Create a compass, a list of what matters most to you. Use it as a guide for making decisions about the tasks you’ll do, how you’ll use your time and the things you’ll have in your home or office. Then, when you find yourself caught up in feelings of overwhelm or distracted by busyness, common states in our fast paced world, you can use that compass to ground yourself and quickly get back on track to getting more of what you REALLY want!

Last week I got the chance to experience first hand what toxins in the body do to mood. My brother, Mark, disabled with two brain injuries, came down with a serious infection in his knee replacement. While he was waiting to have surgery I had the opportunity to experience his infection-induced behavior. My sweet, funny little brother disappeared and was replaced by a snarling ogre. I’m not kidding about that. At the least provocation his face screwed up into a sneer and he shouted at whoever was near him. As I tried to make sense of Mark’s behavior, I realized that he is not good at articulating how he’s feeling physically. Instead he acted out his feelings. What I saw was not a pretty picture.

The change in Mark’s mood following the surgery was remarkable. After he got over the grogginess and confusion caused by the anesthesia, sweet Mark was back! It was clear that clearing out the bulk of the infection, by removing the knee replacement that had harbored the infection, brought Mark immediate relief. With the reduction of negative energy of the toxins, there was an immediate shift in his mood from negative to positive.

I’ve observed the exact same kind of shift in energy when I’ve worked with clients helping them clear their homes and offices of the negative energies of clutter and physical chaos. Broken things, dirty things, disorganized things are all sources of negative energy. When you have quantities of those things, the energy in your space becomes toxic from an over abundance of negative energy. Clear the toxins and the balance of energy shifts back to predominantly positive. When positive energy predominates, people feel immediate relief, optimism and often a return of creative energy.

Can you really afford to live in a space that is cluttered, dirty or filled with many broken things? Not if you want to feel good!

Clear clutter in all areas of your business and watch your business grow!

Those out-of-sight places, closets and storerooms, filing cabinets, and storage cabinets, often get neglected. They fill up with items that are outdated and static, harboring quantities of negative energy.

They are out of sight and out of mind. They are also affecting your bottom line. Clutter and negative energy are blocks to new good things coming to you. They are also energetic distractions that keep you from thinking clearly and making good business decisions.

Papers and objects can hold associations with times of loss in our lives. A divorce decree, a gift from a lost love, equipment associated with a former career. They all hold energies of loss and sadness. Those negative energies are VERY powerful even if you’re not conscious of them. They can keep people from venturing into a closet or clearing out a desk for years. You’re not sure why you can’t face the task, but the urge to avoid it is very compelling.

If you’re avoiding a particular organizing challenge, check the content of the stuff to see if the items hold old associations of loss that are connected to grief you have been carrying. If you can’t allow the grief to come up and out, find a gentle loving soul to be with you while you face the loss, someone who can be in the presence of sadness without discomfort or the need to fix your pain. Tell him or her the stories associated with the grief. That will lighten the emotional load your are carrying and will allow you to move forward.

Want to get more done? Stop answering the phone every time it rings. I watch clients when the phone rings. Will they automatically answer it? Will they ignore it? Or, will they check the caller ID to see who is calling so they can decide whether it is essential to answer the call.

The clients in the last two categories tend to be most productive. Why? Because they view answering the phone as a choice, not an imperative. They are choosing whether to allow an interruption. Interruptions always reduce productivity.

Make answering the phone a choice not an imperative!

Sometimes life throws you curve balls. . . For example, I spent two wonderful days with my brother, Mark, this past weekend. We planted a garden, enjoyed good food, saw the movie Marmaduke, shopped, took naps. Then Mark wakes up from his nap unable to put weight on his right leg.

Initially we thought he’d slept on it and it had gone to sleep. Or, perhaps he’d just been on it too long. He had a knee replacement over three years ago and the knee is a weak link. Last night I learned that he’d been hospitalized because he has an infection in his knee and will receive IV antibiotics.

What’s the big deal? Infection is always a scary thing. When he had his knee replacement he had multiple infections and the knee had to be replaced three times. It was quite an ordeal for him. And, he is alone in Connecticut. I had to return home to work. Our parents live in Virginia and Michigan and his brother is in Japan. Plus, Mark needs to work every day to be able to keep the apartment he moved into in December.

Yes, I’m feeling overwhelmed. I am Mark’s conservator. That means I am the person responsible for making decisions about his care. And, this is new to me. I’ve never had this kind of responsibility before.

The scared part of me is attempting to run some awful scenarios. “What if the infection is resistant to the antibiotics? What if he has to have surgery again because the joint is infected? What if he can’t keep his apartment?”

Fortunately another part of me keeps telling me to breathe deeply, to picture Mark healing quickly and returning to his apartment and to work. I keep focusing on all the blessings in my life–my loving, supportive husband who offers such wise counsel at times like this, my caring supportive friends who are praying for Mark, the beauty of my blooming butterfly bushes, my comfortable home, my affectionate kitty and pups, my faithful clients who keep me busy doing work I love. By keeping focused on the positive I am able to keep the fears under control, keep my vibration high and hopefully attract the wisdom I need to help Mark instead of those awful scenarios.

It’s really a challenge to stay positive at times like this when the scared little kid in me is trying to run the show. This is when it’s more important than ever for me to do things that ground me, like writing this blog entry, walking my dogs, making the bed, cleaning up after myself so our house stays a comfortable, peaceful haven.

I can’t do anything for Mark other than pray and ask others to pray, keep in touch with him and his doctors and nurses by phone, and picture him recovering quickly. But, I can keep my life in control so I am better able to think and make good decisions on his behalf.

The next time life throws you a curve ball that triggers fear and inertia, remember that keeping your thoughts positive and maintaining your space as a safe, organized haven can help you make it through whatever challenges you are facing.

If you know you are not good at estimating how long it will take to get something done, double or triple your best guess and act as if that’s the time it will take to do the task.

Landscapes are the best choice for art in a bedroom.

The functions of rooms in your home determine the type of art you should place in them. The high energy areas are the public spaces: the kitchen, utility room, bath rooms, living room, dining room, family room and home office. Those are rooms devoted to activities and interaction between people. The low energy spaces are the bedrooms. It is a good idea to match the energy of the art to the energy of the room.

Art that contains scenes of animals, people and people activities usually has a more active energy than landscapes and scenes that are devoid of people and animals. Feng shui teaches that people and animals are fire elements. Every person or animal in a scene is a little flame. Street scenes, scenes of people socializing, and scenes of people or animals in any type of activity are fiery and therefore high energy scenes. It’s best to place that type of art in the active areas of the house, the public rooms where most of the activity in a home occurs.

Landscapes, beach scenes and images of gardens are the best choices for bedrooms, those spaces that are devoted to rest and relaxation. It’s best to avoid having art with images of people or in those spaces. Restful scenes will facilitate restful sleep. I make an exception for images of faithful pets. Though they are a bit fiery, their fire is offset by the comfort they bring as a watchful, guarding presence.

Check out the art in your space. Does its energy match the energy of the spaces in which it resides?

“How did this happen?,” a client laments as she looks at the disaster area that is her office. I’ll bet that’s happened to you a time or two! You get busy, turn around and you’re in the middle of a mess.To be able to make real progress in creating and maintaining a clutter-free environment, you first have to get conscious about how it gets cluttered.

This week, make it a point to notice the many sources of things that come into your space–the mail, things dropped by others, things dropped by you, items given to you by others, items left out by you etc. Once you get conscious of how the stuff gets there, you can then devise ways to intervene to reduce and manage incoming, reduce stress and be better organized.