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Hoarding happens when clutter gets the upper hand. Being a hoarder takes the joy away from life, and can severely alter your lifestyle as your numerous belongings spiral out of control. Here are some ways to stop hoarding and start living the clutter-free life you desire.

Hoarding happens when clutter gets the upper hand. Being a hoarder takes the joy away from life, and can severely alter your lifestyle as your numerous belongings spiral out of control. Here are some ways to stop hoarding and start living the clutter-free life you desire.

Find out Why You Hoard

Everybody has a different explanation for hoarding, therefore everyone will have a different inspiration required so as to quit. Reflect in your past. Have you always loved to keep things too long, or was there a specific point when the hoarding began?

​Also Read 5 Steps to Minimalism - Living A Meaningful Life

Becoming a hoarder can take place very naturally. It can start with a sincere wish not to waste, and to utilize what you have. It can begin with a love for shopping that gets out of control. It can start with a terrible event and the loss of a loved one, and an ultimate hesitation to let go of any personal memories you have of them. 

Think about a Few Little Steps

You don't need to completely give your home a remodeling in an instant. Begin thinking about little ways you can change the home you stay in, so as to slowly turn it into your dream home.

Take little steps, like deciding not to buy anything aside from necessities such as food. If you do buy something, make a promise to yourself that you will do away with a minimum of ten other things before it arrives through the door. Clean one section of your home each time, even though it is only a desk or another small area.

Find Strategies That Inspire You

A little fantasizing always helps you alongside your goal of quitting hoarding. Save a folder on Pinterest with pictures of minimalist homes that you love. Visualize yourself and your family living there, and think of how you might feel. Make a small binder of suggestions you find in magazines, if you like. Just beware not to overdo it with the clippings to the point where they are adding to the mess. You can also invest a minimal amount in a printable declutter planner like the one pictured on this page,

Get Help If Needed

There is no embarassment in seeking help if your hoarding goes beyond what is normal. Find an organizer who is competent in helping hoarders reduce their clutter and organize their homes. Donít hesitate to ask your friends for help, as they love you and are greater than likely to be happy to help you enter your new, clutter-free life.

Also ReadDecluttering Your Mind

If you believe that you just can not make the changes, seek an advisor who knows with hoarding to ensure that they can assist you in releasing yourself from the prison youíve enclosed yourself in. Major hoarding is greater than just a bad habit, and could be mentally crippling.

Being a hoarder can have an unfavorable effect on each and every single area of your life. You can trade this way of life for a clutter-free version if you want. Take the necessary actions and turn your home into a haven that you always look forward to coming home to.

This handy declutter planner can be purchased on Etsy HERE

When you begin to become used to performing at a high level, you start to neglect the tiny things in life that make things worth living.

​You find yourself failing to value the true blessings in your life, and you overlook to take in the valuable seconds with people you love. Below are a few simple gratitude activities that can help make you feel happier.

6 Easy Activities to Cultivate Gratitude Today

1) Recognise 3 Things You Value
Take a second to recognise 3 things in your life that you value and feel thankful for. These things could be in the present or in the past. Although no category or item is too large or small, it is important that you are specific in your gratitude.

Follow our positivity board on Pinterest

2) Pinpoint 3 Things You Take for Given
All of us take some things for given in our lives. Take a while to review these types of things and find which of these things you value the most. This could be anything, from good bodily health to a great paying job.

3) Find 3 Things you Value About Yourself
With our continuous need to match up ourselves to others, this could be a challenge. Take a while to think of the things that you cherish about yourself. It can be something in your character, your everyday actions, some good qualities, or just about anything else that is directly linked to yourself.
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4) Discover 3 Things You Feel Thankful For At This Present Moment
In order to develop gratitude, it is necessary to remain in the here-and-now. Make the effort to consider what you can value about your present situation. Consider your surroundings and daily actions - think of just about anything that associates with the here and now.

5) Name 3 Individuals Who are Significant in Your Life
Think of all the people you've had in your life. These could be instructors, school teachers, coaches, relatives, good friends. Call those individuals to your mind and make the effort to think of how they made a big difference in your life.

