Red Wednesday's Wisdom

Colleen’s Quips and Quotes
Yes, I did it!  I began the arduous task of decluttering my tax information for 2012.  And I am also thankful to say that my tests came back negative.  So at this point, I am assuming that I had a nasty GI bug that took up a one week’s residence.  I trust that you too found success in your endeavors to get decluttered and organized, and particularly with those paper piles.

Having spent the past six weeks on CHG #7, I thought it would be nice to take a little reprieve before starting in with CHG #8.  So, I am going to share what many of my clients and students have come to call “Colleen’s Quips and Quotes.” Some of them may sound familiar to you, since they do come out of my teaching. And if they do, then that is a good indication of what you are learning and retaining. 

Colleen’s Quips and Quotes

• We all need help with whatever we are going through. 
• No one person has all the answers, but God does.
• Get clear on what your heart desires.
• Our greatest clutter starts in our head and moves to our heart.
• You can deal with anything when you discover the reality and practicality of God and His Word.
• The 12 CHG’s are the practical tools for lessening your clutter and experiencing healing.
• God’s Word is an endless supply of hope, love, and truth.
• You can hear God speaking if you listen to His Word.
• My prayer time and going to God’s Word, is like a phone call to God, and He always picks up.
• God always answers prayers in His timing and way, not in my timing or my expectations.
• The 12 CHG’s are the result of listening and obeying to the Lord’s direction in my life.
• The number 12 is symbolic of the 12 disciples who followed and learned from Jesus.
• Prayer is the ongoing, never ending opportunity, to communicate with God and be specific.
• When I pray, I am gathering the thoughts and feelings that I want to share with God.
• When I write down my prayers, I can better see what I wanted to say and reflect on what I said.
• Going to God’s Word helps me to sort through the thoughts and feelings of my prayers.
• God’s Word is a prayerful communication to me about His thoughts and feelings.
• God will always prove to you that He is who He says He is.
• God’s Word gives me a direction and plan.
• Jesus saved me from the sin and darkness of myself, the world I live in, and the world yet to come.
• Our prayers can have so much in them, that even they, can get very cluttered.
• Cluttered prayers can cause us to not remember what we prayed.
• Cluttered prayers can reflect the cluttered communication that we have with others.
• Communication with God and others improves when we get specific, use less words, and listen.
• Be WATCHFUL of non verbal communication, it can say more than the words that are spoken.
• Be WAITFUL in speaking because goodness and abundance come to those who wait.
• People who deal with ADD issues often see and hear the written message over the verbal message.
• Foolishness is = to talking too much.
• Wisdom is = to listening.
•  The Old Testament Book of Habakkuk shows us that we can go to God with our prayers and He will reply.
• Change is gradual, purposeful, watchful, and waitful.
• With God’s power, you can change yourself but not someone else. 
• Are you doing what God is asking you to do?
• CPR WARNINGS: the heart warnings of God’s love that get misinterpreted as His negativity.
• God is not looking down on us and pointing His finger at us.
• SHE – The Safe, Healthy, and Edifying relationships that God wants you to have.
• Determine what to hold on to and what to let go of by asking if it is safe, healthy and edifying.
• God lifts me out of my piled up clutter.
• True love is safe, healthy, and lifts us up.
• You cannot afford to not spend time with God.
• Create time to be available to God.
• Your attitude is based on how you think, feel, and behave.
• We hold our breaths when we are anxious, so remind yourself to breathe.
•  Lack of sleep will rob you of what you can effectively accomplish in less time, so rest.
• Give yourself permission to spend time with yourself.
• My value is not based on how much I can do or how fast I can do it.
• Observe the 2 year old and learn how to say “NO.”
• Pray before you say “YES.”
• Being BUSY is Being Under Satan’s Yoke.
• What do I need to do verses what do I want to do.
• Believing leads to receiving, so believe to receive.
• Be still means to be, to become, to be quiet, to slow down, to receive, and take in.
• You cannot give what you do not have or have not received.     
• Think with your head instead of your tail.
• Let go of saying but….but….but…..
• God always loves us even when we do not love Him, ourselves, or others.
• God’s love and acceptance of me does not increase by me doing good works.
• I cannot earn God’s love, it is freely given to me as a result of His grace.
• When I focus on my past sins and faults, I create distance between me and God.
• It is my choice to decide if I will choose to love God.
• I will learn to love God’s way when I come into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Where have I looked and not found the Lord?
• Where have I looked and found the Lord?
• How have I hurt or offended God?
• What do I think about God?
• What do I feel for God?
• What does God think about me?
• What does God feel for me?
• How does the world measure success?
• How does God measure success?

