Picture Your Clutter Gone!
By: Janet L. Hall

In Catherine Ponders book, The Prosperity Secrets of the
Ages, she says, “Psychologists tell us that the picturing
power of the mind is one of man’s strongest powers for
success. They say that any picture firmly held in mind is
bound to come forth as a result.”

She goes on to tell us “…that you should picture what you
WANT instead of what you do NOT want because what you
constantly picture you will get!” Imagine that! You could be
making your life or clutter worse because you are “seeing it”
as chaotic and cluttered.

Do you believe that? I SURE DO!

Mental pictures, picture power, creative visualization,
imaging – whatever you refer to as the practice of “…vividly
picturing, in your conscious mind, a desired goal or
objective, and holding that image until it sinks into your
unconscious mind, where it releases great, untapped
energies” (Norman Vincent Peale) is VERY powerful. I know
VERY successful people, including myself that have
practiced imaging to get the life we wanted.

Why don’t you give it a try right now? Take two minutes and
picture yourself taking control over your clutter and life.

Close your eyes, get quiet, take some deep belly breaths,
and…

Picture yourself becoming more active and taking action
against your clutter, going through the piles, the stacks, the
boxes, closets, drawers, cabinets, and anywhere you see
clutter!

Become calm and quiet, and see yourself rising up from your
seat or bed.

See yourself starting to sort through “Fill In the Blank.”

Feel the items in your hands. Examine each item you touch
with your eyes, brain, and heart.

Feel the feelings that are whelming up inside you. Let them
in. Is it a sigh of relief that you are finally starting to get
organized? Is it scary? Is it overwhelming? Is it Tiring? Is it
frustrating? That’s okay; stand up to your feelings. Ride with
those bad or good feelings – like you’re floating on your back
in a rocking ocean. Ride the small and large waves up and
down. Lie there and float with the rhythm – your rhythm- soon
it will calm and you’ll be okay – just go with the feelings until
you are calm once again.

Now see the clutter sorted, put away, and gone. See that
you were successful. (If you saw someone assisting you, in
which you needed to pay, picture the right and perfect
person coming to you, and the money needed coming to you
also. Hold this picture in your mind and see how you feel
now.

Are you: relieved, happy, proud, or exhausted? Feel it and
enjoy the feelings.

Sit for another minute. Take another DEEP belly breath.
Slowly open your eyes and REALLY start to take the actions
you just pictured.

Now I know many of you might be thinking this is crazy or off
the wall. I also know many have excuses for their clutter –
why things are the way they are – or their fear of letting go. I
know many get attached to not just their “things” but also
their attitudes and their picture of the world, as they see it. I
know many don’t take any action, nor never will, as they sit
and watch stuff pile up around them.

I know many don’t have the know how to get organized.
Many just don’t have any organizing skills; just don’t have a
clue as to what to keep or not. Some need permission, to be
held accountable by a friend or mentor, or take a class or get
some coaching. Some need motivated or a good friend.
There is certainly nothing wrong with not having or wanting
and needing any of the above; however if you don’t make the
choice to take some kind of action against your clutter I
guarantee you you will have bigger problems and more
severe clutter problems in the coming years. And it’s never
too late if you start right now.

Continue to practice your imaging throughout the days and
weeks ahead. It takes little effort, but you must work on your
picturing power everyday until your action kicks in.

Make a commitment to yourself TODAY. Start TODAY!
Stand up and chose to take whatever action you need.

Dr. Peale, author of Positive Imaging: The Powerful Way to
Change Your Life, tells us that whatever our minds can
conceive and believe, and your heart desires, you can
achieve.

For those of you that read the Bible, you can even read in
Mark 11:24 that Jesus says, “What things so ever ye desire,
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall
have them.”

So why not try, practice, and work at picturing your clutter
gone – what have you got to lose except some clutter?

Smiles, not Piles,

Copyright (c) 2002 by OverHall Consulting
P.O. Box 263, Port Republic, MD 20676
All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce,
copy, or distribute this article so long as article is kept intact,
this copyright notice, and full information about the author is
attached.

When most of us hear about a job, we think about a job in the 9-to-5-working world. Who thinks about the job a wife and mother does daily? As mothers, we don’t have a job description laid out in front of us, but we do know we are more than qualified for each position we encounter daily. We have become so accustomed to thinking that the only important job is a career in the corporate world. We forget about the most important job, that of being a wife and mother in the home. Most of us want to be out in the world where all the so-called action is.

I am not denouncing anyone who works outside of the home, because God places us in many situations at different seasons in our lives. However, when you accept the important role of wife and mother, your life should change to accommodate your family’s needs. You have to be aware of your calling as wife and mother.

Frequently, our little paycheck is not the problem; the problem is our lack of wisdom and understanding of being a proper steward over that paycheck.