​Also read: How To Encourage Positivity Around You
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6)  Create Thank-You cards
Create thank-you cards for those 3 people which had a big influence on your life. You do not need to send them, just the action of writing down your thankfulness will be very valuable.

Engaging in these 6 activities routinely will assist you to grow your gratitude and lead you to a much healthier and more satisfied life.

​What is Your Predominant Sense?

Do you know what your predominant sense is? 
​Work through this quiz to determine your main sensory tendency.

Circle the statements below that best describe you:

1. I base my important decisions on:
a. My instincts
b. The choices that seem most sound to me
c. Whatever looks right

2. I rate the success of a presentation or meeting by the following criterion:
a. The presenter has illustrated the key points in a clear manner
b. His argument is viable
c. He has understood the real issues

3. People can tell whether I'm having a bad or good day by:
a. The kind of clothes I'm wearing
b. The feelings and thoughts I share with them
c. The sound of my voice

4. In a disagreement, I'm most affected by:
a. The other person's tone of voice
b. The expression on their face when they look at me
c. Their feelings

5. I am most aware of:
a. The shapes and colors around me
b. The noises and sounds in my environment
c. The way my clothes feel on my skin

You will find how to add up the numbers and what it means in the below download of the free workbook “Transform your Life With The Power Of Your Senses"

Also Read: Using your Senses To Transform Your Life
Also Read: ​Your Sense Of Touch - MUCH more Powerful Than you Realise
Also Read: Get in touch With Your Soul By Using your Sense Of Sight
Also Read: 10 Incredible Facts About Your Sense Of Smell

 This is the first post in a new series - "Using Your Senses To Transform Your Life.” Most of us probably assume that we make use of all 5 our senses each and every day, but take another look. Do you think that you use them to their fullest potential?

Leonardo da Vinci, the great Renaissance painter and sculptor, said that the average person looks without seeing, listens without hearing, and talks without thinking. Doesn’t this describes most of us?
 
Follow these series if you would like to discover the full potential of your senses and how you can use them for powerful self improvement which will lead to happiness, healing, and greater life fulfilment. 
 
See how one may fine tune your senses  to make much more sense of the world. After all, you are the writer of your own story, and your perception creates your own world.

Do you know what your predominant sense is? 
​Download this free quiz below  determine your main sensory tendency.

For 5 weeks, we will focus on one sense each week. For instance, week one you could pay particular attention to everything you see that week. Do not then pay to much attention to your other four senses in your “sight” week. In a "touch week" focus on feeling various textures, and so on. 
 
Perform this exercise over the next 5 weeks, concentrating on a different sense each week.
 
Repeat this exercise from time to time to stay in touch with all of your senses so you can reap the very most benefits from all five of them. 

Week 1:  Your Sense Of Hearing

The Art of Listening
 
True listening has the power of transforming relationships on a majestic scale. It can make the difference between a failed and a successful career. How well you listen in the same way affects your relationships with your family members and friends. 
 
Try these tips to fine tune your listening skills:

• Look at the person speaking. Show your interest by attentively leaning forward. Make sure that you maintain eye contact and stop with whatever it is that your re doing listen to this person.
• Do not become distracted by your phone, the tv or anything else while you are listening.
• You have to show your interest from time to time by nodding or saying “really?” or “I see what you mean."  
• Do not plan what you are going to say next while the speaker is talking. Let him or her finish first before you consider your reply.
• Exhibit self-control and avoid being judgemental while the person is speaking. If what the person said makes you angry first count to ten and think about an objective response before saying a a thing.
• Make sure you understood what they said by summarising “so you are saying...”  and wait with your questions while the other person is speaking.

​Research has long shown that music enhance brain power, health, and a general sense of well-being. This phenomenon is known as “The Mozart Effect.”

Improve Creativity and Focus With the Music of Mozart

Mozart’s music, in particular the "Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major", has been shown to boost brain power.
 
