Organizing Happiness

“Why didn’t I think of that?!? It’s too easy!” That’s what I thought when I started reading Mrs. Lorrie Flem’s e-book  "Organizing Happiness."  

In "Organizing Happiness," Lorrie gives tips or habits to inspire you in 4 areas:

• 7 clutter keepers
• 7 Habits that will make you and your family happier
• 7 spiritual weapons for Happiness
• 7 quick organizing tricks.

Right off the bat, I got excited when I read Lorrie’s 7 clutter keeper ideas. Hey, I’ve got clutter! My bedside table was quite the little eyesore with all of my reading materials scattered here and there. Not anymore! Now it looks so inviting with a cute, cute basket, perfectly shaped for holding my books. It’s my own bedside library. It makes me want to go to bed and read! I look forward to implementing Lorrie’s clutter catcher ideas thru the rest of the house. I can do these ideas today, right now!

Lorrie's e-book, Organizing Happiness, specifically addresses quiet time as a habit that will make me happier. As a homeschooling mom of 6, my life can get very busy as it seems I’m always in demand. With this new school year, my personal quiet time often went by the wayside because I couldn’t seem to fit it in. I realized I was setting a new habit, and not a good one, that left unchanged would leave me to face my day alone without God. That just doesn’t seem like a good option but my choices were making it a reality.

Lorrie says "being consistent is what makes or breaks great people and great lives", thus, for the past few weeks I’ve been grading my own spiritual consistency. Am I praying in the morning and having my quiet time? Am I feasting on the word of God? Am I opening the scriptures with my children daily and giving them spiritual “food” to chew on throughout the day? Are we praying together? Am I thanking God at the end of my day? With Lorrie’s encouragement I’ve been able to get things back on track. Perfectly, no, but each week I’ve been taking baby steps and it’s starting to add up.

Spending this last month focusing on Lorrie's "7 habits that will make you and your family happier," one thing I’ve learned about changing habits is how easy it is to go back to my old way of doing things, especially if I’m trying to make a drastic change. Lorrie reminds me of the long term goal when she says, “Instead of being so concerned that you get off to a strong start make sure it becomes a new habit over the long haul. Once the habit is instilled, it will be much easier to raise the intensity.”  This reminded me to keep it simple.  Take one small action at a time.  For me that translated into setting my morning alarm a little bit earlier and make sure I have a quiet time first... not checking my email, eating my breakfast, starting the laundry or other things that I like to do before the little ones wake up.

One thing I love about Organizing Happiness is Lorrie’s upbeat writing style and sincerity. Lorrie makes me feel so optimistic and encouraged. I feel like I'm sitting on my couch with a good friend, one who always makes me feel better after having spent time with her. I feel like she's sitting in the trenches with me and truly understands my struggles. She reaches my heart in such an encouraging way that I have no time to feel bad about what I don’t accomplish. Instead I feel energized and begin to see the possibilities.

If you want to be encouraged like I have been, go here www.eternalencouragement.com and sign up for Lorrie’s newsletter and you can get "Organizing Happiness" for FREE! You can’t beat that for an after-Thanksgiving deal!