New Year, New You - Prompt 1, Making Way

This is in response to Prompt 1 from the illustrious Deb, as part of the New Year, New You project.

New Year, New You is about radical change and magical transformation.  The first place to start with such changes to one's life is in 3 basic (but not simple) areas:

1.) Home

First things first, then.  The focus of home, in this case, is having a clean home.  Many people can attest that having a clean home lends rather well to having a clear mind.  There are exceptions, of course, but in general a clean home that is tidy enough and well enough organized can lead to greater relaxation, support well-being, and thus let the mind be its sharp little self!

Of course there's also the magical side of it.  A clean house has a nice flow and pleasant feel.  One could say the energy flows freely, which can be very nice.  Of course, being magic-workers, we can enhance housecleaning to make it even more effective!

One of the main things I have done is empower several of my cleaning supplies.  First and foremost is a spraybottle of household multi-purpose surface cleaner and disinfectant.  It's really easy to make, and part of it is mentioned by Devi in her post I go back to the most.  She mentions some ways to work with original Pine-Sol, but I came up with one that suits me even better!  To my bottle of pine-sol, I added some VanVan extract made of pure essential oils.  Shake it up, empower it, dilute and use it; it makes an excellent cleaner that has a side benefit of drawing steady cash due to the pine, in addition to the clearning, luck-turning properties of the VanVan.  Mop with it, dilute and surface clean with it, wash the walls, baseboards, spritz the carpet before vacuuming, etc.  VERY versatile!

While that is the main thing I use with the magical aspect of housecleaning, I also do small empowerments to my other cleaning supplies to boost them.

When it comes to decluttering, I've a lot of it over the past few years.  It began as shaving down my collection of occult books and branched out into other books, DVD's, CD's, and anything else I didn't use anymore nor anticipate using/needing.  It took a lot of thought and attention to determine what to keep and what to toss.  But eventually I did it, and felt better afterward.  Of course, there was the period that my roommate-at-the-time had taken off work for 2 months for his big getting-over-a-boy-and-suicide-attempt drama where I had to get rid of WAY more than I wanted to, and that hurt a lot, but I still survived.  There are some things I could still stand to get rid of, but I'm working through them.

2.) Time

Time management.

Yep, the feeling of shame is still there!  LOL  But in a little more seriousness, I am definitely in need of better time management skills and technique.  This is a major area I need improvement in.  So, for a first step, I have decided to delve into the wisdom of others.  Tim Ferris, for starters.  I'm also tempted to delve into more Getting Things Done literature.  For now, however, I'm pulling away from the internet a bit more, trying to stay aware of time that I waste on such things, and try to look for ways in which I can get the most out of my time while still taking regular Me Time.


3.) Rocks

Those things that are heavy, dense, and stay in place.  We all have our rocks that we're chained to, and I have some of my own.  See, my problem is not an abundance of people who are overly demanding with me.  It's that I try to get around to everyone I know, to make connections, to refresh friendships, to appease THEM, to do for THEM.

On top of that, there are habits and behavior patterns I have that are not only time-consuming, but are pointless as well.  Identifying those and working to change them is another current goal/priority of mine.

Finally, in areas that directly relate to my financial goals...I don't know what my deal is.  I haven't tried very hard to stay educated about certain things, and to update/refresh my knowledge on a semi-regular basis.  I can't think of much that is more destructive or negligent than this on a personal lifestyle level.  So, I've resolved to change that!  Starting in January, I'm going to work on refreshing those things I've become rusty at, work on those things that would enhance my abilities in my job and financial sectors, and hone this awesome brain of mine.

So, in short, most of my rocks have been...me.  Not in an emo way, but I've come to realize that I get in my own way a lot.  Many of us do, and it's not so surprising.  Maybe it's related to fear of success?  I don't know, but I have sign of the obstacles, and it's time to start busting them.

Lord Ganesh, may I borrow your axe?