We’ve all experienced it. The closet. The drawer. The room. Filled with clutter. The more we let the cluttering expand, the more cluttered we feel–on the inside.  Not to mention the worse the outside looks!

So why don’t we just start the decluttering process? Because there’s no immediate payoff, you may say. Ah, but there is.

When you start decluttering your house, your apartment, your room, closet or even a drawer, you make room for new opportunities. But even before those new opportunities emerge, you’ll feel better about yourself. As you get rid of clutter, you bring in more self-confidence. (It could even bring on anti-aging!)

I’ve been on my decluttering adventure for 4 months now. It’s been a slow process. Starting with my bedroom closet. But it has opened the floodgates to a better me.  Once I started the bedroom, I had to paint the walls, then I gravitated to the kitchen and had it painted (thank you Greg Wonder and Michael Bresnahan). Once the kitchen was done, I had to tackle the living room. Then fix up my “terrace.”

It’s more than a decluttering adventure, it’s an adventure into myself. I just like me more now. Because I’m being better to me. It’s a wonderful upward cycle. And life just keeps getting better and better.

Today, my generous friend Lisa Greenfield  (and expert Hand Analyst) gave me several de-cluttering/organizing days as a belated birthday gift. The best ever!

My living room closet has been the bane of my existence. Every time I’d open the door to grab a jacket or a scarf, I’d be reminded of my past and being stuck on some level. Old loan papers, books, and bags and bags of wrapping paper filled the closet. I was a bit of a mini-hoarder (or just lazy-busy).

It was a whirlwind of a day. I couldn’t help to think that it took years to build this clutter and years for it to collect all that dust. And years and years of feeling bad about all the clutter I created. And in just a few hours, it was all cleared out! When I opened the closet door, suddenly, I could see walls and shelves….all white and clean. And I could see myself!

Now? I can’t wait to clear out the rest….

Decluttering Tips:

1. Don’t do it yourself! Find a take-charge decisive friend (make it an exchange). Or, hire a professional organizer. (I think it’s better to have a friend. It’s great bonding time).

2. When you begin, work fast. This prevents too much agonizing. Remember how ripping off the band-aid was always better than going slowly?

3. Have an open mind. Be receptive to your friend’s guidance. Keep moving!

4. Rule of Thumb. Keep things visible. Clutter creeps in because you can’t see what you have. You forget. And keep piling clutter upon clutter. So decluttering can unfold hidden, forgotten treasures.

5. For clothes: If you haven’t worn it in a season or two, get rid of it. Let someone else enjoy it.

6. Old tee shirts with special pictures? Cut out the picture and make tee shirt mosaic art. Frame them or sew them together.

7. Keep letting go…of all that clutter. Give it away. Throw it out. Open up your world to the new opportunities you’re making room for.

Tracy Pattin

I write about adventure. All kinds of adventures. Other people’s and my own. From Trader Joe’s (my Wasabi Mayonnaise discovery!) to camping across the Sahara. Adventures come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they go back in time. Way back to Hollywood’s Golden Age. Adventures can even be right in your neighborhood.

This is an adventure that found me. I have been on it for 6 months now. It started with another adventure. Transcribing a travel diary from 1912 last year. As I read about this woman, deciphering her turn of the Century cursive, I was transported back in time as she described Pasadena and all the orange groves. She was on her way to Asia by ship.

And then, I met Roy Rogers Oldenkamp. He lives around the corner from me in West Hollywood. I was documenting his walking tour of the neighborhood where Clark Gable, Tennessee Williams, F. Scott Fitzgerald and so many others lived. I was hooked. My new adventure had begun. It was about to go beyond that 3 hour tour, back in time to the 1920s, 30s, 40s and the history of my community.

I’m about to head to Boston to Harvard University to do research on my documentary about Old Hollywood. (I’m still keeping it close to the vest until the project is fleshed out completely.) This is turning out to be the adventure of my life.

Stay tuned.

Tracy Pattin

As Steve Jobs said in that powerful Stanford University Commencement Speech, “Don’t live someone else’s life.” With all the bad news about the economy zooming at us every day, it’s an opportune time to go for what we love. It a time for the greatest adventures of our lives, if we choose to perceive this challenging time in a positive light.

So, going for our passion, for what makes our heart sing, can mean launching or being part of a startup company. According to statistics, Los Angeles had the most startups in the U.S. in 2010.

I visited a fascinating internet startup recently. eSalon, based out of Marina del Rey, has taken the salon customized hair color process and made it accessible for at-home hair coloring.

Come along with me on another adventure in this two minute video as I check out this company and get my own customized hair color!

