Keep. Trash. Recycle

How the heck am I going to move my entire family and the contents of a 5 bedroom home into a tiny space in Hawaii?

Where was I going to put all of my stuff?

The idea of this move was a pretty paralyzing experience for months for me.

I had a pretty amazing moment of epiphany today and I figured I should share it with you, too.

I have been coaching my clients on living an intentional life for almost a year now.

This is funny to say the least. When I was telling my friends that my focus was helping women live a more intentional life, they asked: "What does that mean exactly? I am not sure that you will have clients thinking their life is not intentional enough."

Then I launched my program for the clients to join and in our first session I asked them what they were hoping to get out of our year together. Every single person wanted to learn to live a more intentional life.

• Intentional Eating
• Intentional Time Management
• Intentional Relationships
• Intentional Wealth and Life Planning 

This is actually perfect, since my program offers all these aspects of life. So even if my friends may not know what that means, my clients, and those who know how I live my life, have a pretty good idea of what transformation they will be getting when working with me. For that, I am grateful.

Some have been with me since the beginning of the year. Some have recently joined us for the 12 week spring module. The current program is about having an intentional relationship with our Time and our Space. If I were someone who was focused on organizational skills, I'd call it Time Management, but I am not.

My whole focus is on having compassion for ourselves and moving through life with having peace with the present moment and developing a deep love for ourselves. It is to let go of self judgement and not beating ourselves up to be a better version of ourselves. Using the power of negativity to create a positive result simply does not work. Not any more than punishing a child would get them to behave in a positive way.

We always learn from a place of love. Every single time. 

Choose Love. 

Our Winter cohort was about intentional eating. Even though some clients have lost 30 pounds in 3 months, my focus has been more teaching them to transform their mind around eating. Why they eat, what they eat and what intentional eating can do for their lives? Imagine never having "losing weight" as your New Year's Resolution! So powerful. I am grateful to give them those tools. They learn and practice to love themselves through the entire process. This is a much more beautiful and intentional relationship with food than the tried and failed notion of "move more and eat less" way of dieting and punishing ourselves with restriction which has led our society to where we are today.

So, today we were talking about how we can best manage our space and clutter with managing our mind. One of my clients shared how she recently had to go through her home to get it cleared up before having to relocate. I asked how she did it. She had a simple statement:

"Well, I had to get it done."

So interesting, isn't it? If we think that we have to get it done, it will get done. Like there is no other option, but getting it done. She could have not get it done, too. 

Have you had a big task that you were dragging your feet to get done? Somehow, eventually it got done. What happened in your brain that made you go from not wanting to do it and finally get it done?

It probably went something like this:

I am going to get this done. 

Then magic happened. It was done. 

With everything. Studying for the MCAT. Having to relocate for medical school. Having to plan for your wedding. Having to do your taxes. Whether it is a pleasant event or a daunting one, it had to get done.

It is as if the disorganized you managed to summon the organized you. Your brain told you to get up and get it done. 

Then when you were going through the pile, since it had to get done, and you didn't want to drag one pile of stuff from one location to another, you managed to determine what you would get to keep, what you should toss and what you will donate or recycle. 

Decisions move your forward. 

She was able to divide all her "stuff" and conquer. You know, so far, nothing new here. We all know what to do. Take everything out of the closet. Create three piles.

Keep. Trash. Recycle. 

If we could manage our belongings following those simple rules,  in every space of our lives, how amazing would that feel?

Years ago I went to a friend's house and was looking for matches in her kitchen. She told me to look into her junk drawer. I kept opening drawers. They all looked like a junk drawer to me. 

We don't realize it. But that is how our brain works, too. 

It's hard to focus on what to do next, when you do not know what you are doing now. Whether it's the right thing or the wrong thing. You simply don't know. It's all over the place. 

Your brain is full of thoughts. Unsorted thoughts. You need to open those drawers, dump out what is in them and decide what to keep and what to toss, to say the very least. 

The joy of giving away what does not serve us anymore (especially my client who no longer needs the clothes that were 30 pounds heavier version of her) is like no other. 

To make room for the new clothes (or thoughts) we first must get rid of the old clothes (or thoughts).

Give that a try. If you have a minute and ask yourself:

What seems to be the problem today?

Then set the timer for 3 minutes and start writing down what is weighing on your mind. I bet you that you may have no idea until you are asked this question. 

Then wonder what is coming up for you. To put all of your thoughts (especially negative ones) out of your head and onto the paper and wonder if you want to keep them or send them off to trash:

Life changing.

Let me know if I can help you if you are struggling with what is coming up for you. If you think you are overweight, overwhelmed, over committed, over scheduled, or over distracted I can help you get out of those thoughts and create a result in your life that does not include those thoughts. I am so good at this. I can help navigate your brain for you and help you see what is in there. What you should keep and what you should toss. 

The results we have in our lives are entirely based on thoughts we have about ourselves. These thoughts can weigh us down. They can even be lies we tell ourselves.  Just like a broken record, they can play over and over in our heads, so much so that they become a strongly held belief. 

Those beliefs can turn into a conviction. 

You try to hold on to your negative thoughts so strongly that they become your identity. 

This is not the truth. This is not who you are. I can help you see the truth. Just because you see yourself one way, it does not mean that this is in fact who you are.

Remember, there is another way. 

Choose Yourself. 

If you can have any thought in this world about yourself, how about if you intentionally choose thoughts that serve you and give you a different result in the life that you are living in right now. 

Reach out to me because I am one hundred percent sure that I can help you do one thing above all:

To live a more intentional life.