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Put out your hot spots

Put out your hot spots

By: By MARLA CILLEY The FlyLady

Do you feel like the whole world is crashing in on top of you? Believe it or not it happens to all of us from time to time. Especially during the holiday season.
When we get busy, we feel that we don’t have time to do even the simplest of routines. So what do we do? We let our hot spots take over our homes.
Yes that is all it is. You come in the door tired and ready to drop your load wherever you can put it. Then you crash. No, wait. You have to throw something together for supper and I mean throw, because when you are finished the kitchen looks like a bomb went off and you feel like you could get out of the way. By this time you are so overwhelmed that you just want to hide so you go to bed without doing the smallest of a before-bed routine and all of a sudden your home has exploded in your face and your husband is pitching one of his usual fits. Ugly words are exchanged and you feel terrible.
Here is the secret to stopping this explosion before it starts. When you hear yourself saying that you don’t have time or you don’t have the energy to do something, stop dead in your tracks and set a timer for five, 10 or even 15 minutes and do a quick pickup and put-away. That is all it takes to make you not feel so overwhelmed.
Our hot spots attack more than our home. They hurt us inside by causing us to feel bad because we can’t keep up and they zap our energy. Now I want you to pay close attention. You can start over anytime. You are never behind. Do you hear me?
That stinking thinking of “I don’t have enough time” is for the birds. It is what got your home in the shape it was in. It’s our perfectionism rearing its ugly head one more time. You can stop the downward spiral by replacing those terrible words, “I don’t have time” with “I can do just five minutes.”
This is a huge attitude adjustment for most of us. It takes time and worst of all we don’t even realize we are doing it. Now that it has been brought to your attention, you will hear yourself say those words. When you do, turn them around and just set your timer and do just a little. I can hear you now. “BUT! I really don’t have the time. She doesn’t understand.” Well I am here to tell you that I used to think the same way and I have changed my negative thoughts into positive ones and you can, too. It all starts with the realization of what you are doing to yourself with those words. It is a form of WHINING. You know I don’t allow whining.
I want for you what I have: PEACE. This peace came for letting go of negative thoughts and replacing them with positive actions. Even a little will go a long way toward helping you find this peace.
For more help getting rid of CHAOS; check out the Web site and join the free mentoring group at www.FlyLady.net or the book, “Sink Reflections” published by Bantam and the New York Times Best Selling book, “Body Clutter “published by Fireside. Copyright 2007 Marla Cilley. Used by permission in this publication.
Published in The Messenger on 12.19.07

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