Dr. Alfred Tomatis discovered the Mozart Effect in the late 1950's while he was experimenting with the effects of Mozart’s music on autistic children. By 1990, the method had been adopted worldwide. It was also found that Mozart’s music is also beneficial in reducing the negative effects of epilepsy.  
 
Classical music relieves stress and is shown to improve your body’s immune system. Mozart’s compositions and Baroque music like Bach that is 50 to 80 beats per minute also enhances a person’s focus by inducing the Alpha state brain waves which is ideal for learning and reading. ​

Also Read: Using your Senses To Transform Your Life
Also Read: ​Your Sense Of Touch - MUCH more Powerful Than you Realise
Also Read: Get in touch With Your Soul By Using your Sense Of Sight
Also Read: Free Workbook: Transform Your Life With The Power Of Your Senses
Also Read: 10 Incredible Facts About Your Sense Of Smell

What About ​Cultivating positive habits?

You must have seen how some people just seem to have the knack of getting things done. They will say a thing like, 'I am going to begin exercising next year', and they do! However when you try, it's a different story. You stay with it awhile and then in some way it all falls flat. It can really easily make you discouraged and disheartened. You need to create good habits that stick, to inspire you. 

1. Begin small
Many people wish to plunge in at the deep end and change things over night, but if you wish to succeed, it is best to start small and increase because sustaining positive habit does take a great deal of willpower. Research shows that willpower resembles a muscle, once you use it, it burns out, and when it's tired it needs to stop. The solution is to start small without using a lot of willpower. So if its exercises we're discussing, rather than embarking on 50 pushups a day, start with five. Always establish your habit behavior first, not increasing the amounts until what you have started becomes a natural part of you.

2. Get linked to your good habit
Maybe you've started a project at the office and worked doggedly on it. You type of don't wish to let it go as you think about it as 'yours'. But we can use this mindset to our advantage, as a visual reminder of the investment you have made in your good habit. It's a great idea to get a calendar, with a marker alongside it, marking the date you started and watching its progress-- with the intention of never breaking the chain.

3. Are your objectives clear?
Being serious regarding your new positive habits means eliminating non-serious intentions. Research, once more, shows that you are a lot more likely to complete if you have analyzed your plans beforehand and you know exactly what you will do and when. It's no good saying, 'I think I will exercise 3 times a week'. You need to actually start making it happen, otherwise, you won't hack it. It is a good help if you plan your goals beforehand using a detailed goal planner.

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​4. Rejoice in victories
When you are managing yourself well with your positive habits, reward yourself. Rewarding yourself releases good-feeling chemicals in the brain, feelings of pride and pleasure. It equips you to continue with your good habits and create bigger wins later on.

​Also Read: How To Keep Focus On Long Term Goals 

5. Create your own surrounding
Lot of times, our environment is what drives our behavior. Create your environment and shape it to support your positive habits. Each of your new habits will require energy to do it done and the more energy and action need to follow it through causes a person to become less likely to complete with it. Maybe, rather than finishing a book, you rather watch TV. Now place your book where the TV is and move the TV to another room. Get the drift? It's creating the right environment so you can promote the change.

6. Supporters will support you
People whom you stay with or whom you come into contact everyday with can influence on your behavior a lot. As an example, if your best friend ends up being overweight, you increase the risk of turning into obese yourself by as much as 57%! Research and experience show us that we type of feel similarly and even act sometimes the same as individuals we spend a great deal of time with. That means you need to be with the same type of people who think like you. If you want positive things to happen in your life, you can't surround yourself with pessimists. You need positive people around you who make you feel positive and act positively.

7. Be responsible
Regretfully, 99% of people who set adventurous goals don't execute them because they don't plan them out. You can't be responsible for positive changes and habits if you have not thought, prepared for and put them into motion. A goal without consequences is just wishful thinking. You need to make favorable goals and put stakes on your new habits to hold your own self responsible. Setting positive goals, and achieving them requires energy, dedication, and self-control, plus some truly hard work. Do you have what it takes?

​Also Read: Be Passionate about Your Goals and Do Not Quit ​

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​By this time of year, healthy eating may have taken a back seat to summer vacation, back-to-school madness, and your subconscious seems to know that January 1st is nowhere in sight. 