Adventure Tip: Pay attention to what makes your heart sing. Make a list of those things. Then check out startup companies and find out how they got started. Take one of your passions from your list and make it tangible. Throw one creative adventure pebble into the pond and see what happens. Who knows? It could become your very own startup!

-Tracy Pattin

Do we sometimes need to get to the end of our comfort zone to really start adventurizing our life?

If you know Neale Donald Walsch’s story, you’ll understand how he came up with this quote. He’s the author of the “Conversations with God” series. He started communing with God when he was down and out, surrendering his life.

Everything collapsed in his life; a fire that took all his material things,  a divorce, a car accident that left him with a broken neck. Walsch was now way beyond his comfort zone. He had no job, lost his family because of the divorce, and ended up living in a tent in Oregon. He recycled cans to get food.

Walsch thought his life was over. Then everything changed. Walsch surrendered and started talking to God. His life was about to begin. He started writing about his experiences and “Conversations with God” was born. He became a bestselling author and speaker.

When we step out to a more adventurous life, it can be uncomfortable. Sometimes (in the case of Walsch) excruciating. We must remember that this is where the deliciousness is.  And, if we keep going, creating new “dots” and trust that those dots will connect, we’re in for thrilling adventures and a richer, more fulfilling life.

Adventure Tip: Seek out the edges of your comfort zone and go beyond. Know that discomfort, the uncertainty, the fear are all symptoms of an emerging adventurous life.

-Tracy Pattin

Photo by: EvolvingBeings.com

Related Articles:

Creating the Dots to Connect the Dots

One of the best ways to bring more adventure into our lives is to see what other adventurizers are doing. Carolyn Rothstein-Ziel is always willing to step out, whether career or in her personal life. I asked Carolyn recently what adventurizing means to her.

Here’s what she said:

“Tell the truth, like it’s the time of day” So what I mean by that is that when I am really grounded in what is true for me, connected to my heart and my core, I can easily tell the truth even it sometimes it is difficult or scary to say.

Sometimes telling the truth is an adventure in itself. Letting the other person have their reaction or standing up for a dream and shouting from the rooftops, this is my dream…

Saying yes to yourself and yes to your heart.

Listening to my own gut and saying yes to my true nature, true calling, my true self. This to me is the adventure and so when I say ‘like time of day’ i can simply say what is true for me as if I am telling someone the time…no attachments, just it is 3pm and this is true for me.”

Carolyn Rothstein-Ziel

I got home just now after a magical afternoon seeking out “What’s my calling?” stories. The dots are connecting…I’m learning about my own calling adventure as I share others’ stories. Rufino Cabang (my first “What’s my calling” interview subject) and I were just talking about energy and how to deal with people whose energy drains us with their toxicity.

I turned on the TV. There was Oprah talking about…ENERGY in her Lifeclass.

She says we are responsible for the energy we bring into the space. We must always be aware of the effect our energy has on others.

AND, we must be aware of those energy suckers and do a clearing out of those in our lives who bring us down with their negativity.

Whether it’s our own energy or getting rid of those energy suckers in our lives, we can make a choice.

Oprah showed a clip of a 2007 episode where John, was a passenger on the Singapore Airlines crash. He said he actually saw light around those who died in the crash. Some had a brighter light than others. It impacted him in a huge way, transforming his life, making him aware of our powerful ability to shine brightly or walk in darkness.

“We must be responsible for our lives. While we’re waiting for that ‘something’ to happen, that something’s waiting on us.”

Oprah Winfrey

Adventure Tip: Make it a goal to shine with the brightest light everywhere you go.

-Tracy Pattin

Photo by: kwcministries.com

The theme the other day on Oprah’s Lifeclass (a fantastic show!) was about finding our calling and living the life we were meant to live.

Oprah showcased Lady Gaga, saying that beneath all of the costumes and hype, is a woman who is living her most authentic self. Lady Gaga’s sage advice? “Don’t ever give up on yourself.” She says part of her calling is to “help people free themselves, to celebrate who they really are.”

One of the most intriguing ways Oprah suggests in finding our purpose is to find out what we DON’T want! So often in the spiritual/new age world we’re told not to focus on what we don’t want because that’s what we’ll get more of. What we DON’T WANT!

I agree with Oprah. If you’re floundering with this “Finding Your Calling” adventure, start paying attention to what you don’t want. What does NOT float your boat? That way you can sift through all the clutter to the you,  you want to be.

Although I love what I do and want to do a lot more of it,  I sometimes come across what I don’t want while I’m doing what I love.

This past week while I was creating new dots (to get connected later!) I attended an event where I was shooting a piece. As I was holding out my camera getting an interview, it hit me. This is NOT the kind of experience I want. Suddenly I had a fabulous vision of myself doing the stories and interviews that I love. Stories about fascinating people on fascinating adventures.