Why have Christian and non-Christian women left their homes for careers? 1) Women are not being instructed clearly in the Word of God. Instead, women have been encouraged to go with the culture. 2) They think to be important; they have to be out there in the working world. I believe since so many women work outside the home, we have more broken homes and rebellious children, more kids shooting kids, and more kids crying out, “Somebody love me”! Right now, marriages are failing at the rate of over 50 percent. More than 60 percent of our children are being raised in single-family homes. We even have teenage couples taking their own lives, simply because they can’t abide by their parents rules.

I suggest you take time out to write a simple letter to yourself. Ask yourself what in life do you desire for you and your family? Write out goals, dreams, and visions. Be reasonable with the timing of your goals. Don’t feel pressured by feeling you must accomplish them quickly.

A new generation of career women says women are less inclined to juggle career and motherhood at this time, according to the Des Moines Register, “Family now, career later” article, August 5, 2001. The high-stress, have-it all attitudes are being replaced in many younger women with a belief that career and family should be taken one at a time. A lot of mothers are just maxed out! Some younger women are watching older women and saying, “I don’t want my life to be like that.” The number of children who are cared for by their married mothers at home while their fathers work has grown significantly over recent years, according to the latest from the Census Bureau.

According to Time magazine, -”The Case for Staying Home” March 22, 2004, when moms are caught between the pressures of the workplace and the demands of being a mom, more women are sticking with the kids. The percentage of working women with infants fell recently for the first time since government began tracking the rise of mothers in the labor force nearly three decades ago. No matter how you slice it, more mothers are enjoying the slower pace and are able to answer the simple questions their children ask. Despite many sayings, a lot of the women that step out of their careers find expected delights on the home front, not to mention the enormous relief of no longer worrying about shortchanging their kids.

Where there is a choice, many women with children are choosing motherhood. Many are simply staying in the home until their children reach school age. Some women choose part-time work or projects to do in their home. Other women choose to job share.

In 1994, around 9.3 million children younger than 15 had stay-at-home married mothers and working fathers, according to “Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics,” March 2002 – U.S. Census Bureau. By 2002, the number of these children rose to over 11 million.

If we are honest with ourselves, most of us do not even like our jobs. A recent poll showed that 90 percent of working women do not even care for their jobs. Yet 50 percent of babies are currently in childcare. Now isn’t that a situation? Seventy-five percent of women with children over the age of six have a job away from the home. We place our family responsibilities on hold, we take our child/children to childcare, we complain about our positions on the job, and we rush home to enjoy maybe two or three hours with our family before preparing for the next cycle. Tell me, what is wrong with this picture? The enemy Satan just sits back and looks at us in the world of hustle and bustle, while our children suffer.

More than 59 percent of teens come home to an empty home. Some parents feel teens will be okay home alone. Trusting a 7-year-old home alone may be a lot easier than trusting a 17-year-old. Proverbs 29:15 tells us that “The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

I read a study done by Edelman Financial Services and found that the mom at home is worth big bucks. Based on salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, trade groups, human resources, and staffing firms, it compiled the median annual salary for the typical mom at home performing the services of raising children, cooking, housecleaning, pet care, dispensing medicine, attending meetings, providing transportation, managing finances, assisting homework, maintaining the family schedule, being on call 24/7, and resolving problems. The work fell into more than 15 key occupations. Edelman estimated that a mother’s worth is about $508,700 per year – more than $42,000 a month.

So I encourage you if you have a dream or passion to work from your home, don’t gve up. Be persistent and determined to be home for your family while bringing an income in at the same time. You can do it!

Voices!

So many voices crying out for adherence and so many people confused about values, virtues and life.

What voices are calling out to you and what voices are you listening to?

My daughter is just now enjoying her first year in life. As I listen to the voices calling out to young ladies these days, I can’t help but wonder what the popular trend will be when she has to decide which voices she will lend an ear to.

As she enters young adulthood, I hope this is what she finds.

I hope the popular trend of the day is a video craze called, “Girls Gone MILD!”

No, that’s not a misprint!

I hope it is popular because it depicts women in the following ways:

* As more than full-of-brandy eye candy and toys-for-boys
* As pillars in the community instead of pillows for the community
* As being more concerned about innocence lost than being “not that innocent”
* As valuing their bodies and it shows by how they use them instead of showing them using their bodies to be valued
* As valuing being wanted for a lifetime of nights and not just a night of a lifetime
* As adhering to the belief in moral decency instead of the belief that it is indecent to be moral
* As being applauded more for lifting their skills to the world than lifting their skirts

High hopes, you say!

Yes, maybe high hopes, maybe wishful thinking, or maybe I’m just adding my voice to the mix.

Only in America will you find dogs all dressed up and walking down the aisle! Don’t get me wrong, I am a dog lover myself, but I have to admit I was a little concerned when I arrived to the wedding and found out the bride was sending the rings down the aisle with her two beloved doggies.

I am an ordained interfaith minister and have been performing non-traditional, unique ceremonies since 1999. My philosophy is it is your day and you should have it your way. My concern was not that she wanted the dogs in the ceremony, after all my philosophy is it is your day and you should have it your way. My concern was more of a practical one. The wedding was taking place outside within a fenced area, which was right next to a large pond with lots of birds and ducks. It can be difficult to count on children behaving just right in a ceremony, let alone trying to keep a dog from barking or God Forbid, chasing a bird or duck that should happen across his path.