This is the perfect time of year to reboot your healthy eating, leaving Pop Tarts, daily ice cream bars and too many Frappuccinos far behind.

 (Did you know some people call this time of year the “second New Year”? I totally get why.)
​
It’s so perfect, in fact, that I have good news to share. If you need help getting back in the “healthy saddle” again, the folks at Ultimate Bundles have teamed up with Katie from WellnessMama.com to offer a Complete Healthy Lifestyle Bundle which can be accessed right HERE.

This Unique Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle - will be your personal library of resources to create a personalized wellness plan, support weight loss goals, get your family on board with healthy eating, and so much more!

A carefully curated collection of eBooks and eCourses for people who want to live a healthier life on their own terms.Brand new for 2018!
​

3 Habits to Increase Your Productivity

Lеt uѕ tаkе a lооk оf рrоduсtivе and unрrоduсtivе hаbitѕ we аlwауѕ dо in оur time. Which оnе iѕ the уоu dо more. Unproductive habits саn bе watching tеlеviѕiоn all dау, procrastinating уоur wоrkѕ аnd оbligаtiоnѕ, ѕреnding all уоur mоnеу until уоu dо not have аnуthing in your wаllеt, using уоur сrеdit cards оn things you dо not еvеn nееd, еаt аnуthing wе like withоut tаking соntrоl оf whаt we еаt оr соnѕumе, using оur credit саrdѕ when we know wе can not аffоrd to рау the interest оf thе саrd аnd mаnу mоrе. 

Compare thоѕе thingѕ mentioned with рrоduсtivе hаbitѕ likе еxеrсiѕing 10-15 minutеѕ еvеrу mоrning bеfоrе going to wоrk, read inѕрiring and mind-ореning books, tаkе a сlаѕѕ оf nеw ѕkillѕ likе fоrеign languages оr playing muѕiс inѕtrumеntѕ, planning tоmоrrоw wоrk with preparation аt thе night bеfоrе, eating healthy food аnd соnѕuming vitamins аnd rеduсing соnѕuming junk fооdѕ, ѕаving a сеrtаin реrсеntаgе of оur income in the bаnk оr invest thеm intо ѕtосkѕ аnd dеrivаtivеѕ. 
Fоr ѕоmе реорlе, dоing thе рrоduсtivе habits iѕ nоt еаѕу and thеу end uр рrасtiсing unрrоduсtivе hаbitѕ. I knоw it and I dо not blame them bесаuѕе ѕоmеtimеѕ circumstances mаdе thеm do it. But if we are аlrеаdу tirеd with our negative hаbitѕ аnd аrе serious аbоut changing the way wе livе then nоthing is impossible. ​
​
3 Productivity Hаbitѕ Thаt Will Hеlр Yоu Gеt Mоrе Dоnе 

1. Nоthing Bеаtѕ Plаnning 
If уоu wаnt tо gеt mоrе dоnе, уоu dеfinitеlу hаvе tо plan fоr your day. When уоu did not рlаn fоr уоur dау, уоu will gо thrоugh уоur dау in reactive mооd. Doing whаtеvеr comes to уоu inѕtеаd оf bеing proactive аnd getting thingѕ dоnе. 
Mоѕt реорlе find it diffiсult tо рlаn. Plаnning can bе аѕ еаѕу аѕ writing dоwn 3 оr 5 most imроrtаnt tаѕkѕ before уоu start уоur day аnd gеt thеm dоnе as soon аѕ уоur day ѕtаrtеd. 

2. Uѕе Prоduсtivе Language 
Do уоu knоw thаt уоur lаnguаgе, thе wоrdѕ that уоu use and thе way уоu tаlk to yourself can аffесt уоur productivity? When уоu need to gеt ѕоmеthing done, notice whаt iѕ thе firѕt thought thаt comes into уоur mind? Iѕ it, "Gosh, thiѕ iѕ tоо muсh and I juѕt саn't get it dоnе in time." 
If уоu think аbоut it thiѕ way, уоu will never be рrоduсtivе. Nеxt timе, trу tо аdорt thiѕ thinking, "what iѕ the one thing thаt I can get done within 10 minutеѕ tо ѕеttlе this tаѕk?" When you think it thiѕ way, уоu аutоmаtiсаllу focus intо small сhunkѕ оf work уоu can dо within 10 minutеѕ and get it dоnе ѕtrаight аwау. 

