Organizing for Life , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Sandra Felton

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124 pages

English

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Somehow, no matter how hard some people try to change their messy habits, they just can't seem to keep their homes in any kind of order. Magazines and books and television shows offer all kinds of advice and tactics for keeping a house organized and neat and livable. But what some people need is not more advice but a change in their mindsets.Organizing for Life helps readers understand why they seem to be inherently messy people, exposing the lies they tell themselves and introducing the truth about how they really can have a clean, inviting home. Felton helps readers focus on overcoming the roadblocks that keep them in a permanently messy state in order to change their habits for good.

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 mars 2007
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441215697
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0374€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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© 1989, 2002, 2007 by Sandra Felton
Published by Fleming H. Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.revellbooks.com
Previously published under the title Messie No More
Ebook edition created 2010
Ebook corrections 06.20.2016 (VBN), 03.08.2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-1569-7
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked TLB is taken from The Living Bible , copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Because we are made in God’s image we desperately want to look at our own creation and say that it is good. Are the following lies keeping you from creating a beautiful and orderly home?
Lie: Being messy is a superior way of life.
Truth: When the house is messy and our lives are disorganized, we lose touch with what is peaceful and noble in ourselves, and our self-image suffers.
Lie: Messies need more willpower and discipline.
Truth: Messies need focus, not fogginess.
Lie: Working harder will keep your house clean.
Truth: You already work hard enough! You have to uncover the underlying causes.
Lie: I’m a hopeless Messie.
Truth: Getting a house under control requires nothing that we do not have or cannot get. You have an orderly person within you.
Let these and countless other truths transform you into a Messie no more!
contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Don’t Skip This Introduction
It’s Not about the House
Part 1 Understanding the Messie Mind-set
1. Accepting Yourself
2. The Saver Messie
3. The Clutterer Messie
4. The Time-Waster Messie
5. ADD Adds to the Problem
6. Compulsive or Just Messy?
7. Parenting the Child Within
8. Fatigue
9. Depression
10. Cleanliness and Godliness
11. To Change or Not to Change
Part 2 Overcoming the Messie Mind-set
12. Living the Orderly Life
13. More Discipline Doesn’t Work
14. Working Harder Doesn’t Work
15. Arresting Mess Stress
16. Learning from Your Friends
17. Getting the Family to Help
18. Doing Nice Things for Yourself
19. Organizing Your Time
20. Finding Order in Beauty
Afterword: Looking Forward
Appendix A: Appearance Makeover for Messies
Appendix B: Support Groups
Appendix C: Twelve-Step Messies Anonymous Groups
Organizing Tool
About the Author
Books by Sandra Felton
Back Ads
Back Cover
acknowledgments
I would be remiss if I did not mention the help I received from the teachers and librarians at Hialeah High School. These learned women lay me in the shade in many ways. Any references I have needed and leads I have asked for they have given me. Through their conversations in the faculty lounge and the library, they have unknowingly been my advisors.
I value the inspiration and information I receive from people attending my seminars and workshops and from others I meet. Many offer perceptive comments and exhibit courage that is invaluable to me in sharpening my understanding of the importance of organization in women’s lives. From them I have gained a better understanding of the need to live with dignity and effectiveness and to use our qualities to the fullest extent.
Special thanks to Bob Schwartz who wrote Diets Don’t Work . His understanding of the search for normalcy in the area of weight control has been a great help to me in understanding my search for normalcy in the area of order in the home. He and I met once as guests on a television show, and if I had known then what I know now about his book, I would have thanked him in person—many times.
don’t skip this introduction
Nothing is more frustrating than being required to do something beyond our ability. Those of us who call ourselves Messies live daily with the reality of this problem. We want to keep the house in order and beautiful, but many of us find it next to impossible to do so.
There are many examples of this kind of problem, but perhaps none illustrates the situation better than the story of Rumpelstiltskin.