There is lots of spiritual food to chew on here, so as your SW, take the next week to see how you think and feel in response to “Colleen’s Quips and Quotes.”  I will use next week to continue sharing some of the more favored quips and quotes before introducing you to CHG #8.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #7, Part Six

Implement a Prioritized Plan with Patience
What kind of response did you hear from the Lord when you asked Him to help you get the direction you needed to begin fine sorting those generalized paper piles?   Well, here is the reality of what happened with me.  I have been notoriously hearing the two most familiar words that have become a constant mantra in my life.  Can you guess what they might be.  You’d be right if you guessed “slow down.”  It is that all too familiar prompting of CHG #1 that is consistently prodding me to slow down.  Having said that, I want to clarify that my slowing down can look very different from the slowing down that you need to put into action as we deal with our individualized paper piles. 

So let’s see how my situation can hopefully help you to understand some of the steps to execute in getting your own paper pile in order.   First of all, I gathered a generalized paper pile that got categorized as the 2012 tax year.   The goal that I had set for myself was to get my tax information finely sorted, recorded, and delivered to my accountant no later than March 15^th.  My plan was to do the taxes this past weekend, but that did not come to fruition.  Instead, I found myself being “delayed” as I was in my bed for the entire weekend.  It became very clear that there was a bigger priority at hand.  I was under enemy attack, and my body needed to fight off the unidentified GI bug, gallbladder issue, or whatever unknown entity gets revealed, as I wait for some of the test results.  Here is the direction that God gave me.  He helped me to be at peace with the change of plans.  My desire to get the taxes done in an even shorter time than what my goal had allotted me was being stalled, and God’s words resonated in my head about being patient.  I needed to be patient with the change of plans, my goal setting (CHG # 5), and their implementation (CHG # 7).  It can be so hard to still ourselves when we want to move, but it is possible, especially when we choose to listen to the quiet Spirit of God who is directing and working out our steps!

God willing, the tax information will get finely sorted tomorrow in their more specific piles.  Here is a sampling of some of those categories that get finely sorted for someone like me who is self employed:

1.      Expenses: Promotional, Advertising. Office supplies, Seminars, Teaching

2.      Utilities: Phones, Gas and Electric, Internet, Security System

3.      Mileage: Business, Health

4.      Donations: Church, Charities, Ministries

5.      Investments: IRA, Mortgage

6.      Taxes: Federal, State, Local, Real Estate

7.      Insurance: Health, Long Term, Home/Auto

8.      Income

The supplies that you want to gather for sorting papers include: post-its, sharpies, paper clips, scissors, rubber bands, stapler, file folders, and a variety of clear zip lock bags.

One of the biggest problems that arrive with sorting, is when the paper pile starts to get sorted, but then an interruption occurs and it causes many of you to ultimately throw all of your sorting, time, and energy back into an unsorted pile.  It results in a repetitive sorting that never sees the follow through to completion.  Stop that madness now! Here is what to do instead.  First, use those post its to label each categorized pile.  Then think of paper clips, rubber bands, file folders, or zip locks as your containerizing tools.  Determine which of these tools will best keep what you have sorted to stay sorted.  You can then gather your labeled and sorted piles into one pile.  Your pile will stay sorted and you can pick up where you left off. 

Once you have done the fine sorting, you are ready to take one pile at a time to read and study its contents, and make the necessary decisions. Your job will be done when you determine the type of container that is needed for your specific categories so that they can be taken home to rest.   