3. Timе Blосking 
Timе blосking iѕ one of thе mоѕt роwеrful techniques аbоut рrоduсtivitу thаt аnуоnе саn lеvеrаgе оn. Simрlу time blосk уоur саlеndаr or your dау-tо-dау schedule for thе tаѕk you wаnt to gеt dоnе and do it when the timе соmеѕ. 
​
Fоr еxаmрlе, whеn уоu writе dоwn уоu wаntеd to call 20 clients frоm 10аm tо 11аm thаt is еxасtlу whаt уоu аrе going tо dо. Nо еxсuѕе and уоu will nоt dо оthеr thingѕ еxсерt thаt. Thаt 1 hour timе slot is for уоu tо саll your clients. This iѕ what it means bу timе blocking. 

Further reading: Time Management Hacks to Organize Your Day

If thinking negative things like "I can't do this" or " this is to difficult for me" you will not get any positive results. Rather condition your brain to think positive thoughts to overcome the negativity. Change the way you think by put in effort to change, tell yourself out aloud that you can and will. Take control and train your brain to think positive. Develop a positive attitude for life and expect to have a success.

Effective positive thinking is more than repeating positive words, or just telling yourself that it will be ok. It has to be your default attitude. Do not allow fear entering your mind. Much effort will be necessary. 

• While thinking and talking use positive words only. Words like 'I will be able', 'it will happen', etc.
• Ignore your negative thoughts. Substituting them with positive happy ones.
• Read an inspiring book or listen to an inspiring podcast every day. Limit time spent on negative events, news and newspapers.
• Surround yourself with positive people.
• Look at your body posture. Always sit upright and walk with your back straight. This increase confidence.

Think positive, expect results and in time, you will see change. Even when your current circumstances are not as ideal.

​For further reading:

​If you tried and failed, it does not mean you will fail again. You need to realize that breaking a bad habit needs ongoing effort from you. It will not be accomplished overnight. Changing bad habits will require a daily commitment from you.  Work hard, but forgive yourself for failures.

​These simple tested strategies might help you to make the changes needed to get rid of your bad habits. Before doing anything else, you have to first prepare yourself  for the planned habit change.  Make sure you do not change over one habit at once as each one will require a great amount of willpower from you. You need to be 100% committed otherwise you will fail. Set a start date, and a finish goal. For example 30 days. (Some habits may take longer than 30 days to break, use your time and set 45 or 90 days)
​For more information regarding breaking bad  habits and developing good ones, see Create Habits that Stick AMAZON


Be specific about the actions you must take to end the specific habit.  Do not just say "I will drink less soda."  How much less?   You will have to decide what you will change and how, to make that happen. You need to have a plan of what you will do instead of the bad habit. The more detailed you are, the more likely you are to succeed.


Succeeding will not be smooth sailing. Be realistic about what it will take from you to get rid of this habit and put in the effort to succeed. Expect to work hard and you will not give up.

a Lack of willpower (self-control), Is for many people an excuse for giving up. Willpower works like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets.


Become mindful about what bad habit you are doing and why? Try to understand why this habit is bad for you. Chances are you will become less interested in doing them. If you pick a not a good reason to change, you are most likely to fail. Try to find the true underlying reason you do this habit and the real reason you should stop. The stronger your reason, the more likely you will stick to it.

Identify your bad habit "triggers" and whenever you experience a trigger, you should replace it with a new good habit.  This will not be easy to do at first, but later on you will follow a new routine without even thinking about it. (People may also be triggers, in which case try to limit your time with them if possible.)

Stay Positive. The moment you realize that you are busy doing the bad habit, think about the commitment you have made to yourself to stick to your plan.