Clutter and Hoarding - Your Brain Chemistry Can Help!
By Beverly E Taylor

Many clutterers feel frustrated, easily exhausted, unfocused, and just plain stressed. These problems can actually result from in imbalance in your brain chemistry. Sound far fetched or high-tech? Not at all. This is good news because the solutions are healthy and simple to do. Discover three easy ways to adjust your brain chemistry work better for you today. You can boost your brain to help you clear your clutter!

Let’s take a quick look at what two brain chemicals do for your well-being. Dopamine is connected with energy, clarity, the ability to focus, motivation, and pleasurable feelings. Serotonin helps with mood control, “happy” feelings, calmness, managing anxiety, warding off depression, and good sleep. Women are generally low in serotonin, while men are generally low in dopamine.

So can your brain chemistry help you with clutter? Many clutterers and hoarders tend to have many of the symptoms described for low serotonin and low dopamine levels. There are some simple and safe ways to balance out these chemicals. You can give yourself a great boost for clearing your mind and your clutter.

Here are some easy things to consider. Nothing here is absolute - just see what works for you.

Proper Nutrition: Eating a nutritious breakfast is an important way to start the day. You could have a piece of fruit, some oatmeal and make sure you have some protein such as an egg. You especially need protein, vitamins, minerals and Omega 3 to create serotonin and dopamine. Morning is the best time for creating serotonin, so have a healthy breakfast. Just make it simple and delicious, avoiding sugary treats like donuts or candy bars.

Gentle Exercise: Gentle exercise is a great way to raise dopamine and serotonin levels. According to Dr John Gray, author of the well-known Mars and Venus relationship, diet, exercise and stress books, exercising in the morning for just 20 minutes helps boost your production of serotonin and dopamine for the whole day.

Talking to someone: Your serotonin production is stimulated when you share your concerns with a caring, supportive person who listens to you. Low trust and lack of optimism is common in people who have a low serotonin level. Clutterers and hoarders often feel like their situation is hopeless, so talking with someone can really help. If you don’t feel like talking at all or that it’s too hopeless, this is a symptom of very low serotonin. This is especially a time to take care of yourself and to reach out to others. Research has shown that hypnotherapy and/or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) are effective in helping people reduce clutter and hoarding.

The “Wandering Butterfly Clean Up Technique” is a wonderful way to make it easy to clean up. It is excellent to use when you don’t feel like cleaning up, yet you get something done! To receive the free document, click here http://www.easykeytoclutter.com

Many clutterers benefit from the gentle, easy and empowering process of hypnotherapy, especially with a hypnotherapist who specializes in clutter. Beverly E. Taylor, the “Clean Up Queen” is the only person in the world who has written a book using hypnotherapy to help people easily clean up clutter.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Beverly_E_Taylor

This post entry (below) about the need to de-clutter and pondering exactly what it might be like to loose everything and start over is something I’ve been wondering about myself. Form what I know of a zen lifestyle and by that I mean the life of a zen monk one of the things they do (correct me if I’m wrong) and I believe this happens in another religion, is to forego all worldly possessions.

It’s not unusual for people to loose everything they own in a fire for example - in fact I met someone recently who had that happen just a couple of months back, yet they ’survive’ and by this I mean that regardless of the loss of all their possession they continue with their lives quite well in most cases. It IS possible to continue and live a great life after such a disaster, WHY? because all that stuff doesn’t really matter, in the overall scope of life the universe and everything things are meaningless in and of themselves, any meaning they have is what we chosse to give them.
This of course means that we can choose to change the meaning associated with something from positive to negative and (preferrably) vice versa. It also means that if we loose something that we can choose to be ok with that and not mourn the loss for the rest of our lives. This then means that we can also choose to actively remove things from our lives by choosing to let go of the associated meaning.
Now I’m not saying that we should get rid of every item regardless of a deep sentimental attachment but I would question that if an item can illicit a strong emotional response for you then why is it shoved in the back of a closet? Conversely if you take more than 20 seconds to think of a reason to keep something then it’s questionable that it has any meaning whatsoever, if so why keep it?

When we take a hard look at our possessions then take a look at the life of someone in a third world country what’s the difference? apart from the obvious! They have very little but they survive without all the stuff. This begs the questions, what do we really need? Food, shelter, each other? really the rest is icing! and I don’t know about you but just how much of the icing of those over dressed wedding cakes actually gets eaten - it doesn’t! it’s just sickening excess ‘pretties’ stuff that we really don’t need.

Here’s what Susan L says on her blog post

I sometimes think that if our house burned down and we lost everything, it wouldn’t really be that horrible. I’d miss the family heirlooms and journals and photos, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. In fact, I think, in some ways, I would feel a sense of relief, with a chance to start fresh, an opportunity to simplify without getting rid of some “special” thing. (Not that I, at all, want a disaster like a fire to happen…)

And then I think, if we really were put in a position to start from scratch, how would I want to approach setting up a new home? Without a doubt, I’d want to keep everything simple and lovely and useful. I’d want a smaller scale home and yard to begin with, and then I’d want to buy quality items, waiting patiently for each new thing until we could get what we really want. I wouldn’t want much around me. Lots of light and space. Coziness is important to me, but coziness doesn’t require clutter. It’s more about personal taste and making a place real.