I understood that the pets were very important to the bride. They had been an integral part of her life, and she wanted them to be a part of her wedding ceremony. And, if that is what she wanted, then that is what she should have. She had arranged to have a ring pillow attached to a harness on the back of each dog. In order for the wedding rings to stay put, they would need to be tied pretty tightly, which at the altar can be a problem!

Nervous grooms with shaky hands can have a difficult time untying tight knots. On the other hand, if she did not tie them tightly, the walking motion of the dogs (or running) may cause the wedding rings to come loose and fall to the ground. Can’t you see it now, loose wedding rings rolling around on the ground and people falling all over each other to try to catch them? This would not be a good scene and definitely not a moment to cherish for a lifetime.

My suggested solution to her was simple. She could put fake wedding rings on the pillows and give the real wedding rings to a trusted adult member of the bridal party. That way, she could incorporate the animals she loved so dearly, while not risking the loss or damage to the real rings. (By the way, we do that all of the time with little kids and ring pillows!) With a little creativity and forethought, you can really have just about anything on your wedding day that you desire!

Whatever happened to good old fashioned birthday parties with cake and back-yard games? My nine year daughter recently attended a birthday party which included a limousine ride to The Ritz hotel for tea, followed by manicures and pedicures at a posh shop. I think most of us were first picked up in limos for our wedding โ€“ not a childโ€™s birthday party. Since when did birthday parties become such extravagant affairs?

CNN.com reported on a full service childrenโ€™s birthday party planning company in California that is run by a team trained in child development. They take six weeks to plan and it costs as much as $10,000. Now thatโ€™s a party.

In our now โ€œmore is betterโ€ culture, parents and kids are having higher and higher expectations of birthday parties. As a result, parents are feeling the financial strain and stress and kids are overloaded and over-indulged.

So how do you create an inexpensive, yet memorable birthday party? Keep it simple. Have the party at home and invite eight friends โ€“ not 20. Plan a fun craft that can be used as the take home party favor โ€“ eliminating the over-stuffed throw-away goody bag. Play good old fashioned games that kids will love. An obstacle course or sack race is great for both boys and girls of all ages. For younger kids, you canโ€™t go wrong with โ€˜Duck Duck Gooseโ€™ (or Princess, Princess, Frog). For older kids, a dress-up relay race is always fun. Just use a bunch of clothes from the closet such as ties, dress up shoes, party dresses, hats.

There are lots of great birthday party ideas sites online to find fun birthday party themes and party games ideas. One site to try is Amazing Moms. Readers from all over the country submit birthday party ideas. You can also check out your local crafts store such as Michaels or Ben Franklin crafts for your activity materials or if youโ€™re short on time, go online and find craft packages available to you.

Remember that the birthday party is for your children. Pick something that every child can participate in and keep it simple. This will allow you too as their parents to enjoy the festivities, hold the video camera and simply share in the excitement of your childโ€™s celebration! They will grow up too fast so relish in these exciting and developing years!

Barbie is a doll that seems to span the entire world. You will find this doll in a variety of clothes and costumes. Since many girls are fascinated by images of royalty and princesses in particular there is a line of princess Barbie dolls. These Barbie dolls range from fairy tale Barbie dolls to replicas of princesses from various countries.

These Barbie dolls are very beautiful and you should be able to find various ones that portray different looks. You can also find a Ken doll that is shown as a prince. You also have the chance of buying videos that show various princess Barbie figures. These videos are ones like Rapunzel, the Princess and the Pauper among the many characters.

Other than these Barbie dolls the princess Barbie dolls can also be found as an imperial Russian princess, a Dutch princess who is dressed in the 17th century clothing. When you are thinking of buying one of these princess Barbie dolls you will need to take into account the person who will be receiving one of these dolls. If the recipient is that of a young girl, buying one of the Disney princess Barbie dolls or fairytale Barbie dolls is a better investment.

These dolls are dressed in clothing that young girl will want to play with. The various accessories like hair brush and animal friends clearly indicates that these princess dolls are meant to be played with. The other princess Barbie dolls are ones which are more suited for collectors.

In these Barbie dolls you will see that the doll looks princess from various countries look like. There is an Imperial Russian Princess from the Mattel Dolls of the world range. In this range you will see the many items which are used to recreate the look of an imperial beauty from the time of the Czars. In some of these Barbie dolls you will notice that much care has gone into the reproduction of these dolls.

The clothing of the princess Barbie dolls are chosen to look like ones that a princess will wear. For instance the Holland princess Barbie doll is found wearing a magnificent formal dress in gold. The bodice of the dress is lightly printed in muted rose pink.

The details which have gone into making these dolls shows the commitment to high quality that can be found in the many Barbie dolls. When you need to choose a Barbie doll as a present you have many dolls that you can buy. The most beautiful of all of these Barbie dolls has to be found in the selection of the different princess Barbie dolls.