Clutter on your mind.   Imagine that everything you own--everything in your closets, kitchen, all your books, CD and DVDs, computer folders, pens and pencils, jewelry, cleaning supplies, boxes, all  the stuff in the garage and in your car's glove box and trunk, toys, shoes, clothes, the junk drawer, the garden shed, and heaven forbid the off-site, monthly expense  storage facility-- is tied to you by single pieces of thread.  We are energetically attached to our stuff 24/7.  Every day we spend time thinking about what to do with our stuff: how to manage it, clean it, display it, organize it, insure it, and deal with it.  What would you rather be doing with your time?  How about reading, laughing, mediating, listening to music, planning a trip, or thoughtful and entertaining conversations with friends and family?

Lighten up and let it go.  Take a look around and make the decision to let go of those things you no longer love, use or need.  Every time you let go of something and remove it from your environment, you cut one of those threads and immediately lighten up, making time and room for what you want in your life and how you'd rather be spending your time.  Less stuff, more  time.  Start small.  Begin with the desk top, or a kitchen drawer, the front hall closet, or the glove box or trunk in your car.  Or like my sister Kelli, her handbag.  Here's how feng shui and the Universe works.  Kelli had a large handbag in which she carried her calendar/daytimer, a smaller bag with her credit cards and money and phone, and the remainder filled with lots of other stuff: papers and coupons and reminders etc. etc.  For the past several months she kept asking herself how she was going to get rid of all that extra stuff she didn't really need but couldn't quite let go and that she continually pondered over and worried and thought about because 'just in case' or 'maybe' she might need it someday.  A few days before Christmas she pulled up to the back door of her office building, grabbed the smaller bag with phone and credit card, left her handbag on the front seat of her car and ran into the building for a '5-second' errand. When she came back the handbag was gone. Needless to say, she hadn't locked the car doors.  In our conversation, she sadly missed her calendar but the rest of it she didn't miss one little bit. Not even the handbag.  The Universe answered the dilemma she had been thinking and worrying about -- it got rid of it for her.  Instead of letting the Universe have carte blanche on your clutter (like a fire or water damage or theft), YOU can take control and make the decision to let it go just as if someone else, less attached, picked it up and handled all of it for you.

What's the worst that could happen?  Like Kelli's papers, we think we might need this information 'just in case'.  Here's a list of questions to ask yourself as you begin to let go of paper and things.  Take control and ask yourself...

• Is this item, information, document, magazine recent enough to be useful? 
• Can I identify a specific use for this item, piece of paper, magazine?
• Does this item, piece of paper, require any action?
• Would it be difficult for me to get this item, information, document again?
• What's the worst possible scenario if I toss this? Can I live with the answer?
• If I didn't have this anymore, how long would it take me to miss it?
• Is there a substitute for this item?

If you can answer "no" to most of these questions or you discover a reasonable alternative, then lighten up and let it go.

You might consider instead of keeping the item, simply jotting down the information in your smart phone or in a designated notebook or journal where you keep 'important' information in one retrievable location.  Or like I told my client this week, take a picture of it, which usually takes a lot less space than the boxes or piles and you still have a visual reminder.

This week spend some time identifying how you would like to spend your time.  What would you do with more time?  What is currently taking time that you could delegate to someone else or quit?  How can you lighten up and create more time for yourself this year?