I wonder if there is a way to sort of start over, to re-establish something near to that basic simplicity? Why should disaster have to strike for me to find the basic, simple, uncluttered space that so appeals to me?

Clutter and Hoarding - How Weeding My Garden Helps De-Cluttering
By Beverly E Taylor

So you may be wondering, how can weeding a garden help me with de-cluttering? You can use the concepts in weeding to help make it easier to de-clutter.

At my house, there are too many weeds to pull at one time. Pulling weeds gives me a reason to take a break and go outside to enjoy the sunshine and get a sense of fulfillment.

Do What You Want

[image by dntphotography]

Sometimes I just pull whatever and whichever weeds I want to wherever they are. I just pull the ones I feel like pulling in that moment.

Do what you prefer to do in the moment. It really is ok to do what you feel like doing. Why not? You’re getting something done, and that’s what’s important. It doesn’t mean that you’ll always be doing this. If you find you aren’t getting things done, then doing anything is better than doing nothing.

Do the Easy Stuff

There is one type of weed that is very easy to pull out by the roots. I enjoy pulling these as it’s so simple and easy to do.

In your home, do the easy stuff. This can be done with micro easy steps in which you just throw away one easy thing or move one item to the correct room.

Do What is Urgent

Weeds that are about to flower are more urgent than others. If I don’t pull these weeds now, then they’ll flower and go to seed. This makes more weeds so the problem gets worse.

Some urgent things to do in de-cluttering are to clean up things that make smells or that have a deadline, such as paying bills.

Make Tools Easy to Reach

I have a gardening tool that helps dig weeds out by the roots, so it doesn’t grow back. I use gloves to pull weeds with thorns. I make sure my tools are easy to reach when I need them.

Organizing tools are hangers, boxes, felt pens for labeling, folders, cleaning supplies, and bill paying materials (pen, checkbook, stamps). Make your tools easy to reach in the rooms you need them.

Do What is Most Embarrassing

I live in a community where many people take walks. So I am embarrassed when they can see weeds and sometimes this is where I pull weeds first. I have other people living with me, so I also think about their feelings of having a nice looking front garden.

In de-cluttering, you may want to focus on making the entryway and living room look good. Where do guests go in your house? De-clutter and straighten up those areas. If you live with others, do what makes them feel better, which could mean your shared bedroom.

The “Wandering Butterfly Clean Up Technique” is a wonderful way to make it easy to clean up. It is excellent to use when you don’t feel like cleaning up, yet you get something done! To receive the free document, click here http://www.easykeytoclutter.com

Many clutterers benefit from the gentle, easy and empowering process of hypnotherapy, especially with a hypnotherapist who specializes in clutter. Beverly E. Taylor, the “Clean Up Queen” is the only person in the world who has written a book using hypnosis to help people easily clean up clutter.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Beverly_E_Taylor

Clutter and Hoarding - Doing a Project One Step at a Time
By Beverly E Taylor

Worry about change, hearing inner criticism, looking to do things perfectly, afraid of not completing projects - these may be some of the thoughts a clutterer thinks when he or she organizes something. If any of these things happen to you when you think about cleaning, you might learn some lessons from birds.

I Learned Project Management by Watching Birds

The other day I watched some birds meticulously building a nest. It was very interesting to see those beautiful birds acting by instinct to prepare for having baby birds. As I watched, I started thinking about cleaning out my kitchen silverware drawer and felt nervous about doing it. Do you struggle when it comes to completing projects? I like doing things the easy way. I think I found an easy way to clean out my silverware drawer by watching birds.

One Piece of Grass at a Time

So, I watched these birds building their nest. Slowly, methodically they built it. They looked like they were enjoying themselves. They chirped occasionally as they worked.

I think those birds were praising each other for a job well done. As I watched these birds, I remembered that I wanted to clean out my kitchen silverware drawer.

I Modeled the Birds’ Behavior

When I got home, I went into the kitchen and looked at my silverware drawer. Then I imagined those birds. I thought, “If those birds wanted to have baby birds they had to have a place for them. So, one step at a time, they worked together until they got the nest built. They worked at their own pace…no pressure. I liked thinking about that idea.

I finally walked over to the silverware drawer. I took out one fork and imagined those birds building the nest. I took out a spoon and again thought of the birds building their nest. Slow and easy, one step at a time, I took out all the silverware. So, basically I distracted myself into cleaning out the silverware drawer. Pretty good, huh?

Well, for me, putting back the silverware was like those birds adding grass and bits of other building materials to the nest they were building. One piece at a time, at my own pace, I put the silverware back into the drawer. I tried to whistle to entertain myself as I worked, but honestly, my whistling is for the birds. Isn’t that funny that I compared building a nest to cleaning out the silverware drawer?

The “Wandering Butterfly Clean Up Technique” is a wonderful way to make it easy to clean up. It is excellent to use when you don’t feel like cleaning up, yet you get something done! To receive the free document, click here http://www.easykeytoclutter.com

Many clutterers benefit from the gentle, easy and empowering process of hypnotherapy, especially with a hypnotherapist who specializes in clutter. Beverly E. Taylor, the “Clean Up Queen” is the only person in the world who has written a book using hypnosis to help people easily clean up clutter.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Beverly_E_Taylor