Our time and devotion to CHG #7 has been very detailed, and it has taken twice as long to discuss compared to any of the other guidelines.  This is because CHG #7 is really the blueprint for how your mind needs to think so you can create order in your outer environment as well as your inner environment.  I love the response that I heard this past week in regards to the time we have taken with CHG #7.  “CHG #7 helped me to move from a place of hope, to a place of faith, to a place that is now reality.”  The change that had taken place inwardly was now being reflected outwardly.  Material order had been achieved as well as an order that came from within. 

Your SW this week is to gather the supplies you need to get your paperwork in order so you can begin to break down those large paper piles into smaller more specific piles and get a system established for yourself.  

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #7, Part Five

Implement a Prioritized Plan with Patience
This week your SW was to address your generalized piles and choose the ones that would be the easiest for you to make a decision about.  How did you do with those piles?   How did it go for you in terms of labeling and determining what to keep, trash, recycle, or give away?  It is my hope that you also began to gain some insight about any fears that have deterred you in being able to let go of what has not been a blessing to you, so you can experience the healing and love that God wants to grant you.

You may have discovered that the paper piles were more challenging to you than any of the other piles.  Though toys and clothes can mound up pretty high and take up a lot of space, it tends to be the paperwork that is most cumbersome.  It requires more of your attention and time to fine sort and categorize paperwork, due to the reading, studying, and decision making for keeping or letting go.

So, let’s focus on the easier piles first and start with toys.  I will focus on two generalized categories so that you can get an idea of where to begin.  Gather your supplies: an assortment of bags – clear zip locks, white and or black trash bags, sharpie, post its, index cards, hole puncher, scissors, and ribbon.  A generalized sorting would be, as an example, stuffed animals.  Fine sorting the stuffed animals might be according to their size, so they would be labeled as: small stuffed animals, medium stuffed animals or large stuffed animals.  Stuffed animals take up more space than any other toy outside of toy furniture.  My suggestion is that you try to minimize them and keep them in a generalized category with an assortment of sizes.   

The next toy category is dolls.  Keeping them in a generalized doll category is suggested for young children, but as children get older there is a greater assortment of dolls.  This is when you will want to fine sort them into Barbie, baby, Polly pockets, etc.  Once you have decided what to keep and what to let go of, you are ready to bag up the categories you have made until you use the containers you have on hand or purchase new ones.  Bagging of toys is temporary and keeps them sorted until you put them in a permanent container that becomes their home. 

When it comes to toy containers, I advocate inexpensive white laundry baskets.  The look is easy and clean.  Label an index card, hole punch it, put ribbon through it and tie it to your basket.  Enjoy the order that comes from this set up that also requires you to routinely help your children to bring their toys home by putting them in the designated container.   Clear shoe box containers are advised for these fine sorted categories:  markers, crayons, colored pencils, stickers.  Of course, use containers that are smaller or larger than this, depending on your individualized needs.  Cut index cards in half, label it and tape it to your box.  Warning:  Keep these kinds of items and small tiny parts and games where children need to ask for them and be supervised.  Otherwise, you will end up with way more clutter than you ever wanted.

When it comes to the generalized pile of clothes, fine sort them according to pants, shorts, shirts, blouses, T’s, etc.  Keep this tip in mind: Clothes that are hung are always better to see and organize than those that are folded.  When storing outgrown clothes, put them in containers that differentiate them, such as boy or girl and the age range.  Warning:  Bagging clothes for storage can make for a lot more clutter, especially if they are not properly labeled.

I realize that there are many of you who have a variety of individualized organizing needs.  And over the past five weeks, I have singled out some of the basic principles to help you implement a prioritized plan with patience.  I am happy to help you in any way that I can, so if you have a question or concern, please, always know that you can ask me for help.  If you have a question, then get an answer.  Do not stay stuck in that fear and doubt!

Next week we will fine sort those paper piles.  Your SW this week is to continue asking the Lord to direct you in fine sorting your gathered piles and to ask others for the help that you need.   

