Declutter your mind ...
It’s easy to feel cold and a bit miserable in wintry Melbourne. However, the sun is shining as I write this.
Yesterday I was invited to a local artist's exhibition at The Dog's Bar, just around the corner from me in Acland Street, St Kilda. A very interesting series of small pieces on the theme of 'Transcendence'. it's on till the end of this week and worth a look if you live in the locality. The artist is Salvatori Lolicato and his website is www.salvatorilolicato.com.
De-clutter for more happiness
Since I moved to my new home about 18 months ago now, I’ve put a fair bit of focus on the idea of de-cluttering and refocusing my life – both external and internal. You might wonder what clutter has to do with happiness?
What I have realised is that I spend a considerable time looking for things and part of what gives rise to this is that I tend to take on a lot and then struggle to keep up with it all!
The other day I had lunch with a friend and she remarked that she was recently brought up short by the question, ‘Does this make you happy?’ This question prompted her to start to re-assess some of the things she had been taking for granted.
I had a very similar ‘Aha’ experience recently myself when I had a chat with my local bank manager. He reminded me that as a business owner, it would be a good idea to ask myself the question, ‘How does this benefit me?’ when making decisions relating to my business. Seems simple and obvious enough, but it came like a revelation to me!
Since then I have been asking this question of myself a lot and I realise that having this question in my awareness has helped me to start to de-clutter some of the ‘junk’ from my mind. Or at least decide what can be regarded as no longer useful and what might be put in place in its stead.
It’s not necessarily an easy process and I’ve been quite surprised at some of the decisions I seem to coming to. But the question, ‘How does this benefit me?’ has been a catalyst in clarifying where I want to put my time and energy. And this is creating greater focus on the important things in my life.
Sometimes a question and a quiet five minutes is all it takes to get the ball rolling.
In the last newsletter I talked about looking at life ‘through the lens of happiness’. This week I’m suggesting that reviewing our life in the light of a challenging question may be a catalyst that enables us to invite more happiness.
Spiritual decluttering
The EMF Balancing Personal Growth program puts a fair bit of emphasis on the idea of sorting out our experience – a kind of spiritual de-cluttering I suppose you could call it. Part of the idea is that the past is where we go to find ‘a golden column of wisdom and self support’ rather than ‘an anchor that holds us back’; the future is where we sow the seeds of our hopes, dreams and desires; and we have choices about what, who and where we receive and give our time and energy in the present moment. Again, this seems a simple enough idea but thinking about it is not enough: we need to act. And through acting we create new realities for ourselves.
More about newsletters
Last time I talked about the value of putting out a newsletter. I do think this is one of the best ways for independent professionals to keep in touch with their circle of colleagues and clients. But the logistics can be quite daunting.
I have only recently got back ‘in the swing’ with this newsletter after a prolonged setback resulting from technical glitches, etc that I found incredibly hard to deal with. So I would like to give a ‘plug’ for the system I am now using at http://sendeasy.com.au . I did have a few initial struggles but they were as nothing compared to the previous. SendEasy is an easy-to-use inexpensive system. Last week's newsletter allowed me to test it and get to know its strengths. If you are hesitating about sending your own newsletter, why not take a look at Ben Curnow’s http://sendeasy.com.au.
Quote for reflection
One hundred percent of the shots you don't take don't go in. Wayne Gretsky
Till next time, let's invite more happiness ...
Justus Lewis, PhD
