Mental Clutter Mind Games

The Focus Challenge for this month on the 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge blog is to examine physical items of clutter that have been able to stay around because of a mental clutter hold, whether it was because of sentimentality (i.e., missing someone), fear (of not having the money to replace something decluttered if you ever need to), practicality (I can't get another like this if I want it again later), etc.

When you realize the sway that our thoughts have, inducing us to hold on to clutter, you gain awareness. As your awareness grows you learn to see these mental clutter holds and will hopefully take action at that time to release them.

Until next time...Take Care Of You!

Copyright © 2010 by tcoyou.com | all rights reserved

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TCOY Lessons From My Favorite Bloggers (Jul10)

As I stated in Sharing My Blog Reader Update #1 back in November, I had moved on from reading Simple Marriage every day to just following Corey on Twitter and catching the blog's highlights. My interests had changed and I didn't need to read anything on that subject at that time. Now things have settled down and, since I have missed reading his posts and the comments from his other readers as well, Simple Marriage is back on my reader!

Relationships from Simple Marriage:
In Are you guilty of these marriage mistakes, Corey shares some common marriage mistakes that I know I've seen before in another post of his because I've actually said the last line in the one below to my husband. By the look on his face, and the answers I gave to him in subsequent follow-up questions, he certainly got the message.

Always being “right”. Probably one very unattractive quality in a person is the know-it-all syndrome. Add to this the idea of always having to get in the last word and you’ve got a recipe for trouble. Admit your mistakes or that you perhaps don’t have all the answers. And if you still insist on always being right, riddle me this – if you’re always right, what’s that make your spouse? So what’s it like being married to a loser?

Self Improvement from The Simple Dollar:
Getting Things Done: Five Key Things, the final entry in a fourteen part series by Trent that breaks down the book chapter-by-chapter, contains links to all posts in the series (very worthwhile to read!) and the 5 key messages in the book from his perspective.

* Get stuff out of your head and on paper (or in a reliable digital form).
* When being productive, your focus should be exclusively on the next action.
* Processing the stuff that comes out of your head and into your life is a daily practice.
* Have coherent, known places to put all of your stuff.
* A regular (preferably weekly) review is essential, where you reflect on things more broadly.

Awareness from The Rat Race Trap and Raptitude:
Stephen gives us the answer to Why Television Commercials Increase Viewing Pleasure and more. I was intrigued by the following on hedonic adaptation:

As it turns out, interrupting the adaptation resets it. Interrupting something unpleasant, taking a break for example, resets the adaptation you have already made to the unpleasant experience and so you have to experience the initial unpleasantness all over again. Interrupting a pleasant experience also resets the adaptation and so you get to experience the initial pleasantness all over again.

David shares the insightful idea of a simple shift of perspective in How to deal with people who frustrate you.

Imagine all the people in your world are completely enlightened and aware of what they’re doing to you, and they’re doing it only to teach you something valuable. Your task is to figure out what.

...

This is a very empowering way to field whatever life tosses at you. It works so well because your mentality changes from that of the know-it-all, the teacher of proper behavior, to that of the student.

...

By responding to the behavior of others with the mindset of a student instead of a teacher, you develop a habit of self-inquiry that gradually replaces the habit of condemning others for being less considerate or less refined or less aware than you. You’ll learn to look for the smart move instead of the first one comes to you, and you’ll be building a mental toolkit that can handle just about anything.

House & Family from Simple Marriage:
Simple Marriage columnist Susan Heid says that Allowing Your Child to Grow Up involves allowing problem solving and allowing the wrong choice because "ultimately we all want to raise responsible and resourceful adults".

I actually found the excerpt below in an article on the Huffington Post via a Twitter friend. It was worth sharing so I've included it here in this month's TCOY Lessons!

Of course kids might bring fun to the table with their knock-knock jokes and fart-inspired giggles, while ALSO bringing more stress into our lives. But this is not a forgone conclusion. When we stop multi-tasking and are truly present with our children, when we let kids make their own mistakes rather than trying to control their every outcome, when we simply give ourselves the alone-time we need -- that we had before kids -- parenting can be a source of BOTH meaning AND moment-to-moment happiness.

Life Clutter from reSPACEd:
MaryJo shares a great way to get rid of old electronics that could possibly earn you some cash!

Until next time...Take Care Of You!

Photo Credit: Iron Design

Copyright © 2010 by tcoyou.com | all rights reserved
What are your thoughts on this topic? Leave a comment and let us know!
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You should follow me on twitter. Thank you for adding your Twitter identity to the guestbook on the right! Enjoy what you read at Taking Care Of You? It's easy to receive free updates by email or RSS. Click SHARE to help spread the word about TCOYou.com. Please and thank you!

To Me, From Me

Until next time...Take Care Of You!

Copyright © 2010 by tcoyou.com | all rights reserved

What are your thoughts on this topic? Leave a comment and let us know!

__________________________________________________________________

You should follow me on twitter. Thank you for adding your Twitter identity to the guestbook on the right!Enjoy what you read at Taking Care Of You? It's easy to receive free updates by email or RSS.Click SHARE to help spread the word about TCOYou.com. Please and thank you!

Suzanne Is Away and Unplugged

Hello, this is Suzanne. If you have reached this message, I am away at the moment. Any messages left for me will be returned, once I have returned, in the order they were received. Hope you make it a great day and, as always, thank you for your interest in TCOYou.com.

(beep)

At my regular day job, I love when it comes time to change my extension's voicemail to a vacation message. In the days preceeding it, the anticipation builds as I eagerly count down until it's time to go like an excited child. Recording the message just sends me that much higher because I know that tomorrow is the day when I get to get away. And, now, as I'm writing this a few days before I leave for 5 days on vacation, I'm feeling that old familiar feeling. It's almost time to go, yay!

Until July 16th, I can be found around our weekend home or on my weekend couch.


As there is no internet access where we go, I'm going to enjoy my unplugged time! I'll be back soon. :-)

Until next time...Take Care Of You!

Copyright © 2010 by tcoyou.com | all rights reserved

What are your thoughts on this topic? Leave a comment and let us know!

__________________________________________________________________

You should follow me on twitter. Thank you for adding your Twitter identity to the guestbook on the right!Enjoy what you read at Taking Care Of You? It's easy to receive free updates by email or RSS.Click SHARE to help spread the word about TCOYou.com. Please and thank you!

Quote to Reflect Upon (Jul10)

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
- John Wooden


Until next time...Take Care Of You!

Photo Credit: Light Reflection

Copyright © 2010 by tcoyou.com | all rights reserved

What are your thoughts on this topic? Leave a comment and let us know!

__________________________________________________________________

You should follow me on twitter. Thank you for adding your Twitter identity to the guestbook on the right!Enjoy what you read at Taking Care Of You? It's easy to receive free updates by email or RSS.Click SHARE to help spread the word about TCOYou.com. Please and thank you!