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #7, Part Four

Implement a Prioritized Plan with Patience
Did you select that one living or work area that you wanted to declutter and focus on?  How did you do with making it your priority to start the process of gathering and sorting?  If you did implement those first two steps to getting organized, did you catch yourself wanting to examine and study things before putting them in their perspective piles?  What percentage of trash do you think you accumulated?
                                         

SORTING

♥ General Sorting
♥ Fine Sorting

Think of sorting as a two step process.  General sorting is what we focused on last week.  This week we are going to be more attentive to the fine sorting.  It is during this phase of fine sorting that I want to take you back to that visualization of fishing.  Up to this point, you have selected the area you have wanted to fish in, you have used a net to gather your fish, and you have sorted the fish into like species.  Now it is time to sit and fine sort those species, or generalized categories, and make a more detailed assessment of those piles.  You do this by addressing one pile at a time.  Scan the piles.  Then begin with the one pile that seems to be the least time consuming or least threatening for you.  Literally sit on the floor or lawn, at a table, desk, or counter, and start with the one pile that is the smallest or has the most potential to be thrown out as trash or to let go of as in a “give away.”  In your thinking, you always want to reward yourself for a task that can be readily achieved.

THROWING OUT or LETTING GO

Here is a tidbit of valuable information that I encourage you to keep in the forefront of your memory bank.  It could also have a direct effect on your piggy bank!  Of the 100% you have, you routinely use only 20% of it.  And get this, it is the same 20% that is used over and over!  You can apply this fact to just about anything – your living quarters, clothing, makeup, vitamins, toys, office supplies, keepsakes.  I think it is a true reality check with respect to how much we buy or hold on to, but we rarely use.  So, as you go through all the gathering and sorting, expect that you are going to throw out or let go of 80%.  Mail is a good example of driving this message home. Almost every day you receive some kind of mail. When that mail is sorted on a daily basis, you can quickly see that 80–90% of it gets pitched as “junk mail.”  So why would some of you continue to wait days, weeks, or even months to sort through your mail, while recognizing that you are collecting a pile of trash?  The why is often due to fear.  It is the fear of not wanting to know what a piece of mail might have to say, so none of the mail gets opened.  And for those of you who find this to be true for yourselves, I ask you to please reflect and ask God to help you in letting go of  that fear and replacing it with trust in Him, because fear is not from God.  We are told in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self discipline."

The most common response I hear when people find it so hard to “let go” of their things is this uncertain thinking that says, “I might need it”.  The key word here is might.  And consequently, many of you are holding on to a pile up of things that do not serve you, but enslave you.  Your thoughts and feelings towards your things are actually causing you to be doubtful rather than trusting in God’s provision. God tells us in Philippians 4:19 that He is the One who takes care of us and supplies all of our needs.  So, we need to let go of the doubting and hold on to believing that we will receive what we need.

As we get into the fine sorting of each pile, more specific categories will emerge.  Your largest category is the one that is based on the 80% profile and comprises the generalized throw out or let go category. That large category will then become 3 specific categories:

♥ Trash
♥ Recycle
♥ Give Away
      1. Charity
      2. Resale

Anything that is torn, worn, broken, or permanently stained, goes in the trash.  Charities do not want your trash items.  And as an added note, it usually costs way more to pay for alterations or sewing repairs, so let it go.  The only time giving something to another is a good idea is if you are known for follow through, otherwise pass it on to a charity or resale.  It helps when letting things go to say to yourself, “I am blessing someone who truly does need or can use this more than me.”

As the sorted categories of trash, recycle, and give away pile up, you will want to gather your supplies:

♥Large black trash bags
♥Post its
♥Sharpies
♥Tape

Bag up each category. 
Use the sharpie to label the category on a post it. 
Put the post it on the bag and reinforce with tape. 
Choose a space for your gathered bags until you have completed the entire job and can then deliver your sorted bags to their perspective destinations.

We will continue to talk more about the fine sorting next week.  This week your SW is to address your generalized piles and choose the ones that will be the easiest for you to make a decision about.  All you are doing is determining if you want to keep what is in the pile or let it go.  Identify your let go’s as trash, recycle, or give away, and label accordingly.

My prayer for you as we close this week is that you will be open to what God wants to show you about your fears, especially when it means letting go of something or someone.  Maybe the letting go has to do with your past or the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that have cursed you rather than blessed you.  Instead of being fearful of what you may discover, I pray that you rally in the joy, healing, and love that can only come from God Our Father, Jesus His Son, and His Holy Spirit.  When we learn to let go, we learn what it means to let God.