6. Scale down your possessions. Every single thing you own, from your three toothbrushes to four winter coats to shoeboxes you're saving "just in case" takes something from you. It costs you time and energy out of your life because it all has to be maintained, stored, cleaned, moved or sorted through at some point. Plus, it all takes up physical and mental space. Everything you own also owns a piece of you, so now is time to start parting with all those things that don't bring you joy or value. You will be giving yourself gift of more energy and space.

7. Evaluate your time commitments. Look at how much time and energy you're spending on activities, organizations, clubs, social groups, etc. Really evaluate how much value or joy they give you in relation to what you invest. If you find that some have outlived their benefit or aren't making you happy anymore, just stop spending your time there. You'll have more time for ones you do enjoy.

Monica Ricci has been an organizing specialist since 1999, and her motivational presentations teach effective organizing and simplifying techniques for home and work. She also offers free email tips and ideas on how to make life simpler and more organized. Her topics include clutter control, paper management, time management, organizing space and procrastination.Contact Monica at 770-569-2642 or Monica@CatalystOrganizing.com.

It is when you can access your personal spiritual guidance that you are then able to take loving care of yourself. You will create an inner sense of safety and serenity when you are willing to learn to take 100 percent responsibility for all your own feelings of both pain and joy.

Learning to hear, see and feel messages from your spiritual guidance takes practice. The more you practice, more you t rust that you are never alone and that you really are being guided toward your highest good. This is what will create your sense of safety.

It may be difficult to practice opening to spiritual guidance if you believe it doesn’t exist, or that it will not show up for you personally. The only way you will know for sure whether or not this guidance is here is to practice moving into intent to learn about loving yourself with your guidance and see what happens. It takes a leap of faith to open to learning with something that you are not sure even exists.

Years ago I read Carlos Castenada’s books. Carlos was being mentored by a teacher named Don Juan. At one point, Don Juan stated that he would choose time of his own death. Carlos asked him (I am paraphrasing question since I no longer have book) "What if you were walking through desert one day and someone was hiding behind a rock ready to shoot you?" Don Juan’s answer was one I never forgot: "I wouldn’t be there." He wouldn’t be there because he would have tuned into his guidance and would have been told not to go there.

This is what we all need in these difficult times. We each need to do all we can to keep our frequency high, for this is how we can each help our planet. The attack on our country has made all of us vulnerable to darkness of fear, anger, anxiety and depression. We cannot afford to give in to this darkness.

We can each stay in love, peace and joy, rather than in fear, anxiety and depression, only when our intent is to learn about loving ourselves and we stay tapped into our guidance throughout day.

Our very way of life is at stake here. Most of us cannot go out and directly deal with darkness that destroyed that killed so many innocent people on September 11, 2001, or darkness or current threats. What we can do is stay in light - in love, peace and joy through our intent to learn and our connection with Spirit. Darkness cannot exist in face of light. The more of us that stay in light, more power we have to overcome darkness. We each have responsibility to move out of our intent to control and into intent to learn about loving ourselves and others. We all have responsibility to raise our frequency and stay in connection with God/Goddess energy of love and compassion. We each need to become spiritual warriors, taking loving action even when it is hard to do so. Through our own loving action, perhaps then our country will be guided toward taking whatever action that is in our highest good and highest good of all.

Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is best-selling author and co-author of eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?", "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By My Kids?", "Healing Your Aloneness","Inner Bonding", and "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By God?" Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course: http://www.innerbonding.com or mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com