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    • The Clutter Remedy: A Guide to Getting Organized for Those Who Love Their Stuff

      An excerpt from The Clutter Remedy: A Guide to Getting Organized for Those Who Love Their Stuff,

      by Marla Stone

      To live perpetually organized in a clear space using efficient and effective strategies makes your life easier, more relaxing, and productive. If you think getting organized is about getting rid of your stuff, it’s not. Instead my Clutter Remedy strategy is inspired by working with people who love their stuff but also feel encumbered by clutter. I see people, worldly goods, and space in a unique way. I don’t care how much stuff you own and how much space you have. I don’t care what things you keep or discard.

      It doesn’t matter whether you are a millennial, a minimalist, or you have gobs of stuff; what matters is there is a better way to go through your items, admire them, and keep it all rocking your world without upsetting yourself, your space, or your schedule.
      Instead of wanting to hurl everything out the window or into a dumpster, transforming your life — and space — with stability and confidence is the path to perpetual organized living. My goal is to help you become organized forever, which is accomplished by examining how you view yourself, your life, and your objects.

      Reaching the truth about what you value in life is one of the most powerful ways of knowing yourself, your stuff, and your space intimately. By knowing what you truly value in life, you will know how to organize all that you own. Desiring a creative
      and simplified way to get yourself and your space organized is a normal response to living with clutter. Yet the life you want to lead — full of activity, fun, and purpose — is more important than being a weary and downtrodden clutter caretaker. You want to declutter with grace and dignity — and with a professional flair instead of feeling embarrassed and flustered.

      Typically, the fluster and frenzy heighten when you want to find something important before walking out the door, and it’s nowhere in sight, making you late and anxious. Or you struggle with an inadequate, failing system of disorganized, evergrowing
      piles. To stay calm and functioning, day to day, you find yourself hiding your stuff, shoving it in drawers, moving it around, and storing it haphazardly — but you know this is not how to live with the stuff that you love. The round and round “human in a hamster wheel” behavior of going from clutter to clear and back to clutter is exhausting. It tires you out and makes you itch for more things to covet, instead of appreciating what
      you already own.

      From my perspective, getting organized is not about cleaning up a closet or a pantry. It’s about analyzing the causes and personal challenges associated with cluttered and disorganized environments. Realizing that outer space is a reflection of the inner self helps motivate people to look deeper for the cause of clutter. When a person’s mood is off-kilter, it colors how their space will appear. Instead of living in a sacred and splendid space, they will end up living in a cluttered and out-of-control space. A cyclone
      effect within a home or workspace is often correlated with inner turbulence and commotion. The inner self will also influence how you look at what you own and how you feel about yourself and your appearance.

      For instance, an outfit you loved a week ago will suddenly make you feel miserable, but it’s not the outfit that is causing your angst. Feelings come from your inner self, processing thoughts and formulating conclusions about your life. When the inner self is cluttered with self-doubt and insecurity, even the most elegant clothing won’t inspire feeling confident or beautiful. Your inner state can blind you to the beauty of life and all the things that you love. Since inner, emotional clutter will trigger physical clutter over and over again, it’s important to first declutter your emotions and your thoughts. This begins with understanding and articulating what matters to you most. Then and only then will you be able to move forward with the Clutter Remedy strategy. The strategy gives you well-thought-out and specific criteria for all the objects you own, and it helps you become decisive and make good decisions about what to keep in your life. The clutter surrounding you has more meaning than you realize. Matter matters. It has energy,deeper meaning, and charge.

      I meet with people regularly who consider their clutter a “secret.” Their closest friends are not allowed to see their clutter or are sometimes not even invited into their homes. Some people remark that their excessive clutter or messy space brings on so much “confusion and derailment” that they’ve stopped enjoying life and feel desperate and isolated. Others share that they are what I call “décor challenged” with blank or overloaded walls, barren or cluttered mantels, and dated or misplaced furniture. However,
      most admit they have consistent and mild clutter challenges within their closets, drawers, cabinets, and garage, and they want tips for getting and staying organized. Some have overcollected for years with no idea what to do with anything, and they are caught up in the mire and muck, believing they are “tied” to it. Others have collected out of boredom and own doubles of everything with no space to store it all.

      Ultimately you want to love your stuff and know that everything you own is in your space for a reason. You want to stop having a love/hate relationship with stuff. I know there are days of loving your stuff, your collections, your books, bags, clothes, shoes, jewelry, tchotchkes, and sporting goods, and other days the stuff takes over and becomes an irritant and you want to set it on fire or take an ax to it and bury it in the backyard. Remaining in love with your stuff instead of being at war with it becomes easier
      when things you own are in alignment with your ideal lifestyle. Then, everything you own will imbue the sparkle and radiance that is part of the inner you. You will shine in your space as much as your space shines back at you in its image of perfection.

