I had the pleasure of getting to hear Gretchen Rudin, of the Happiness Project, and Heloise of Hints from Heloise speak at the Mom 2.0 Summit this past week. One of the biggest take aways for me was in regards to clutter.

Gretchen shared that 2 very important contributors to happiness is getting enough sleep and getting rid of clutter. Heloise added to choose the top 3 most important parts of our home to keep clutter free and focus on those.

I am no stranger to top 3 rule. A very wise friend of mine talked down from the ledge in one my early mommy on the verge moments with the top 3 rule. I had taken my spiritual serenity and my emotional well being and tossed them out the window over what my child care was feeding my first born. I had this very rigid idea and a long list of do’s and don’t's when it came to what my kiddos were going to put in their bodies… let me tell ya… fruit loops and white bread where on the serious don’t list. My girlfriend (who had raised 4 boys mostly on her own) suggested I make a list of the top 10 most important things. Prioritize them… demand the first… ask for number 2 & 3… then let everything else go. My sanity and the peace of my soul were worth more than anguishing over what my kids eat.

So I liked Heloise’s hints for picking 3… as I made my bed this morning I took it to a deeper level. Yes, in the beginning simply going through the motions is the beginning to shifting the way we do things. However, I believe at certain point intention needs to factor in. I may make the bed… but what is it I intend to get out of making the bed. I choose to be present and in the moment… actually using all of my senses to be in the moment making the bed. What I want to get out of making the bed is a feeling of peace and sanctuary  when I come into my room. I ask The Universe to bring this into my life as I make the bed. Simple Abundance introduced me to the idea that any action in my life can be a prayer if I do in connection to Spirit.

I intentionally leave my closet messy sometimes… it’s a conscious choice – to allow my inner rebel something to say “NO! I won’t do it” about. I like the living room to be tidy, so when I walk in from work and the day… it says out there is chaos and whirling energy – in here is a space of calm. My cook books in the corner of my kitchen however are stacked, dog-eared, open, etc… seeing them in use  – inspires me to use them. But the mail always gets opened, sorted, and filed the moment it comes into the house. In this way I say to The Universe I am responsible and accountable around the money commitments I have made… when you give me more money I will treat it with the same honor and love. Call me nutty – but this has made a huge shift in the energy I have around money and money maintenance.

These are just a few of the areas in my life where I act to “de-clutter” or stay tidy… or not… depending on what it is. The biggest thing I would invite you to think about is if you are taking on the act of de-cluttering… think about what it is you want to get out of the act… rather than just completing the act alone.

“Dear God,

Thank you for this food, please let it be good, mommy repaired it.

Done.”

Fab!Hubby, “Amen.”

(me… trying not fall out of my chair)

Thanx for the pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12544973@N05/3008772187/

~ Ora na azu nwa ~

Fab!Hubby and I have been blessed to spend our adolescent, young adult, and early marriage years within a support community full of love, acceptance, safety and diversity. This group of friends, guides, and mentors are not necessarily our family… they are the people we chose to love us and guide us in our transition into adult hood, married life and parenting… and these are the people that now make up the village helping to raise our children.

Karl and I have often talked about how there is no way we could live the life we have without the support of our village. We as a family – each of us individually – are better off with the collective influence and love we find within our village.

I, as a mom, would not be as happy, inspired, grounded and loving if were not for the help and guidance I find within this group. Grateful is the word to describe how I feel… but I think it would have to glow and blink and leep off the screen and hug you and leave a trail of glitter behind to really do justice in describing how grateful I am to our village.

I work within the world of marketing, PR, design, social media… and at the root of it I spend a heck of a lot of time online. I got started building sites to pay for college and left with a degree I have yet to use professionally, a love affair with the web, and the know-how to land a job you couldn’t even go to school for. And here I am – 13 years later – still in love with the web… and man, has it changed.

There are people who will say and studies that will prove that the amount of time we spend engaged with multi-media is disconnecting us… and I think that there is truth to that… I believe there comes a time to turn the cell phone off and actually be at the table having dinner with a friend – the world can wait. I also believe, passionately believe, that the Internet is a tool bringing us into connection with each other in ways that 10 years ago were hardly imaginable.

This past springs post by Her Bad Mother is an amazing example of this… here is one woman, writing one blog post, that connected moms all over the world… if I EVER had a moment where I felt alone in the world of mothering this would certainly help me to see I am in good company. (Yes, she had lots of inspiration and help… that’s the point of a village)

Call me a bleeding heart liberal, or a hippie, or a new age-er, or a pie in the sky ridiculously, hopeful optimist… I believe the Internet will help to heal the world. I see it give disenfranchised groups a voice,  I see it help inventors and entrepreneurs with world changing products find their niche, I see children here in the US and in remote villages across the world connect to each other and to the whole wide world, I see people who would never cross the room to talk to each other for all the things that make them different – connect online for all the things that make them same.

I for one have found healing around a miscarriage, hope when my brother was deployed to Iraq, peace in a recipe that makes my dinner hour less hectic, laughter on days when I wanted to turn my back on the world, inspiration on days the blank canvas was overwhelming, serenity on days of turmoil, chore charts on days I wanted to pull my and my kiddos’ hair out for the toothpaste on the counter AGAIN… I have found beauty and heartache, joy and sadness… I have found lost best friends from high school… and quirky new favorite artists.

I see the Internet as this amazing tool of serendipity, connection and healing. Sure – just like the  twice the size of Texas – floating island of trash in the Pacific (which you can see thanks to the magic of them there inter-webs) – there is a ton of crap online. And just like life – I chose to give all my energy and focus to the good in it.

This week is the Mom 2.0 Summit – and I am moderating a panel where some very lovely, smart, connected women will be sharing about their experiencing with cyber-villages. If you are attending the conference – I look forward to seeing you in the panel and connecting with you and hearing your thoughts on cyber-villages. If you are not attending – I would love to read your thoughts right here… leave a comment… tell me what ya think… share one of your favorite experiences from your online support community. I wanna read ‘em!

Fab!Hubby @lassberg

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Me: AK how was your day today?

AK: It was… mmm… ya know… in the middle.

Me: In the middle? Can you tell me more about that?

AK: Well, if hi was red and low was blue… my day was purple. Yeah, my day was purple.

Me: Purple.

… sigh… can I tell you how in love I am with that little man… nope… words really wouldn’t do it justice.