​Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday of the year; it holds special personal meaning for me.  Just this holiday’s name “THANKSGIVING” sings out happiness.  And I treasure the fact that during a time of great division on many matters, we are reminded to come together as one with both love and appreciation.  Thanksgiving is simply about having gratitude for all that this beautiful world has to offer.  Before I dive into my opinion of Black Friday, lets dissect the meaning of Thanksgiving a bit further.
THANKS
First, to ponder THANKS; Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on our blessings, to count and cherish each of them one by one.  We are reminded to take our focus off of what we don’t have and instead set our eyes on all that we have been given.  Doing this, changes our perspective for the better. Gratitude is a beautiful thing, it is a life-giving virtue with an automatic pay out that is perfectly ingrained within its nature. Those who focus on gratitude for what they have rather than on what they don’t, reap the benefit of feeling satisfied and fulfilled.  We can all find someone who has much more than we do, just the same we can easily find someone who has much less. But if we let go of those comparisons and intentionally take to the time to appreciate, every large and little gift, we can find reasons for gratitude infused in much of our everyday lives. A simple cup of coffee in the morning brings me pleasure and I am so thankful that God created the magical coffee bean. Change is a never ending reality and all that we have today may not be there tomorrow.   This is the time of year to reflect, and not take our blessings for granted; even those seemingly mundane tasks can be appreciated.  As I wash and dry my children’s school uniforms for the coming week, I remind myself that there will come a day when they won’t need them anymore.  
 
GIVING
I do not know of a better way to lift our spirits than to take our focus off of our own needs and wants than to reach out and give to others.  Thanksgiving is a time to forget ourselves and lift up someone else.   Just as we know that when a pendulum swings outward, we have zero doubt that it will swing back with equal force, the same is true with the nature of giving.  This world was brilliantly created so that this natural law is intrinsically woven into the tapestry of our lives.  We cannot do something, not anything without it coming back to us in some way.   We live in a world of cause and effect so that every decision we make, and every action we take has its consequences. Every act of kindness or love we offer will return to us in equal amounts, so give freely!   Perhaps this Thanksgiving is the perfect time to forgive someone and let them back into your life, you’ll be so glad that you did. Or maybe you can bless someone by donating rather than selling some of your belongings.  One man’s clutter is another man’s treasure.  Or go work in a homeless shelter for a day, not only will you come home with a happy soul that has been fed with bread of giving, but you also likely will be filled with gratitude for the house you come home to. 

A HIJACKED THANKSGIVING
Just as Christmas shopping has trumped the true meaning of Christmas, in recent years, Black Friday has hijacked Thanksgiving Day as well. Sadly, we are now encouraged to start shopping before the turkey has had time to settle in our stomachs.  TV commercials and advertisers brainwash you into thinking that you need to shop.  Just because retailers have taken most of our holidays and turned them into marketing opportunities doesn’t mean we have to take the bait.  Most of us don’t really need more stuff to add to our clutter no matter how great the deal is.  There is also irony in the fact that as we are enticed to shop, our attention is subtly pulled from that of gratitude and giving, back to our own wants and desires.  Back to “What don’t I have yet?”  Dallin Oaks message “We can never get enough of what we don’t really need” are truly wise words.

If you do decide to partake in the shopping frenzy on Black Friday, please give Thanksgiving the respect it deserves and wait until the day is over.  And as you shop, be extra polite to the other shoppers.  Try to buy for others rather than yourself and be mindful not to go overboard. I am a fan of gift cards because they don’t add more clutter to a person’s home.  The more emphasis we place on showering others with too many gifts, the less attention is given to the true meaning of Christmas.  The same goes for going nuts with purchasing more and more holiday decorations every year.  Do yourself and your pocket book a favor and keep the holidays simple.  Appreciate the family, friends, and food and the reason for the celebration and let go of everything else.    
 
Written By:
Laura Coufal
Clean & Clutter Free

 
It is a common belief that the better we are at multi-tasking, the more organized we are.   Let me enlighten you, as a professional organizer I can assure you, this is not true.  The fact is, multi-tasking can actually make you feel less organized.   Why?  Two reasons;  First, the amount of peace in our lives is reduced when we try to do too many things at one time, and second, multi-tasking means that we not only do things less accurately, but we take more time to get them done.    If we can give our full attention to what we are doing at the present moment, we will get it done faster and without as many blunders.   Better still, at the end of the day, we are not frazzled and worn out from juggling several tasks at a time all day long, and we have the energy to be more attentive and patient with our families.  Therefore, NOT multi-tasking can actually help us to be better mothers, not the other way around.