      Marla Stone, MSW, is the owner of I-Deal-Lifestyle Inc., which provides decluttering, design, corporate training, and lifestyle coaching services. She is a former social worker and psychotherapist turned professional organizer who helps people live an ideal lifestyle by getting to the root of their mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental challenges. She lives in Orange County, California. More information at www.i-deal-lifestyle.com

      Excerpted from the book The Clutter Remedy. Copyright © 2019 by Marla Stone. Printed with permission from New World Library.

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    • Double Vision: Spiritual Reasons for Infertility?
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      I understand that there are physical reasons for infertility, but I also understand that everything physical has spiritual roots. Are there metaphysical reasons that some women are more fertile than others? Is it possible that there are blocked chakras or something that would prevent conception, or issues that may cause miscarriages? Do past life experiences play a big role here? Is it possible to work on a spiritual level in order to overcome fertility problems? Thanks for any insights you can offer.

      – Liz

      Dreamchaser:

      Past life issues like karma can absolutely affect things in this lifetime. As sad as it is to say, sometimes a woman’s infertility is due to a karmic issue, and often, this won’t make a whole lot of logical sense to us in this lifetime. In the big scheme of things and over the course of a soul’s entire journey, however, it absolutely makes sense.

      There are also times when the man in the relationship is the infertile one, and the woman is able to bear children, but she has to suffer along with him. You can bet there is some karmic issue from a past life that needs clearing between these two beings.

      There are times when a soul will choose to be miscarried, aborted, or stillborn so that it can fulfill some path of its own. Again, this is one of those things that make no sense to us here, but on the Otherside, it makes perfect sense. Those particular souls thank you and other women like you who help them fulfill that aspect of their soul’s path.

      Being adopted myself, I am very pro-adoption. Please give this some thought. There are lots of children who are born to two particular parents because they need the DNA those parents can give them. Once these children are born with that DNA, they may no longer need those parents.

      These children are often orphaned or end up in the adoption system for some reason. In all cases, those children need loving, supportive homes and families to care for them while they’re growing up. If you are unable to bear your own biological children, you might consider taking in someone who needs you even more than you need them.

      Finally, you might want to ponder if you are blocking conception with your belief system. Do you believe you can have a baby? Do you believe you deserve one? Do you believe that after all the things you have done in your past that you should be entrusted with the care of another human being?

      Do you see where I am going with this line of questioning? If we don’t believe we can have something, that thing will not come to us. Make sure that your belief system is in line with what you want.

      It is absolutely possible to work on a spiritual level to overcome any type of physical problem. I know that a lot of people will disagree with this, but I have personally helped a woman with terminal liver cancer heal simply by working with Reiki and her belief system. I KNOW that we can heal our bodies with our minds. Do you believe you can do it? That is the essential question.

      I wish you fulfillment on all levels.

      *****

      Astrea:

      Infertility seems to be a growing problem for young women all over the world.

      No matter how carefully you examine your timing for trying to become pregnant, I find that babies come when THEY want to come, and to the people THEY want as their parents. Some people get lucky with their parental choices, and some don’t. I don’t know if there is anything a future parent can do to control when conception happens, but there are certainly many avenues to explore.

      I have heard from many Lightworkers that a blocked heart chakra can be one metaphysical reason for infertility. Chakras can be blocked for many reasons, but even physical problems can be cleared by an expert healer.

      Clearing the chakras is simple. Visit a Buddhist temple and engage one of the monks to clear them for you. This usually costs around fifty to a hundred dollars. Even if you’re not Buddhist, these monks are usually very sweet, kind, and receptive.

      If you meditate on your own, there are a number of self-clearing acts you can try. Sitting quietly and seeing light travel from your toes to your nose and then out the top of your head is a simple way to get your energy flowing. Pull light energy in from your lowest to your highest chakra, being careful not to let the energy escape when it reaches the Third Eye.

      Spinning either fiber or your body is another great way to clear yourself. In fact, throughout history, women have used spinning to concentrate their energies in meditation, visioning, and clearing their spirits.

      The bad energy is repelled from the force of whatever is turning, and spins away from you and out into the Void. Spinning of the body in a clockwise motion draws energy, while spinning in a counter-clockwise direction clears energy.

      If you choose to spin your body, lower your left hand and raise your right as you spin. Allow the energy to flow from the right (God) hand through the left (Goddess) hand, and then out of you and down into the accepting Earth. You’ll get dizzy, but you’ll feel better afterwards.

      If you’d like to try spinning fiber, you can start with everyday cotton balls, a stick, and a small potato! If that sounds like a waste of the potato, a fine sturdy spindle can be made from little wooden wheels sold in craft stores. Spinning instructions are readily available on the internet.

      Most of the time, infertility issues are physical, so you should of course consult a medical specialist who knows what she’s doing. It never hurts to be spiritually open and clear, however, so give spinning and other spiritual treatments a try.

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