Sometimes we need to weed out the wasted energy on projects that don’t invigorate us. It’s clearing out the clutter in our lives to make room for new opportunities.

Discovering in that moment what I didn’t want, gave me instant clarity!

Adventure Tip: When you’re searching for your calling, or trying to synthesize the calling you’ve found, pay attention to how people and situations make you feel. Keep stepping out and create those adventure dots, even if they result in a gigantic DON’T WANT. It will get you closer to what you do want and maybe your calling will come calling.

-Tracy Pattin

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Steve Jobs Adventure. Connecting the Dots

Connecting My Own Dots

Photo by: whoozvoice.com

I keep thinking about Steve Jobs and that fantastic commencement speech. So much so that I wrote 2 blog posts last week. I keep thinking about part 1 of his speech, Connecting The Dots.

As he says, “Believing that the dots will connect down the road, gives us the confidence to follow our heart.” And once we do that, our world opens up to living our lives more on purpose.

I had a thought today. We can help things along by CREATING the dots that will connect down the road. In other words, step out to those adventures all around you. If we open our eyes to the opportunities to make dots in our lives, we will give ourselves (and the dots) a chance to connect.

ADVENTURE TIP: Be aware of the dots in your life. Find ways to create new dot adventures. Then look back at the end of the day, the end of the week to see the connections.

-Tracy Pattin

Watching the powerful Steve Jobs commencement speech  again, has opened my eyes and heart to dot connecting.

As I look back on this week, the dot connecting is clear and ubiquitous.

Starting with Monday. I met with a new friend, a prolific writer, who just moved from New York. We spent the afternoon in a cafe brainstorming. This became one of the best few hours I’ve spent in a year. It was magic. Exhilarating. We just kept building on the story and the characters. As each idea grew, I felt lighter and lighter. More hopeful. It’s been an extremely difficult year, losing my brother (one of my best friends) suddenly. The dark days have been dark. But this one afternoon changed all that. It’s as if I’ve opened up a new chapter in my life.

And because of that, the entire week was light. The heaviness, the sadness gone.

In retrospect, I almost rescheduled. But something told me to seize the moment. And I did. And this moment turned into a life changer.

Then, Wednesday I went to Mirabelle restaurant. Met an amazing person who happened to be sitting at the bar next to me. He was exactly what I needed for my research on The Sunset Strip, regaling me with stories of the fascinating rock n roll era on this 1.7 mile stretch of road.

Last night, I went to a book signing at the historic and wonderful, Book Soup to shoot a piece for The West Hollywood Patch. It ended up being much more than a book signing. It was a series of performances from the book. Once again, I met fascinating people who shared their Sunset Strip stories from decades ago.

This has been a great week of dot connecting!

Adventure Tip: When you’re invited to an event, or even a coffee with someone, go if it feels even a little bit right. It could be a life changing adventure. (but remember, go WITHOUT EXPECTATIONS).

-Tracy Pattin

“We cannot connect the dots moving forward” says Steve Jobs as he addressed those Stanford University graduates in 2005.

When we focus on our passion, not trying to connect the dots, they’ll just start connecting. But if we anxiously look for the dots to connect, we can find ourselves stuck, waiting to see the dotted pattern of our lives.

If Steve Jobs hadn’t “dropped out of college to drop in” on the courses he really wanted to take, namely calligraphy, we may not have had the Macintosh computer. “We have to trust that the dots will connect in the future”, he says. That gets you right to the present, living a more fulfilling, truthful life.

Jobs goes on to say, “Believing that the dots will connect down the road, gives us the confidence to follow our heart.” We have to trust that the “how” will work itself out.

When I quit my secure 9-5 job in 2006, I had no idea how the dots would connect. I trusted that they would, following my heart. I had some previous dot connecting experience. The dots had connected beautifully when I left my old San Francisco life for a new, uncertain life in Los Angeles.

Like both adventures, there were lots of (and still are) lonely, disconnected days. I was tempted to run back to my old city. Tempted to run back to the security of that full time job. That’s where trust comes in. And if we don’t trust, we may quit just when things are about to turn around.

My adventure continues to unfold  as I build “Adventurize Your Life.”  I’m trusting that the dots will continue to connect. Besides, dots are like those “adventure pebbles in the pond” leading to new adventures and a more expansive life. Jobs said, “Believing helps you to follow your heart.”

Steve Jobs’ dots in this lifetime are all connected. But, we can look to his life lessons and learn about connecting dots in our own lives.  It’s pretty simple. Just do what you love, and the dots will follow.

-Tracy Pattin