This is not to say that you can’t kill two birds with one stone by knocking out two or three errands in one trip downtown.  This is not multi-tasking; it is simply making good use of your time.  Also, keep in mind that it IS okay to double up on a task if only one of the two tasks requires your focus.  For example, folding laundry and talking on the phone can be done peacefully because it takes almost no brain effort to fold clothes.  But, if folding clothes happens to be a challenge for you, I suggest you hang up the phone.  The key is to not to combine two or more activities that demand your thought and focus.   

Simplicity is the key to staying organized, it is also the key to living a more peaceful life.  So set your focus on completing one task at a time, let go of multi-tasking and take time to breath.

Most of us spend our lives growing and accumulating belongings, we start out with an apartment, then a small house.  As our families grow and we experience more success, we acquire bigger homes.  As time passes, we continue to collect possessions. In fact, owning a big home with many possessions is how most of us define success.  But sometimes, in our quest for a sense of achievement, we actually end up with more possessions than we really need or use.  If this is you, it may be time to take inventory of your home and its contents, and decide if your belongings are serving you, or just weighing you down.
 
I often work with older adults who have lived in their homes for 30+ years, and have reached a stage in their lives, where they own more than they can manage.  They are in the process of moving to smaller homes and have collected so much stuff throughout the years that the task of dealing with it all is overwhelming.  Unfortunately, this process of “downsizing” into a smaller home with less stuff is often viewed in a negative light.  Many individuals feel that they have spent their whole lives working to acquire what they own, and now they have to let it go.   For this reason, many put off the letting go process for too long, dreading the day it has to be done. 

What most individuals with this kind of mindset do not realize, is that letting go of what no longer serves our needs or fits our lifestyle can actually add to the quality of our lives.  There is responsibility that goes along with managing our home and of all its contents.  Letting go of that responsibility, can simplify our lives and can be liberating and inspiring.  Moving from a large high maintenance home to a smaller one that better fits our present needs, can feel like lifting a large weight off of our shoulders.

So why do most of us avoid doing it?  Part of the reason is that our natural inclination is to seek more, whether that is in the form of more success, or more material belongings.  But that mentality does not always serve us well.  If we become mindful of this, and periodically take the time to assess and reduce our belongings throughout our lives, we will avoid ever having to tackle an insurmountable, dreaded “downsizing” job in the future.  Another reason that many of us are unable to let go of what we no longer use is that we let our busy schedules take priority and we never get around to getting the job done.  Meanwhile, the piles grow ever so large, taking over storage areas, closets and even active living areas.  I have worked with numerous individuals whose home environments have become so disorderly and chaotic that they don’t even want to spend time at home, because no peace can be found there.    

Whether we are age 25, or 75, it’s never too early to start to simplify our homes and our belongings.  Examine the contents of your home, and be willing to let go of everything that is not functional or does not inspire you.  Evaluate the way your home feels; is there plenty of open space for energy to flow within your home?  Or have its rooms become suffocating, with too much furniture and other items?  Do you feel peaceful when you are at home?  Do you spend more time than you would like maintaining and cleaning your big home and yard?  How would it feel to be surrounded only by the things that you cherish and use and nothing more? 
For those of us struggling with clutter, I suggest reading a book on Minimalism like Joshua Becker’s, “The More Of Less.”  You don’t have to become a Minimalist to acquire an appreciation for living more simply.  Learning to understand the concept of Minimalism can help us develop a more balanced attitude towards what we own, and help us to gain awareness of the unconscious drive to seek more.  

The added bonus to switching our mindsets from “What more do I need?” to “What don’t I need any more?” is that many who develop this way of thinking and living, find themselves so motivated that they find that they are able to let go of clutter that complicates other parts of their lives as well.  They learn to simplify their schedules and lifestyles and to let go of unwanted obligations that cause unnecessary stress.  

These days, we live in a world of... do more, have more, be more, and we never stop running.  This mentality leaves us feeling perpetually overwhelmed, but we don’t have to live this way.  We can learn to be satisfied with a simpler life, and come to cherish this carefree, less burdensome way of living.