Complete the Cycle

I'm going to lose some people with this next statement, but I am really NOT a big Oprah fan! GASP! Yes, it's true! I used to really enjoy TiVoing her shows every once in a while, but ever since she became political and so very predictable, she's lost her appeal...TO ME! That being said, what I still love, almost to the point of obsessiveness ,(What??? Nat obsess over something...never!), is her magazine, O. Funny enough, as much as I love this magazine, and pick one up every month at the airport (Favorite Travel Material), I have never subscribed to it. Go figure!

I don't know if it's for the fact that I have so many emotional needs and turmoil going on in my life right now, or if the two new editors just honed in on some seriously good stuff, but the March Edition is probably one of the best that I have ever read!

I love to sit and study this magazine, almost as if I am studying for an exam, or at a motivational lecture, and I will highlight all the meaningful quotes, or websites I want to visit, or fashion ideas, etc. Well this edition is now BRIGHT Yellow throughout. I was like a mad woman highlighting stuff! If I wasn't finding something completely relevant to myself, I was finding things relevant to my friends or family members going through their own struggles. --- Don't be surprised if some of you receive this copy in the mail with pages marked for your reading!

I could sit and blog, journal, write all night long based on the numerous topics I was drawn to. But for now, I wanted to write about one that really hit home! The article is titled "A Spotless Mind" and it's an interview with the author of "Enough Already! Clearing Mental Clutter to Become the Best You" Note to self: Purchase this book tomorrow!!!!

The basis of the article is that Clutter in our lives, both literally and figuratively, "Robs us psychologically, by stealing our ability to feel motivated in our space." I Heart that statement! In diving deeper into this subject, the author, Peter Walsh, throws out a metaphor of doing Laundry. The interviewer asked about a typical scenario, one that we call relate to, in that one day you clean and clean your home, and yet within two days it's a disaster again, and you can't figure out how it happened! The author calls this the Cycle Problem. In relating it to laundry he states that it's as if yous started a load of laundry, stop it half way through, and then leave it for a few days. You come back to stinky, moldy clothes that you must wash again because "you didn't complete the cycle".

He goes on to further demonstrate this by asking "When you have a bowl of cereal, does the box go back in the cupboard? When you bring in the mail, do you immediately open and sort it? At night, do your clothes go in the hamper or in the floor?" I laughed in spite of myself as I read those questions because I either do them myself, or nag the heck out of Chris and the kids to stop doing it! He completes the metaphor with this statement, "We have a CHOICE: to me mindful and complete the cycle, or to end up with a stink load of washing in the metaphorical machine." I love this statement because it is so relevant and true to every one of us.

How many of us never complete the cycle? Even as anal as I am around the house, and my need to not have things cluttered, I still find so many situations that I have not completed the cycle. I love putting it into perspective that we all have a choice. Yes, some of these actions are the result of long-lived and formed bad habits, but that doesn't mean you can't Choose to make changes for the better.

The ad immediately following this article displays pictures of all the different situations life can bring to each of us. And in the middle of the page, in big bold letters it reads:

"Every Day is a Turning Point. Life can be tough, but we are not victims. If you want different, you have to DO different!"

That statement really hit to the center of my mind and heart. I really needed that statement in my life today. But I realize more that I need that statement in my life Every Day. I want different, so I must DO different. Good stuff my friends...Good stuff! I think I'm going to go do some laundry now! :-)