Sort it out

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“powerful,” “motivated” and “strong.” The students then choose four of these emotions that they could identify with, and they wrote them down in their folders. The main list was then displayed in the classroom for constant use when student are struggling or feeling low. We reminded the students that it is important to acknowledge our feelings when we are upset; we are allowed to feel angry or nervous, but staying in that state will not help us, as Robbins believes. Having a list of empowering emotions at our finger tips means we can draw on them to give us the inspiration to keep going.

The next session focused students on their beliefs and values: What is important to them and what do they deeply believe in and value above all else? This exercise was daunting for many of them. We are rarely encouraged to put time or effort into considering our personal philosophy and even those fresh from school had no apparent experience of recording their beliefs or values on paper. As a class I told them that I could already name some of their values based on their behavior. This shocked them at first, but I said, “for example I know that you all value education or further study.” How do I know this? Some students cottoned on to the fact that it was because they had enrolled on this course. Gradually they began to offer ideas of things they valued, such as family and friends.

I modeled some sentence starters to encourage students and to enable them to start writing their own philosophy:

• I believe

• I think

• I value

• I feel it is important… Here are a few of the value statements that individual students produced.

• I value my family and friends and also my time with myself.

• I think that my education/career is one of the most important things for me.

• I think that everyone deserves a second chance.

• I value trust. Without trust nothing works, you can’t do anything without trust.

We discussed how these values and beliefs help us to make decisions – and how we can reflect on our philosophy to help us decide what we must do. I put forward the suggestion that all decision making is about clarifying our values, and establishing what is important to us (Robbins, 2001).

This basic plan could be used for any age group of students. With small adjustments for younger children, such as having pictures of people or situations that help indentify emotions, teachers can help children get in touch with their feelings and relate these feelings to how they behave. Role playing certain emotions and getting others to spot the emotion can be a fun way to see how our emotions affect our behaviour. Creating their own philosophy can be anything from writing a set of value statements to drawing pictures of things or people who are important to them. The key is getting the students to think about what they believe in and what they value.

What I found so interesting was how the initial strategy to improve attendance in our class became much bigger than simply dishing out warning letters. As tutors we did some soul searching and asked some difficult questions, but in the process we discovered more about what we believe in and what’s important to us. Ultimately our teaching philosophy has become explicitly embedded in our practice for all to see. By using the students’ perspective as a starting point, we have created a dynamic within the classroom that has unleashed some motivated and inspired students who want to be there.

Sort it out

Take stock for what you want, need and love

You will find the capacity of abundance in clarity. If your life is filled to the max with activities and stuff, you need to create clarity in your life. It requires clearing a path through the clutter and chaos in all aspects of your life. Removing clutter in all areas of your life (mental and physical) means you are making room, creating space for more awareness, more honesty, more possibility, more hope for tomorrow and ultimately more money. Clutter has the power to destroy. Removing clutter gives you the power to act and the power to create. My advice to you is not to own anything you don’t want or need or love. Value everything, every item you own, and think about the value of each object.

Ask yourself:

• What did it cost?

• What is it worth today?

• What is it worth as an earthly, material representation of who you are now?

Don’t forget about mental clutter. It arises from the things you know you must do, like set up your will, a trust, guardianship for your children, insurances, superannuation plans, promises we did not keep, bad financial affairs, etc. Every change you mean to make and leave undone preoccupies your mind and keeps your life in a state of chaos.

Clear your path to abundance by doing the following:

• Throw away: Go through your entire house and find at least 25 things you can throw away, i.e., worn out shoes, broken things you were meaning to fix for ages, unused consumables and incomplete stuff.

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l orelyn Medina illustration:

karEn TobICh

• Give away: Find 25 items that are in good shape and are truthfully no longer of value to you or no longer used. Clothes, bags, dishes, appliances, videos, books, toys – things that someone else can use.

Reflect on what each item originally costs you, how much was actually wasted and how little you have to show for it. Take it all to the “opp shop,” don’t sell them, give them away. Be generous.

• Borrowed items: Find anything that does not belong to you (things you borrowed) and return them. Make a list of everything you have lent out and make sure you retrieve it.

• Value: Look and touch all items that mean the world to you, item’s you’d never part with – photos, heirloom jewelry, letters. Think how little they cost. These things will remind you of the things that money cannot buy.

• Master list: Make and keep a master list of all the things you are meant to do that preoccupy your mind and add to the chaos and complexity in your life.

Now reflect on the following:

• What do you suppose your clutter cost you at the time you bought it and how much money does that mean you no longer have today? List all the items you are throwing and giving away and list its monetary value (when you bought it).

• What did the things you had to have, because you thought you could not live without them, really cost you in the end? • List the items that served you well, that you still treasure today. Those are the items that were worth the money you’ve spent on them – a fair and equal trade.

• Think about money, of what it can buy you or would it serve you better kept as money. In order to be truly rich, you have to not only value what you love, but also have only things you value.

“ clutter has the power to destroy. removing clutter gives you the power to act and the power to create.”

• Transfer the items from your master list of things to do to your diary and do them once and for all.

Now that you’ve done this exercise, you no longer have what you don’t want, all meaningless clutter is gone and out of your way, and you are on your way to a simpler life.