What this all boils down to is that managing your clutter helps you feel like less of a victim and puts you back in control of your moods and your life. You have greater confidence in your abilities and decisions, so you feel more hopeful and optimistic about future. You respect yourself more, and will probably find that other people treat you better as well. You feel less stressed, and have more courage to try and do new things. You stop turning to material objects to make you happy, because you are content with less.

Clearing out your clutter creates space for possibility. You may find yourself deciding to go back to school, change your career, start your own business, go out on a date, take up painting or singing or ballroom dancing, try out for a part in a play, or... what's your dream? (No wonder clutter clearing can be a little scary! Suddenly there are no more excuses for why you can't pursue that dream.)

Your friends will say you look terrific. They'll wonder where that sparkle in your eye came from, and how you manage to look both energized and serene at same time. It's because you have released from your life everything that is no longer useful to you. You have let go of past and are no longer hoarding for future. You have made space for living freely in present, where peace resides.

© 2003 Stephanie Roberts

[exerpted from "Clutter-Free Forever!", Lotus Pond Press, 2003]

6. Mix with positive and supportive people. Who you associate with influences your thoughts, actions and behaviour - another form of subliminal learning. Negative people can put you and your ideas down and it lowers your self esteem. On other hand, when you are surrounded by supportive people, you feel better about yourself, which helps to raise your self esteem. Learn how to develop your positive personal support network.

7. Acknowledge your positive qualities and skills. Too many people with low self esteem constantly put themselves down (back to no 1 again!) and don't appreciate their many positive attributes. Learn how to truly affirm and value your many excellent qualities. If you find this difficult, ask others to tell you. They'll come up with things you would never have imagined!

8. Stop putting up with stuff! Not voicing or acknowledging your needs means that you are probably tolerating more than you should. Find out what you're putting up with and zap those tolerations. By doing so, you're giving yourself message that you're worth it.

9. Make positive contributions to others. This doesn't mean that you constantly do for others what they could be doing for themselves. But when you do make a positive contribution to others, you begin to feel more valuable, which increases your sense of your own value and raises your self esteem.

10. Involve yourself in work and activities that you love. So many people with low self esteem stop doing those activities that they most enjoy. Even if you're not in a position to to make immediate changes in your career, you can still devote some of your leisure time to enjoyable hobbies and activities.

and..............................

Start taking action! The universe rewards action. Backing away and avoiding challenges means that your self esteem muscles become weak and flabby. When you start to take action -regardless of outcome - you will start to feel better about yourself, develop your self confidence and raise your self esteem.