Reading Time: 2 minutesThis is the suggested Well-Being Practice for week three of the challenge. If this practice does not work for you (for whatever reason), then you can choose from one of our 3 Foundational Well-Being Practices. If you are a veteran player or these three practices are not new to you, then feel free to select from our comprehensive list of Well-Being Practices.
This Week We’re Going to Start Fresh Every Day
Simple Instructions:
- Each day, find an area of your life that needs cleaning — and clean it up.
- The space can be physical (like a desk or closet) or virtual (like your email inbox or file folders).
- You may also pick a large project, like your garage or storage area, and tackle a small part of it each day.
- The space does not need to be large and it need not take long to clear up.
Watch this video for an explanation of this Well-Being Practice from Whole Life Challenge co-founders Andy Petranek and Michael Stanwyck.
Why Is This Practice Important?
There are lots of small things we let stand in the way of making the big moves in life. But it helps a lot to have clarity in and around us when we’re making important choices. And straightening up small, manageable things is good practice in straightening out larger, more unwieldy things.
Cluttered physical, virtual, or even mental spaces provide unnecessary obstacles to doing what matters to us most. Feeling like we’re surrounded by messes or chaos can keep us in “putting out fires” mode — the need to take care of the nagging things right in front of us first.
When our spaces are clear, new paths can open up. Waking up or living in an uncluttered reality can provide a sense of calm and leave room for creativity and productive action to flow. Therefore, this week’s Well-Being Practice is both a practice in accomplishing tasks and literally making the space for the bigger, better things to come.
For More on This Practice
For a deeper dive into the psychology of clutter, listen to Andy’s podcast with “Dorothy the Organizer” of the TV show Hoarders.
They discuss the struggles so many of us have with clutter, disorganization, body- and self-image, procrastination, food addiction, and the relationship strain that can occur when partners’ ideas about organization don’t exactly match up.
He graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy as well as a degree from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, and feels food is one of the most important parts of a life - it can nourish, heal, and bring people together.
Michael believes health and well-being are as much a state of mind as they are a state of the body, and when it comes to fitness, food, and life in general, he thinks slow is much better than fast (most of the time). Stopping regularly to examine things is the surest way to put down roots and grow.
He knows he will never be done with his own work, and believes the best thing you can do for your well-being starts with loving and working from what you’ve got right now.
