They called me the CLUTTERBUG

As my husband and I near our 80th birthdays we decided we want to downsize.  We live in a big house with 14 stairs from the garage to the upstairs and carrying bags from the grocery store is still doable, but cumbersome.  We want a house on a single level.  So it's time to de-clutter or as Rick Wilkes from Thriving now says, "Right sizing."  What feels good to keep? What do I want to release?   

Each time we moved I packed 50 boxes of books and magazines.  I have 7 full bookcases.  Why?  Because I loved my books and had a hard time getting rid of them. I thought I was okay with this until I was on a call about clearing clutter.  As I listened to the call a lot of emotions came up.  Tears were streaming down my face.  I didn't realize how emotional I was about my cluttered bookcases.  Why was I having so much trouble releasing books?  They felt like my friends. Or maybe I thought I'd need them sometime.  How many angel books does a person need?  How many Astrology and Tarot books did I need to keep?

As Rick suggested, "hold a book in your hand and see on a scale of zero to ten how you feel about it.  If it's less than a 7 can you let it go? " He suggested tapping on any emotions that came up.  I started doing this and easily filled up 2 boxes that I took to a spiritual book store and actually made some money! I have two more boxes filled to take to the same store and two boxes filled to donate to our library for the Friends of the Library book sale.  I could send books to be sold on Amazon.com for an Amazon gift card.  

This is what right sizing looks like! This feels good, more peaceful.

We also cut the cable on our tv too because the prices kept rising and it just didn't feel right to pay that much anymore. We bought an outside antenna for local stations and a Roku.  Then we subscribed to sling tv and saved over $80 a month.  I feel more peaceful about releasing the TV clutter too and my TV watching habits have changed for the better. 

So if you want to experience right sizing for yourself you might want to take a look at this clearing clutter program that helped me so much.  You'll get to listen to the tapping call I was on and there will be another call this month that you can participate in.  

What's My Purpose

All my life I've wondered what am I supposed to be doing with my life. What's my purpose?  I struggled, studied, felt like I wasn't doing enough, beat myself up, felt unworthy.  What if it isn't that hard?  Today I found this and suddenly I relaxed, felt better about myself and took a deep breath!  I've been doing this all along. Maybe it's enough.  

This Time Together by Carol Burnett

I just finished reading a delightful book, THIS TIME TOGETHER, Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett.

Carol wrote many short chapters, short stories about the people she met during her wonderful career. Many of these stories were hilarious, like how Tim Conway would play his part the way it was written during the first taping but during the next take, he used his own outrageous skits that had everyone rolling on the floor.

Other stories were touching like the dying girl named Kathy. Somehow Carol knew she had known this girl someplace and they bonded. Carol was with her when she died.

Bob Mackie designed all the costumes including the infamous dress from Gone with the Wind - the drape. Each of these wonderful stories are just several pages which kept the book so interesting and fast reading.

After I finished I wished I could have a chance to sit down and chat with Carol face to face.

I used to be a fan of the soap, All My Children but Carol was addicted. She tells a funny story about when she and her family were in Lake Como, Italy. A telegram came outlining the soap's weekly recap but the person delivering it thought all the bad news was about her family and dreaded showing it to her.

Letters from Joan Crawford was funny and so was the way they met. Carol and Lucille Ball (I love Lucy) felt like they'd always known each other, another wonderful story.

I was surprised to read that Carol married a younger man. Go Carol!

So if you want some fun and light reading I think you'll enjoy This Time Together by Carol Burnett. I did. The book is interspersed with pictures of her and the people she writes about and also, about the amazing signs she got from her daughter Carrie who died right before the play they wrote together was produced.

Watching the Stars

Wouldn't it be fun to be able to lay outside at night and watch the stars? I wish I knew how to do this without attracting bugs. I'd probably fall asleep and that would be okay too as long as a bear or other critter didn't come along. I guess campers get a chance to watch the stars. But laying on top of a hill? I don't have a bucket list but this looks like an awesome experience to have. Have any of you done this?

The Voices in our Heads - Which ones are we feeding?

This video spoke to me.
What voices do we listen to in our heads? What if we affirm that we are calm and confident but we really aren't? What do we do with that thought? It's not good to ignore it because it will either chase us until we listen and love it, or it will bury itself and show up in our bodies as aches, pains and illnesses. Or if we're not aware of feelings in our body it could show up as shopping addictions, drinking or eating too much, gambling addictions and more. I like to pay attention to those voices and thank them for speaking to me so I know what I need to release. There are many ways to release - meditation, talking to a friend or therapist, and more. My personal way is using Tapping, (Emotional Freedom Technique). Once I release these feelings and old voices in my head I feel more peaceful and loving. What helps you?

In our new video brought to life by Gobblynne Animation, featuring Sharon Salzberg, Sharon narrates a story about how mindfulness allows us to see our thoughts and feelings as they are.
Posted by Happify on Wednesday, January 20, 2016

There's Always Another Day

ANOTHER DAWN, ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY

Thank you Universe 

Photograph by Chuck Harrell. 

Out of control Anger

Have you ever felt so angry you just wanted to smash everything in sight, tear up a room, take a baseball bat and break something?

I have.  I felt like that recently after feeling overloaded about other things and was told that Microsoft was going to update my windows 7 laptop to windows 10 whether I wanted it or not.   I was furious.  It felt like such an invasion of privacy.  It was all about boundary issues.  I understood that.  But it felt like someone had knocked on my front door, pushed themselves in and said I had to use their stove whether I wanted it or not.  That would be illegal. Why isn't microsoft's pushing windows 10 on us illegal too?

Is this freedom?

I was so angry I couldn't stop myself.  I sat there crying and saying, "I don't know how to stop myself from feeling this way.  Yes I tapped, I cursed, I screamed and I kicked a cabinet off it's hinges. I called on my angels for help. Then I felt like I couldn't catch my breath and I got scared.  This kind of anger is definitely not good for me or anyone else.  I felt bad for my body and decided to use the Ho'oponopono prayer asking my body to forgive me.

I'm sorry, please forgive me, I love you, thank you.







I found out later that there are ways to prevent Windows 10 from downloading into my computer.  I know this was not earth shaking but it pushed all my boundary and fairness issues.

I don't ever want to get this angry again because while I was in the midst of it I realized how someone who was over stressed or had boundary issues could get into road rage and worse.

Even though I'm troubled about the intensity of this anger and ashamed for kicking and breaking a cabinet I choose to love and accept myself and all my feelings.

I was posting about my anger and someone posted a link about an anger room.  What a great idea, to have a place where people could actually let off steam and break things if they had to.

http://theweek.com/articles/475575/anger-room-new-way-blow-steam-after-work

I will work on this part of myself and heal it.  I feel vulnerable even admitting this much less posting it.  

Have any of you felt this kind of anger and if so, how did you handle it?  I'd love to read your comments.  

Thank you