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Stuff. Stuff in your way.  Pushing stuff out of your way.  Moving stuff.  Are you tired of stuff?  Do you feel dust bunnies calling to you from your closets and cupboards, threatening to overtake you because you are not dealing with some things that need a good dusting?

January is a great time of year to clean house, physically and spiritually. A few good things are much more noticeable and appreciated when they aren't surrounded by so much clutter that a) you can't get to them to give them proper care and attention,  and b) there are so many things surrounding those good things that you find it hard to focus on the beauty of what is really there.

Such is life.
Are you feeling cluttered?
Anxious?
Overwhelmed?
Don't know which way to turn?

Look around you.  Gauge your anxiety levels - on a scale of 1 to 10 where are you?  Anything over a 5 and chances are you are trying to fit too many things into your schedule.  Or, you are avoiding attacking those dust bunnies because you think that somehow they will take a hike on their own.  Unfortunately, that likely won't happen - left on their own and neglected, they simply multiply.  Exponentially.

Take a step back and honestly ask yourself, what can go?  What can be put off until another season?  What things in my life right now needs to be a priority?  (Not, what feels like a priority - BIG difference!)
If you have too much stuff around you it creates chaos and that ends up being transformed into a whole lot of dust bunnies you really don't want - anger, shutting others out, avoidance, etc. - characteristics that have great potential in sucking every bit of joy from you.

So the mantra of 2012 is "Say NO to dust bunnies!"

Work on stepping back a bit so that you can see the overall picture and rearrange your stuff, give everything a good cleaning (you might need help - that is OK) so that you can see clearly, appreciate what you do have, and remind yourself who you really are.  (This is where the phrase "I am wonderfully and beautifully created" fits perfectly).

Taking these steps will go a long way to ensuring that this year is way gooder.

1 Sam 2:8 He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump.  He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honour.  For all the earth is the Lord's, and he has set the world in order.