Welcome to the third and final part of this 3-part series. So far we have looked at: Clear Your Mind, Indulge Your Vision, Freshen up Your Diet, Clear Your Desk, Streamline Your Diary, Re-Organise Your Office and Empty Your Car. Hopefully by now you will have done at LEAST 3 of those things if you're serious about cleaning up your act in 2012! This week, the final three: Spring Clean Your Home, Review Your Finances and Refresh Your Relationships. Ready to go? Let's do it!
8) Spring Clean Your Home
Last week you started with your desk and then extended to your complete home office. This week I encourage you to take it as far afield as you desire in cleaning up your home environment so that it feels really clean and really "you". Now is the time to be honest with yourself about how you feel about your home. Does it feel like a home? Does it nourish and delight your senses? Does it make you smile when you think about it? If not, then there's some work to be done, and here's where you start...
Begin by taking a clean sheet of paper and at the top of it write ONE word that completely sums up the overriding feeling you'd like to have in your home. It might be something simple like "clear", "airy" or "light", or it might be something more emotionally driven like "sensual", "cosy" or "welcoming". It could also be something more practical like "organised", "safe" or "functional". Just go quiet for a moment and ask yourself what one word best sums up what you desire for your home right now.
When you've done that and have it in large letters at the top of your page, next count up the number of rooms you have in your home, including basements and attics and annexes if they feel relevant, and divide your page into as many boxes. Write the name of each room - one per box - at the top of each box, and then underneath each room name do what you just did for your home as a whole, i.e. write one word that best sums up what you'd like that particular room to feel like. Effectively each room will end up with its own "character" or theme, which may or may not be similar to the other rooms in your home. From here of course comes the action! And as you may have more than a handful of rooms in your home this exercise is probably best split into 3 or 4 sessions, so it doesn't feel overwhelming.
Simply start by taking the first room on your list and physically or mentally stepping into that room and asking "What do I need to change about this room to have it align with my chosen feeling?". From there you will make a list of all the things you need to remove, all the things you need to change, and all the new things that you could bring in to make it fully X ("X" being whatever word you chose). Continue on from here room by room until you have done the same for your whole house - by the end you should feel really excited about bringing such loving attention and clarity to what is essentially your nest, your sacred space or your "private universe". Now finally check in with your original one word theme for your home, look for any obvious clashes (not likely that there will be any but worth checking) and then, assuming all is harmonious, proceed to work your way through your home, one room at a time, ticking off all the to-do items on your list until your home is 100% YOU. What a feeling!
9. Review Your Finances
One of the best tools for getting off to a good healthy start financially is to take stock of where you're at right now - i.e. what's coming in and what's going out, as well as any debts that you may be paying off currently. Obvious, but vital. From this place of concrete knowledge (figures don't lie), you can then get clear on where you are now compared to where you want to be and then start working on your action plan, for either bringing in more revenue or spending less (or both).
And finally…
10. Refresh Your Relationships
This can be a small deal or a big deal depending on many factors. Perhaps you've simply not kept in touch with a good friend as much as you'd have liked (book that visit or phone catch up now!), or perhaps you have a past disagreement to patch up or sort out that until now you really didn't want to face up to, or maybe there are all sorts of "attention required" flags lining themselves up in your subconscious... Wherever you're at with relationships, be they friends, family, your partner, your colleagues, associates, "blasts from the past" or whatever, now is the time to check in and see what effort is required and if you are up to the challenge!
Human relationships can be our greatest source of pain but also our greatest source of joy, so if you do just one thing this year around relationships, regardless of whether you feel ready, willing or able to clear up any hangovers from the past, then why not think along the lines of the exercise I outlined in step 8 and think of one or two key words or phrases that best sum up what you'd like your close relationships to feel like this year and then set about a) Spending more time with those who fit that "vibe" already and, b) attracting in some great new friends who will fill you up to overflowing with whatever it is that you're looking for in your 1-2-1's! It's said that we are most like the 5 people that we spend the majority of our time with, so ask yourself what this tells you when you have a think about your current circumstances and ask yourself if you feel happy, sad or thoughtful about that... The rest, as ever, is over to you!
So that's the 3-parter now wrapped up for the start of this year, next issue back to the food stuff! I hope you got some benefit out of the ideas I shared with you over these past 3 issues, what I can tell you having put into practice all of these things myself is, quite simply, they work!
© 2012 Karen Knowler WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach publishes "Successfully Raw" - a free weekly eZine for raw food lovers everywhere. If you're ready to look good, feel great and create a raw life you love get your FREE tips, tools and recipes now at www.TheRawFoodCoach.com.
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