Principle 1: Your External Environment Is a Reflection of Your Internal Environment
People usually are fairly consistent when it comes to neatness or messiness. Alright, everyone's allowed that one spot in their home that looks like hell. But for all intents and purposes, there's usually a direct parallel between how you take care of your environment and how you take care of yourself.
Right now, go to your car and take a look. What do you see? Dust and dirt inside and out? The floor littered with soda cans and snack wrappers and apple cores from 4 weeks ago? If the way your car looks was a message to you about your life, what would the message be? Here's what some patients of mine said their cars expressed: "Shabby, sloppy, uncared for." "Like I don't care." "A junk-food wrapper tornado just blew through."
Is your car reflecting how you feel about yourself? A tidy Macrocosm goes with a tidy Mind and Body. That's why my "To Survive" recommendations at the end of the chapter include one decluttering task for each M. Believe me, doing these five things will make it so much easier to become Fit to Live all around.
Principle 2: Your Home Should Support Your "Power Why"
Remember again your Power Why and that what you said gives you joy in the Mind section. Now look at your home. Does it reflect what you say is most precious to you? You say you love to journal. But your desk is piled high with magazines you've been trying for 3 years to read so there's no place to write, and your journal hasn't been seen since 1999. You say television isn't important to you; why do you own 23 of them? Organize to be able to enjoy what really matters to you in your life--time with family and friends, gardening, writing that novel--whatever gives you meaning and joy.
Principle 3: Think of Carrot Cake When It Comes to Decluttering
When you're trimming closet fat, treat it like eating carrot cake. Take small slices. If you try to do the entire house in 1 hour, you'll just end up with a bigger mess--with the Mental Fat of discouragement and hopelessness as well. Slice it off one spot at a time--your desk, one closet, the living room, one set of cabinets. Just like I've been saying with the four other Ms, it's very important that you take a little patience pill here and aim to achieve small steps.
Approach it with a plan. Be methodical and prioritize. Go first for those things that will directly affect your ability to become Fit to Live in the other 4Ms. Dig in the bottom of that closet. I know you've got sneakers in there somewhere. Find them so you can walk regularly. Next the socks, then the sweats, and then the other piece to your CD player, and you're ready to rock.
Do not wing this. That's part of what got you into trouble in the first place. Establish organizing rituals. For instance, say to yourself, "Every Saturday morning, I'll go through all the newspapers I left in a huge gigantic heap all week. I will blast through them and put them in recycling as fast as possible so I have nothing left." Ritual is so important in self-care whether you're ritualizing shopping for food or decluttering. You can even combine rituals. For instance, Saturday morning, as soon as you come home from grocery shopping and before you put the groceries away is the perfect time to clean the refrigerator or the next kitchen cabinet.
If you have a problem decluttering, get help. There are software programs, books, and people to assist you. Go to www.drpeeke.com and follow the links under "Macrocosm" to find a variety of decluttering resources.
Principle 4: Use the 12-Month Rule: If You Haven't Used It, Pitch It
If you're not using it now or will definitely not use it within 12 months, get rid of it. (Exception: financial records and receipts for the IRS, which must be kept for 7 years, and other important papers.) Sell it on e-Bay, toss it out. Or best of all, give it away to people, groups, or facilities in need, such as Goodwill or Salvation Army.
This is particularly important if your closet looks like Filene's Basement on a bad day. You know what I mean--full of 33 different sizes because of the roller coaster you've been on with your body. I want you to signal to yourself that you're permanently removing Toxic Belly Fat by giving away your "fat" clothes as soon as they become too big for you. Don't wait 12 months, 12 hours, or even 12 minutes. Out with the oversize belts, slacks, T-shirts, tent dresses, and elastic-waist pants. Your weight is going down, not up!
Principle 5: Be Consistent, Not Perfect
Alright, maybe you've decluttered your home space, but your workspace looks like a bomb just hit it. Be consistent across the board, and remove attic weight, basement weight, bookshelf weight, car weight.
As you go about cutting your Environmental Fat, be very clear about one thing: I am not giving you permission to become obsessed with perfection. You're not going for spotless, just workable. Remember--perfection isn't possible. This is a living, breathing, dynamic process. It's part of your life journey. Don't waste your precious life trying to meet some impossible standard. All you're trying to do is create space that helps you be Fit to Live, not win the Homemaker of the Century award. Save the time and energy you would put into rolling the hand towels for taking that walk or biking with your kids.
Reprinted from Fit to Live by Pam Peeke. Copyright 2007 by Pamela Peeke, MD.
Permission granted by Rodale, Inc. Emmaus, PA 18098
Available at the Discovery Store, directly from the publisher by calling (800) 848-4735, or wherever books are sold.
