Life Organization – Starts with a single step
Most, if not all, major feats start with a single step, and are just a series of small steps all sewn together to create the final product.
The Hoover Dam, the CN or Eiffel Tower, and the Pyramids, are some handy examples. Even an ant colony is constructed using one grain of sand at a time. Honey is made from one blossom after another, the serendipity of which, is, we get our food from those bees pollinating. No pollination = no food. Einstein said that 4 yrs after the bees are extinct, humans go extinct.
So how does this pertain to our daily lives?
Daily is the key word. Life is balance. Think of an old fashioned balance scale, or the scales of justice. If we eat enough carbs for a hockey player, but only get enough exercise for a soccer mom, we’ll be a little heavy on one side of the balance scale.
Life is about flow, not perfection.
Think of how your life would be in a perfect world? How do you feel? What values are important? Is life calm? Is the house tidy & relatively clean? Is the household loved ones content? Schedules are smooth and flowing.
For me, my values are Peace, Simple & Health; as my previous frustrations were: drama/chaos, complicated and un-well. Frustrations can be a valuable mirror of values, which are typically the opposite – ie: Drama vs Peace.
This life is possible, one step at a time, one decision at a time.
The Top 5
Before we get to the “envisioned” life, lets start with the cogs in the wheel.
What are the top 5 most frustrating things in your life?
Alleviating the thorns in the paws can be very effective in the starting process of a newly contented life.
Behind in taxes? Mornings too chaotic, in which those feelings carry throughout the day? House too cluttered? Move 1 thing & 5 things fall down?
Many of the above are not a 1 step process. Decluttering is an ongoing one, but is very do-able. Start with 1 room at a time, a smaller room, such as the bathroom. Once it’s junk free & relaxing, start on the bedroom – or even one area, such as the dresser, or putting away clothes. If there’s more clothes than closets, edit the closet, keeping only the things you love, and that look good on you.
Now, every time you walk in the bathroom or see the clean dresser in the bedroom, you can breathe a sigh of “oh that’s so nice!” (instead of .. oh, another junky room, yuk).
Our outlook on the areas we inhabit most (work, school, home), play out huge in your psyche. Either we’re confirming our contentment, or exacerbating our dis-contentment on an hourly basis.
This process is like eating a watermelon – one bite at a time. Eat the whole thing & you’ll be on the toilet.
Finish the first watermelon, the top thing that frustrates you the most, then move on to the next, etc. Within a few months you may find the top 1 or 2 frustrations have been extinguished, and peace has now filled that void. This method can be used throughout every area of our lives.
We’re not talking “purchase a new home” or “make my spouse a personal servant”. This is to quiet the nagging conscience, such as, no-one has underwear cause of the pileup in the laundry room. Each watermelon can be a monthly process, to get over the hump, such as Mt. Laundrmore. Sure there will be ongoing maintenance, but adding 1 load per day to your daily schedule will keep all going smoothly, instead of the weekly Saturday Laundry Marathon. Imagine having a Saturday to yourself!
It’s those simple every day decisions that can turn a mess (we call them messes) into a peaceful Saturday and an ongoing clean laundry room.
Having baskets for each colour helps too: lights, darks, light towels, dark towels. I’m going to purchase shades of towels that can all go into the same washer load, this will save room and time… see, it’s ongoing, but it gets to be inspiring later on, and just little tweaks here and there.
Then, move onto the next watermelon…
This works for piles of paper at work, or school assignments too…
If you need help starting here is a great free resource www.flylady.net
