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I’m a Great Bowerbird

The Great Bowerbird lives in Australia. To attract a mate, it collects up to 1,000 objects, mostly white objects—stones, snail shells and sea shells. It stores and maintains its collection in a two-walled bower or shelter for years. I already have a mate, but my collection of objects—some of them are white—numbers more than 1,000. […]

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Get started

Every morning when the alarm goes off, I hesitate a minute. And, then I tell myself: “Get up and do your exercises!” I do them. Every morning. Even when I would much prefer to be sleeping a bit longer. Soon, I’m finished. I’ve learned that I need to do my exercises immediately—as soon as I […]

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The habit of excellence

I’m de-cluttering again—and discovering some bits of wisdom in the tons of papers that I have saved. How about a quote from Aristotle? “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit,” Aristotle once said. –Joy

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Too much stuff?

Time magazine blames the decline in the cost of consumer goods, the growth of credit card use and the rise of big-box stores and discount retailers. And Amazon. Americans have too much stuff, but some of us are trying to de-clutter, Time reports in its March 23, 2015, issue in an article titled “The Joy […]

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A nice problem

I wish I could lose five pounds. I wish my closet was clean. I wish I had more willpower. “Modern life is a wonderful thing, rife with freedom and opportunity, but it comes with the problem of self-control,” says Daniel Akst, the author of We Have Met the Enemy: Self-control in an Age of Excess. […]

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The clutter cure?

If you’re not living up to your potential, “clutter is probably the culprit,” writess Pamela Druckerman, in the February 15, 2015, issue of The New York Times. Druckerman reports that the top-ranked book on The New York Times list of self-help books promises that, with an orderly house, you can “pour your time and passion […]

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One project at a time

Fayteen and I are resolving, once again, to get rid of some of the clutter in our homes. It’s very appropriate that I found some inspiration and helpful hints in an article from the November 22, 2011, issue of The New York Times. I uncovered the article in a pile of important and not-so-important papers […]

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Time to clean up my act

I often find inspiration in unexpected places. While I waiting a long time in the podiatrist’s office to check about my swollen toe, I opened up WebMD magazine to an article titled “Ready to Order—Have a clutter problem? Get to the root of it and learn how to clean up your act for good.” The […]

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The imperfect? An Old Year’s Resolution

Last year, as I put up the Christmas wreath and decorated the Christmas tree, I vowed to clean house, get rid of the clutter and be ready to celebrate the next Christmas in a pristine house. I didn’t do it. I still have too much stuff in my house. However, I am not going to […]

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The big pile on my desk

My brother James and his new wife, Jeany, came to visit. Although James and Jeany have been married almost exactly one year, this was the first time Jeany has visited our house. So, I had decided to impress her with my cooking and my clean house. I decided immediately what to cook. I baked my […]

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