Fall Cleaning

I don't know about you, but my summers are busy! There are so many fun things to do, that I don't want to stay home and keep my house organized and clean. The weeks rush by in a bustle of activity, with piles of mail, laundry, and projects waiting for me to give them attention. Now that summer is winding down, I am ready to begin my annual Fall Cleaning.

I'm sure you've all heard of Spring Cleaning to freshen the house and your body after the long, dark cold months. A Fall Cleaning is similar - the goal is to let go of any excess junk that's piled up over the summer, tend to things that have fallen by the wayside during the fun summer months, and set up some healthy habits to carry me through the holiday season. It requires a bit of examination of all areas of your life that contribute to your health and happiness to see if there is anything that needs attention. For most of us, these include your home, your health, your lifestyle & habits including diet and exercise, your R&R time, and your relationships.

There are (at least) two ways to approach Fall Cleaning. The fast way is to make a mental checklist of your life priorities, and then quickly review the state of your home, your body, your energy levels, and your relationships to see if how you are spending your time and energy is in alignment with your priorities or not. If you find a few things that aren't optimal, consider making some changes over the next couple of months.

The more in depth approach is to get out your trusty pen and paper and make some lists. For each aspect of your life (relationship, diet, exercise, health, home, work, etc...), make three columns labeled Energizing, Draining, and Needs Attention. Then for each aspect of your life write down everything that comes to mind that is energizing, everything that is draining your energy, and everything you've put off that needs attention (procrastination drains your energy too!)

Once you have a clear picture of what's contributing to your well-being - congratulate yourself and continue on with these healthy habits! Then look at what's draining you and needs attention and make some time to address them. I

Checklist for letting go of clutter

Getting rid of my stuff is hard to do! If it were easy to do this, my house (and probably yours) would not be so cluttered and overstuffed in the first place! How do you decide to whether it's time to let go of something or not?

The technique I've developed is using a quick priority checklist. Here's what you do: Make a list of your top priorities for your home or office. Mine are comfort, breathing room, easy to find, and currently useful in my life. What are your priorities?

For each item that you are evaluating - run down the checklist. Does it meet any of your criteria? Yes, then keep it. If it doesn't, let it go. It is only taking up space and contributing to unnecessary complexity in your life.

In fact, this checklist comes in handy when you're considering investing in a new item. If it doesn't meet any of your criteria - then don't let it become clutter!

Streamlining your space

A few weeks back, I talked about how streamlining your home and office is one way to keep your energy up for fueling your life. If you missed the post about Saying No and Letting go, take a look here. That discussion inspired me so much, I am determined to go through my whole house by the end of the fall. Honestly - this is a pretty daunting project, so I did some research to find out what experts had to say about how to streamline and organize your home, office and life.

The first tip I found was to break down large projects into smaller, more manageable chunks! What a great idea! Instead of trying to find the time (and energy) to rehaul my entire home in one fell swoop, I decided to break it down by room and how much time I spend there. Since I spend most of my time in my office studio, I started there. Currently, I'm working on the closet and storage area since the bedroom is the next place I spend significant time. I plan to work on the kitchen and pantry once the bedroom is complete, and then move onto the livingroom, library areas and bathrooms.

Once I got my mini-projects, I wondered how to streamline. I found advice from another expert who recommended analyzing the area to identify problems, and then taking it a step further to figure out why these problems were happening and how to address them. So, taking my closet for example, I discovered it was hard to find anything or really know what was in there because it was crammed full of stuff and clothes. Why? Because I kept putting more and more items in there and never took anything out. The solution in my case - get rid of stuff!

Depending on the type of problems in your space, the solution is going to vary. If you aren't sure what is going to work in your situation, take a look at the myriad of resources on the internet. Organizing 101 on About.com has a lot of useful links, or Get Real Solutions for Your Home on iVillage. While you're there, you might even want to find out your Organizing Obstacles with the help of Vicki Norris.

In summary, this is what the experts had to say about how to start streamlining and organizing your space.

1st - break down large projects into smaller chunks
2nd - analyze the space to identify problem areas
3rd - determine the cause of the problem
4th - come up with a solution before you move on to the next area

Good luck!

My journey to wellness

I was a hi-tech corporate burn out in just three short years after graduating with a BS in Comp Sci from UMASS Lowell. This was during the big hi-tech boom at the end of the 90's. First I was working 60 hours a week preparing for the apocalypse at midnight on 1/1/00, and I thought "Oh I'll relax and chill out once that impending disaster has passed." Then before I knew it, I was wrapped up in working 80 hours a week on this or that cool new thing for the newly exploding internet marketplace. Months and months went by - eating breakfast, lunch and dinner provided by the company to keep us working day at night. Exercise? Who has time to exercise when you are at work 10-12 hours a day and commuting another two hours. For a while, I had this uneasy feeling but I tried to ignore it. My intuition was telling me this was not how I wanted to spend my life, and one day I just had enough. I was exhausted, overweight, and miserable. I felt that if I didn't do something RIGHT NOW to change my life path, I would live out the rest of my adult life tired and sick. I made a vow to myself to recover my sanity, health and well-being, and then figure out how to stay well! So, I stepped out of the rat race, and it was just as well because shortly after that the hi-tech boom ended and people were laid off in droves.

Over the next 6 years, I experimented on myself and studied various disciplines with masters and teachers. I went to an acupuncturist religiously for a couple of years to bring my energy back into balance and release an allergic pattern my body had developed. At the same time, I worked one on one with a Tai Chi master who taught me awareness of Chi and how to re-energize. He also taught me the philosophies of Taoism and the importance of balance to well-being. I had a dramatic healing with a Reiki Master which inspired me in later years to study and learn with two other Reiki Masters to become a Reiki Master Teacher myself. For two years, I apprenticed with local expert herbalists to learn how the energy of plants can facilitate healing in the body. For about five years, under the compassionate and nurturing guidance of several female teachers, I also undertook to heal the spiritual and emotional aspects of myself through introspection, reflection and exercises. I also spent several years of these years to earn a Masters of Science degree in Natural Health where I studied homeopathy, nutrition, healthy lifestyle habits, human development, psychology and the psycho-spiritual aspects of health and well-being. (Oh yes, I was busy! I also worked full or part-time during these years, and tried to start up my own business more than once as well!)

It took a lot of hard work, but I healed my mind, body and spirit. In addition to returning to wellness, I learned how to STAY well too. Some people, especially those raised in more traditional cultures in the far east, know what to do to feel their best all the time. The rest of us, deprived of this knowledge in our culture and our schooling, need to learn how to maintain wellness in the midst of the chaos of 21st century living. Once I learned the secrets and time-tested techniques to maintaining wellness, I dedicated my life to helping others to feel better too. For a while, I tried jumping back into the rat race to see if I could help people from within the system, but it is hard work fighting against "the way things are". After giving my all to turning the Titanic, I decided I better find another way to help people or risk having to start over again on my wellness journey. About six months ago, I decided to jump ship, get on my own zippy little boat, and spread the message about wellness. So, I started this business dedicated to showing others how to feel their best and stay that way!

Find out more about my background on my website here.

New Schedule as of 9/1/07

Reiki & Wellness Sessions Available:

• Sunday 3 - 8pm
• Tues 3 - 8pm
• Thur 11 - 8pm

At Union Square Acupuncture 21 Bow Street, Somerville, MA

Schedule your appointment by contacting Joanna at 617-429-1793 or joannascaparotti@gmail.com