The miller in the story had a clever daughter, and he boasted to the king that she could spin straw into gold. The king loved gold, so he locked the girl into a room filled with straw and ordered her to perform her miracle.
Rumpelstiltskin learned that the beautiful miller’s daughter had been asked to do the impossible, and he took advantage of the situation. Appearing miraculously through the locked door, he promised to spin the straw into gold if the girl would give him her ring. She agreed, knowing it was the only way she could save her life.
But the king was not satisfied with one roomful of gold. He brought in another load of straw for the miller’s daughter to transform. Again Rumpelstiltskin appeared, this time demanding the girl’s necklace as payment.
Still not satisfied, the king commanded the young girl to work her magic for a third time. Rumpelstiltskin appeared again, but this time he demanded the girl’s firstborn son.
Messies can sympathize with the miller’s poor daughter. Many Messies are bright and creative. Because of this, people expect them to be able to perform simple housekeeping chores without any problem. We expect it of ourselves. But it seems as impossible for us as it was for the miller’s daughter to spin straw into gold. Neither threats nor promises move us toward success. We wish for a little elf to come in and do the job for us, but he never arrives.
This book is the next best thing. It won’t clean your house for you, and it doesn’t come with coupons for maid service, but it will help you develop the mind-set that makes messiness a thing of the past.
Many who read this book are desperate to change and don’t know how. Many have tried various methods and slipped back into old habits. Some keep things picked up but at the price of great physical and emotional effort. They have improved but find it hard to keep it up. Many of these strugglers feel very much alone. Quietly, doggedly, daily, they fight the clutter, which, like the tide, is constantly coming in. Their husbands may be urging them to do better. Their children may be embarrassed. They may feel like failures because they can’t get things moving in the right direction. Whether their house is terribly messy or just consistently more cluttered than they want it to be, they feel it is out of control no matter how hard they work to control it.
Most of us already know how to do more than we are doing, so this is not another “how to” book. It does, however, contain many practical ideas geared for Messies. It has some information your mother never told you (or she told you when you weren’t listening). All of it will help you move toward the goal of order and beauty in your life. But it only works when you are mentally and emotionally ready to work at it.
This book is a “why” book. It clarifies for many of us what is at the root of our messiness. A friend showed me weeds from her yard. She was so amazed at how long the roots were that she taped them to a paper and recorded the measurement of the top of the weed in relation to the root. The result was startling. One weed had a tiny little top, maybe a half inch tall. But the root! That root went on for three and a half inches! To keep the weeds out of her life permanently, she had to dig deep and remove it all.
So it is with some of us concerning the issue of disorganization in our lives. Sometimes the messes keep coming back because we haven’t given enough attention to removing the roots. I hope this book will help you with that.
Like many books, this book tells us what we may already know but don’t know that we know.
In this book you will discover the reasons your house is out of control. Then you will learn ways to get things back under control and keep them that way. I know it sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. Your friends and neighbors who are not neat freaks don’t have cluttered houses, do they? They don’t even seem to be interested in housekeeping. How do they do it? What is their secret? You’re about to find out.
This book contains the basis for a permanent change. In its own way, it is the foundational book of the Messies Anonymous program. It requires some written participation that is essential for accomplishing your purposes. Your written responses are an important part of the changes you will make.
If you don’t want anyone to know what you are reading, cover the outside and write “The Total Watercress Health Diet” or some such inane thing across the front. That should keep folks out.
This book is one of several I have written on the topic of messiness. Others include The Messies Manual, When You Live with a Messie, and Organizing Magic . Each has a place in bringing the message of hope to Messies who feel hopeless.
A disclaimer is in order here. This book is not written so you can give a name to your problem and thereby give the problem an excuse for being. It is written to open the door for appropriate solutions to your problems. I am a professional organizer with a master’s degree in education, but my main qualification is that I am just one poor beggar telling others where I have found bread. It is up to you to follow through and get the bread. Each problem is acco