Make space for the new year - Clearing clutter

I'm sitting here in my hot pink bathrobe singing 99 Luftballons by Nena. 

I've been in 80s and 90s nostalgia mode for a couple weeks now, drooling over Dawson from Dawson's Creek (oh those oversized clothes and floppy hair!), mourning the loss of My So Called Life and remembering all my old favorite bands (Offspring anyone?).

I've been getting a lot of calls and notes from people who have been clearing their clutter this past week so I thought you might be interested in doing some too. 

This is actually a great time to clear out the old to make way for the new... year!  (oh so corny!)

But it's true!

We're coming up to the Winter Solstice which is like the new moon of the year.  The time between the full moon and the new moon is always a great time to clear clutter and handy dandy we just had a full moon on Tuesday.  So that makes this time of year the ultimate time to clear out the dark and old to make room for the loved and LIGHT. 

Before you go to clear your clutter, take a moment to see what you want to make space for in the new year.  How do you want to feel?  What do you want to experience?  Do it from your heart, not your mind.

Use your desires to guide you in your clutter clearing efforts. If you're not sure if you should keep it or toss it, see if it supports you in what you want to create in the new year.

If you're single and want a partner, do those love letters and dried out roses support your quest for new love or hinder it?

If you're struggling in your career, are the remnants of careers and schooling past helping you find occupational bliss or holding you back?

If you're struggling financially, are all those lost puppies helping you feel rich or poor?  FYI, 'lost puppies' are those things we keep because they could be valuable if we fixed them up.  The chair that's only missing one leg, the couch that needs to be reupholstered etc...We rescued them because of their potential, but they're really just holding us back.

If you have things of actual value that you want to sell, what are you waiting for?  That's what kijiji is for and there's loads of people looking for Christmas presents right now!  (that reminds me, I have a bass guitar and an amp in the back of my closet that it's time to sell)

If 2013 left you feeling rung out and depleated, does that to do list the length of a shark make you feel motivated for the new year or exhausted?  Remember you can always cross things off before you do them.  Let go of that unfinished business now, it can be your Christmas gift to yourself.

If you have the time and the desire, go on and make some beautiful space for the new year. 

Don't do it because you should, I've declared December a "should-free" month, hence the hot pink bathrobe (with argyle socks, I might add), do it because you want MORE in 2014.

More ease, more peace, more love, more fun, more creativity, more heart and more connection. 

I'd love to hear from you!  How are you doing?  What are you making space for in 2014?  You can let me know in the comments below or if you're shy you can always send me a personal email, I read and respond to every one.

Sending you oodles of love, light and wayward holiday card sparkles.

Love,

Cecilia

p.s. Share this with your friend who could use a fresh start in 2014

p.p.s. I'm around during the holidays and have a few appointments left if you want some help making space for the new year.  Just email me to book an appointment. 

p.p.p.s. If you're reading this and you're not on my list, well get yerself on it.  Click here to join!

Do you want a real life super power?

Psst, can I tell you a secret? 

Would you believe me if I told you that I have a super power? 

Would you believe me if I told you that you can have one too? 

Last week I wrote a guest post for the brand new blog over at cvbuzz.org about a real life super power that any of us can have with a little practice. 

Have I found the secret to flight, invisibility or teleportation? 

I guess you'll just have to fly on over to find out for yourself. 

Click here to read, and please share it with your friend who has always dreamed of waking up with a super power. 

Love,
Cecilia
ox

p.s. Are you feeling stuck?  Let's talk about it, just send me an email and we can set up a time to chat.
p.p.s. If you're reading this and you're not on my list, you should really get yourself on it!  Just pop on over here to get on!  All the cool kids are doing it!

Writer's Block and What's Underneath - Getting to Honest

When I write, I want to write from a place that’s honest and true, otherwise why bother. 

For an eternity, which in reality was probably 4-5 months, whenever I sat down to write, I was met, not by the fresh breeze of honesty, but with the smelly sticky tar that I like to call the “you’re stupid” beast.    

Trying to write with the “you’re stupid” beast hanging over my shoulder was impossible.  

Hyper critical, I hated every single word I wrote.  My writing felt stupid and derivative.  It was awful and painful so I would give up and walk away.  

A couple of weeks ago I had to write something.  I promised it to someone else.  I had a deadline. 

I had to write.

So I sat down at the computer, put on my headphones and started writing.  

The “you’re stupid” beast was there waiting to whisper it’s bad breath insults into my ear. 

Every.  Single.  Word.  Painful.

Every sentence a horrible cliche filled train wreck.  The beast was winning, so I tried another tactic.  

I started writing about the pain instead.  I wrote and I wrote and then cried and cried and then wrote and cried until my aha moment came.  

It wasn’t the writing that was painful, it was my heart that hurt.  So much grief, so much sadness, the sadness of life.

Writing out that grief, my grief, was liberating.  

When I looked up from the screen I realized the “you’re stupid” beast was gone leaving only a sticky black paw print on my shoulder and the faint odor of halitosis behind.

I was back in the honest place with the fresh salt water breeze washing over me, each wave settling my feet deeper and deeper into the sand.  I looked out onto the horizon, open, a little scared but mostly just relieved to be there.

The next day when I sat down again to write, I wasn’t sure what would be there to meet me. 

My bravery of the night before was rewarded with the hoots and hollers of seagulls, my honest space was there waiting for me.

I understand that the “you’re stupid” beast was trying to do me a favour.  He was trying to protect me from the real source of my pain.

I also understand that in order to really be in my honest space, I had to actually be honest.  Honest with myself and honest with my feelings. 

My wise friend Sarah says that as our writing demons will always be bigger than our ability.  So as you improve, your demons grow.  There’s no winning, but hopeful there are moments of grace and flow.  Moments of truth on the page.

She said that the only cure is to write for the love of writing.

You can’t write for the end result, you can’t write for the product.  You can only write for the love of it.  

It’s kind of true of everything isn’t it…  In terms of living a life that’s fulfilling.

Imagine if every day I meditated, I did it for an audience, for a grade.  All I can say is that, a lot of the time, those would be some pretty terrible grades.  What matters is that I sit there.  I show up and meditate, sometimes terribly, every single day.  That’s it.  

That’s success. 

My friend Samantha posted this Julia Cameron quote on her facebook page the other day:

"In the recovery of a blocked artist, anger is a sign of health." 

- Julia Cameron

I love this, because it’s true.  You don’t have to be an artist or a writer to know the feeling of being blocked or stuck.  

So, the question is, what’s underneath the procrastination?  What’s underneath the clutter?  There’s the discomfort of the block, but what’s underneath that?  Maybe there’s an emotion you don’t want to feel or a belief that you have about the situation.  Your job is to be the archeologist, looking to see what’s underneath.

Fear, anger, grief or maybe when you look closer it's not scary at all, it's just you.

You might have a sticky beast of your own waiting for you, so just go under it until you get to the fresh breeze of what you really want.  

Is it easy?  Not always.  Is it worth it?  Absolutely!

I’m writing this for you my dear friend, but also for myself, so that when I smell the beast coming I can gather the bravery needed to feel what I'm really feeling and move through to the other side.

I’d love to hear from you.  Do you have a sticky beast that keeps you from what’s important and real?  How do you deal with it?  Let me know in the comments below.

Please share this with your friend who is having trouble writing, dating or taking the leap, they’ll thank you later.

Sending you so much love,
Cecilia
oxo

p.s. Are you feeling stuck?  Let's talk about it, just send me an email and we can set up a time to chat.

p.p.s. If you're reading this and you're not on my list, you should really get yourself on it!  Just pop on over here to get on!  All the cool kids are doing it!