new kinds of desires, self-image and self-acceptance go hand-in-hand.  How do risks cause you to rethink who you are?

4) Why not shoot for the Moon?  If you sense its time to promote transition or really make big changes, its possible you'll sense it will motivate you to raise your own expectations.  You may be more likely to take a risk if you foresee a justifiable outcome on the horizon. Work towards it!

Take a chance on you

In the minds of a lot of people, doing different things than usual implies taking a risk. After all, you may wonder whether you can "pull it off" and feel you really succeed in a new venture. The key thing to recognize is risk-taking is an exercise in confidence-building.  You may not be able to predict the exact outcome, but to have faith in positive things will likely take you far.

Ask yourself when was the last time you took a chance on yourself? When was the last time you believed that you could do something that excited you, motivated you, regardless of what other people around you thought of it?  You may not remember the last time. If you take chances often, do you realize that other people could be watching and learning from your courage?

As each day passes, realize that your choices define who you are and who you aspire to be.  By taking risks, even small ones, you are testing yourself and developing inner strength you will be able to benefit from later. Remind yourself that looking deep inside can help you to overcome fear that prevents you from taking risks.  Informed risk-taking would be good for you.  This implies you learn to imagine possible results of risk-taking and would be willing to accept varied outcomes.

Once you decide to stop trying to figure out what to do and focus on decisions that will lead you to become who you wish to be, you will discover new benefits to risk-taking.  You may feel more comfortable to ponder the percieved pros and cons of change before taking risks.  That's fine.  Take approaches that work for you. Baby steps may work best.  Move at your own pace. 

Give up what you think you want

You may dream of experiencing things that aren't happening as fast as you'd like.  It may be too early to tell whether these things are meant to occur at all.  Are you assuming too much too soon?  Perhaps you're putting all your eggs in one basket. Take a risk to leave all that behind you.

Whatever your view, you don't have to give up your dreams, but it may be worth taking the risk to separate yourself from what you think is the preferable outcome.  To take your mind off your hopes doesn't erase your intention, or your will to succeed, but it just may free the negative energy that causes your tension and a sense of helplessness about certain events.

Imagine, for a minute, that there's another way.  We're so often taught that concentrating on a goal is what will make it come to be.  Holding onto the thought that results may not come simply focuses energy on fear and insecurity.  Learning detachment is based on your belief that the most appropriate outcome will unfold, whether or not you put all energy in that direction.

Rather than become wrapped up in trivialities, why not free your mind to get involved in other pursuits?  You can take steps to connect whatever you do to a larger picture.  To give up focusing most of your energy on what you think you want,  might open your eyes to experiences you never knew existed.  You may discover you have been chasing things that aren't going to happen. 

What is known has happened already.  Traditional security is based in the past.  What has yet to unfold are things you can influence.  To take a risk reveals your willingness to see potential in what you have not yet seen.  Why not benefit from the positive side to your imagination, including what you speculate as meaningful adventures and anticipation about your future?