Recently, I listened to a homily about the Vine and the Branches.
My priest talked about how, these days, we prune mostly for aesthetics – we mow the grass and trim the shrubs so they look even and tidy. However, in biblical days, pruning was necessary for 
survival. Growers would cut away the branches that weren’t producing fruit, so a plant could focus more food and resources on the branches that were productive.
I liked this analogy, and thought about how it pertains to the stuff of our lives.
Look around your home. What belongings of yours are productive? What items do you use regularly, reliably and with pleasure? Those are your productive branches.
Conversely, what items of yours are NOT producing fruit? What items are more trouble than they are worth? What do you have just too much of, so that your attention and resources are wasted.
Consider the cost of maintenance.
First, we purchase an item. If it’s an expensive item, perhaps we also purchase a special case for it, a warranty or an insurance policy.
We choose a spot in our home to keep it, and now that chosen space cannot hold other items.
OR… We don’t choose a spot in our home to keep it, and it floats around, getting lost or broken.
Or… We have so many other things that we have also purchased, the new item gets stuffed in the chosen spot with 10 other items, and now we can’t find anything. And that is just storage.
Perhaps our new special item requires temperature control or lighting, or special cleaning or regular maintenance.
The problem is not with the new item. If we have just an item or two that requires this special treatment, we can manage. The problem comes when we have many such items that require care and storage and maintenance and time, and our resources get spread so thin we can’t properly take care of anything!
“I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” Bilbo Baggins, Fellowship of the Ring by JR Tolkein
In the interest of pruning, of cutting away the unproductive parts to focus on the productive parts, clear the clutter that isn’t serving you and your life.
For example, purge clothes you no longer need or want to make more breathing room in your closet and life for the clothes that really represent you.
Cull your books so that you can focus on the ones that actually hold an interest for you, and keep a smaller pile so that you might find time to actually read them!
Clear away the clutter from hobbies that you no longer love or participate in. I have clients with sporting equipment they haven’t used in 20 years, craft supplies they no longer have an interest in using, tools that are still in the box.
Cut away, metaphorically speaking, the unproductive parts so that you can focus your time and attention on the stuff of your life that serves you well!
between Self Care and Me Time.
Last week, I presented to a lovely group of women and made them laugh by expressing my love for clipboards.
some. And that feels GREAT! We look around and see clear and calm spaces. We breathe a sigh of relief and contentment. And then we put away our good stuff, pat ourselves on the back, and happily bump along for a while.
Sometimes, I feel like Mr. Incredible when he said, “No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know?! For a little bit. I feel like the maid: “I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for, for 10 minutes?! Please?!”
re-think some of our systems. Most of our kitchen items when back similarly to the old kitchen. But we had enough new drawers and bigger cabinets, so we used the opportunity to make positive change.
AND can always find what they’re looking for and look fabulous?
lasts three (ish) months. Here in Chicago, the weather can change 30 degrees in a few hours, but Spring is Spring. I have dark, heavy clothes that I won’t wear again until Fall, regardless of how cold the weather gets. If I need to make room in my closet, I can hang just the items I’ll wear in the next three months, storing colder weather clothes and really hot weather clothes on a high shelf or under the bed.
multiple sizes of clothes cluttering their closets. Again, ask the “three month” question. Do the math – a healthy weight loss strategy suggests losing a pound a week. In three months, that would be an amazing 12 pounds! 12 Pounds may move you up or down one size from your current size, but only one. If you want to keep your much-smaller clothes, go for it, but don’t store them in your closet if you don’t have room. And purge the too-big stuff, so you’re not tempted to backslide!
And I brought the Fabulous to the front to make them easier to see. Meaning: Fellas? Ties. Ladies? Scarves.
week, I was reminded of the importance of having a Home for Your Papers, and wanted to share!
upcoming purchase, forms to complete and return. The most important thing about Active Papers is to take action on them, so their HOME needs to be convenient and close at hand.
wills, etc. The most important thing to remember about Archival Papers is to protect them, so their HOME needs to offer protection (a safe or a bank safety deposit box) and may be a little less convenient to access. But that’s OK, since we don’t need to access Archival Papers often. For example, I registered my youngest for high school last Saturday and his birth certificate and social security number were both required. Grabbing both took all of 10 seconds, since we have one and only one very safe and specific place for such vital documents. And of course, I PUT THEM BACK when I was done with them!
schedule to take care of business.
Sometimes action costs money or time or other resources, true. But if you’re procrastinating around a business venture, or health care issue that you can’t seem to make the appointment for, or house repair that you’ve been avoiding, the better question is “Can you afford to NOT do this?”
to sleep well every night, and 71 percent of us sleep better in a fresh-smelling bedroom. A cluttered room reminds us of unfinished tasks, whereas an uncluttered room helps us relax. Closing closet doors and dresser drawers further soothes us. In addition, 75% of people sleep better when they have clean sheets.
help, or a cool vaporizer like the one we run all winter helps drown out nighttime noise.
our best lives. Some folks need less and some need more, based on age, physical demands, individual rhythms and a host of other variables. Fix your wake-up time, and work back from there for your bedtime, first with 8 hours, then 7.5, then 7.
as has dinner meal planning to make sure I have a meal planned that works with the next day’s schedule.
morning breakfast meeting today, so last night, I made sure my notes were in my bag. We still stumble, as the completed forms I laid on the middle-schooler’s backpack for him to take back to school today are still laying on his dresser… but tomorrow is another opportunity to turn stuff in!
cluttering the pile contents and adding attractive large wicker baskets to hold the bags and gear in the habitual drop zones seems a better solution than trying to establish new habits and drop zones elsewhere.
just never seemed to “work” right for you?