Clutter and Confusion

Written by Suzanne Solle


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= If you keep getting E-mail newsletters that you always delete anyway, userepparttar unsubscribe link and get off their list. If that doesn't work for some reason, userepparttar 123104 filtering tools in your E-mail program to automatically send these messages intorepparttar 123105 E-trash.

= Go through your magazines and catalogs and pull outrepparttar 123106 pages that you want to save for later, then throwrepparttar 123107 rest of them away. Putrepparttar 123108 articles you want to read,repparttar 123109 images that speak to your heart, andrepparttar 123110 things you want to buy in separate folders.

= If there's something you deal with every day, such as your hair dryer, an unsharpened knife or a crappy pen that just aggravates you unmercifully, throw it away! Or fix it or replace it. These "little" stressors are a major cause of physic clutter.

= For a general life malaise, I prescribe looking at what you're spending your time on and shaking things up. It amazes me how such intelligent creatures as we can be lulled into mindless, joyless, useless repetition. Some things that have worked for me when I get into a funk are to change my morning routine, changerepparttar 123111 time I get up or go to bed, change what type of exercise I do, call people I haven't talked to in years, do something I haven't done in years (water gun fight, anyone?) In other words, drop something and pick up something new.

Suzanne is a recovering intellectual/technical person who rediscovered her love of truth and writing at the age of 39. She now shares her quirky views on life with anyone that cares to read them. Her main project of the moment can be explored at Today, I remembered...


The Self-Care Minder - Doing What You Love?

Written by Jennifer Louden


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Brava Carla!

A similar story from photographer and artist Kirsten Oppe about her fear of staging her next exhibit (http://www.cafegutenberg.com/news/articleDisplay.php?UID=23):

"Perhaps I forgot that even when one's path is one of bliss .... even when it starts out with that joyous burst of energy inrepparttar spark of an idea andrepparttar 123102 wide beaming smile of initial reactions to that idea........ it does not inoculate one againstrepparttar 123103 actual work,repparttar 123104 rub ofrepparttar 123105 proverbial grinding stone against one's shoulder! Funny, but that knocks me every time! [Jen's note: There is that learning edge again! We need a more generative story about what is normal when we are creative, when we are learning, that it is normal to be lost, scared, bored, frustrated and that those experiences are not to be judged as a sign we are doingrepparttar 123106 wrong thing, not to be pushed away.]

When I first discovered my life's purpose many years ago, I thought everything difficult and painful (in that part of my life) had been resolved. From that moment of revelation onwards, life would be nothing but smooth and easy. I was so shocked to discover that onrepparttar 123107 other side of discovering one's bliss lie all of these challenges and stumbling blocks! I wonder if it's like this in marriage, too ..... we (who are single) look so long to find that one, true special someone and then everything is supposedly going to taste like sweet marmalade from then on ....... but I have a hunch that it is when we meet our 'true' match thatrepparttar 123108 learning process really begins ... any blocks we ever had inside to love would come right up and meet us likerepparttar 123109 blow of a 2x4! ...."

Thank you Kirsten!

Does this all sound rather blatant to you? Is this a syndrome you've never succumbed to? Have you never said, "I'm scared/uncertain/don't know how, so maybe this means I shouldn't do it," (it could be: openrepparttar 123110 shop, writerepparttar 123111 book, speak torepparttar 123112 board, say no torepparttar 123113 job, say no torepparttar 123114 man).

One ofrepparttar 123115 most powerful ideas I've ever encountered is that learning isn't about information. Learning, to paraphrase consultant and author Fred Kofman, isrepparttar 123116 capacity to accomplish results that you were not able to accomplish before. The capacity to closerepparttar 123117 gap between your current reality andrepparttar 123118 reality you would like to produce. The closure of that gap, throughrepparttar 123119 expansions of one's consciousness, through awareness and choice, through shifting how you seerepparttar 123120 world, and through taking in new information and applying it in action, is learning. He compares it to riding a bike more than reading a book.

We inrepparttar 123121 west are not comfortable with learning in this way. Our education system is all about finding answers. Our corporations and government mostly reward people who claim to know, even if that knowing is leading straight intorepparttar 123122 jaws of disaster. It is better to appear to know than to appear "stupid." Why is not knowing a sign of stupidity? I maintain it is a sign of spiritual brilliance!

This comes into play so strongly in all areas of our lives but especially when it comes to our story about what should (there is that word again) happen when we are living our dream. It is as if we think we will have to cease being learners.

What a horrifying idea!

------------------------------------ Jennifer Louden isrepparttar 123123 Comfort Queen,repparttar 123124 best-selling author ofrepparttar 123125 Comfort Book series, a certified coach,repparttar 123126 creator of learning events and retreats, andrepparttar 123127 owner of Comfortqueen.com. She has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs, including Oprah. She's spoken to thousands of women in groups as diverse asrepparttar 123128 Canadian wilderness and a German bank. She mentors creative women all overrepparttar 123129 world. There are over 750,000 copies of her books in print world wide and in January, HarperSanFrancisco will update her first four books with new covers and updated resources. She's also a columnist for Body & Soul magazine and at work on her first novel. Copyright 2004. Jennifer Louden. All rights reserved.

You have permission to publish this article in your ezine or on your web site, free of charge, as long asrepparttar 123130 byline is included andrepparttar 123131 article is reprinted in its entirety.

You may not use this article in any publication that is not-optin (spam). All links in this article and byline must be live at all times. Disabling of any link invalidates and suspends permission for publication.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.comfortqueen.com PO Box 10065 / 9400 Northtown Loop Bainbridge Island, WA. 98110 Jennifer@comfortqueen.com

Jennifer Louden is the best-selling author of five books, including the classic, The Woman's Comfort Book. She is also the creator of http://www.comfortqueen.com, a frequent lecturer on creativity and self-care, and a creativity and writing mentor.


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