Do you have trouble sleeping?

Nearly all of us have had difficulty sleeping at one time or another. And this can be very frustrating.

Worried? Many people are. In today's society, people worry about the economy, their own financial situation, their health, their children, the state of world affairs, crime in their neighborhood ... even whether their favorite sports team will win or lose.

Whether your worries are big or small, within your control or nothing you can change, these three steps will help calm your fears.

Do you wake up every morning saying, “Today is a beautiful day and I am grateful to be alive?” If you're like many people, your first thought is, “Where's the coffee?” or maybe even some statement of profanity as you slam the snooze button. If that sounds like you, you're ready for a change.

It's that time of year, when colds and the flu make their rounds and keep us all from being our best. This year's odd temperatures (30 one day, 60 the next?!) have made it hard for everyone to stay germ-free. But these tips will help you all year round.

Studies show that expressing gratitude is one of the most effective ways to increase your happiness. It's also a great way to make sure you're living in the moment and attracting abundance in every area of life.

When we express gratitude for everything we have -- and everything we want -- we send out powerful energy to the Universe and, the universe, acting in alignment with that energy, sends us even more to be grateful for.

Ever since I was very young, I've been intrigued by the flow of energy through a space. I often re-arranged my bedroom furniture until it felt “just right” to me. But it took me many years, bouts of depression and financial ups-and-downs before I finally discovered my true life purpose.

I talk a lot about living in the present moment, simply being. But often, people ask me what that really means and how do you accomplish it? Being in the present moment is when you're not thinking about the past or worrying about the future. You notice everything around you. You feel fully engaged in whatever you're doing.

At that point, time will start to disappear. Next time you look up, a lot of time may have passed, but it may have felt like mere moments to you. You are in the zone.

This happens often when we're doing things we love, that are in alignment with our true purpose. But, optimally, we begin to live our life in that state. When we are living most of the time in the present, stress and worries fade, we appreciate everything we have, and we are happier. With that positive energy surrounding us, it becomes even easier to attract everything we want in life.

Like any skill worth having, learning to live in the “now” takes practice, but I've discovered some activities that can help you become more grounded and bring you back to the present moment, even in times of stress.

1. Take a walk -- whatever the temperature is outside! Pay close attention to the sights, scents and feel of everything around you. Feel the cold air hit your skin, or feel the sunlight breaking through the winter sky.
2. Get lost in a good book.
3. Dance. Just dance.
4. Meditate. You can do this anywhere, at any time, to get truly grounded in the present time.
5. Take several deep breaths and focus on “your word.”
6. Take a power nap -- anything more than 20 minutes may leave you groggy.
7. Make a gratitude list.

Please share your experiences in the comments section. What do you do that helps you get grounded and return to the present moment?

When we are afraid, we are not living in the moment or following our true life purpose. When we feel fear, we let primal emotion take over, and it holds us back from all we could be and accomplish.

Some say we are at a turning point, right now, and have been for many decades. The feeling is growing stronger, and reaching more people. We are being called to live a more enlightened existence, release our fears, and move to the next stage of our evolution. Are you ready?

If you've been wondering for some time what's holding you back, I'm going to share the answer with you right now.

It's fear. When we begin to experience the emotional sensation of fear, our breathing grows shallow and we can't get all the oxygen we need. Our body releases the stress hormone, and we perceive that we must fight or run away -- the fight or flight mechanism. This comes in handy when we face true danger that requires this response. But most of the threats we sense, in today's modern world, are imaginary. FEAR IS IN OUR MINDS.

Many people have described fear with the acronym: False Evidence Appearing Real. This is as good of a description as any other. Very few “real” threats exist for most people in today's world. Instead, we create perceived threats and experience fear before something bad actually happens -- or before we even have compelling proof that something bad will occur.

I wrote about how fear and fright affect us physiologically in this blog post.

But right now, I'd like to focus on something more positive: the release of fear and all that we can accomplish when we finally liberate ourselves from fear. Being free of fear lets us achieve all our goals, live in a state of gratitude and happiness, become a money magnet, and send love out into the Universe so we will receive the same back. What could we accomplish if we were not afraid?Anything.

Three Steps Toward a Better Life

There are three steps you can take that will help you release fear from your life.

But don't be dishearted if you don't accomplish it right away, or if fear keeps creeping back into your life. Just as, after losing weight on a diet you need to continue exercising and remaining conscious of your eating habits to keep the weight off, you must be vigilant about freeing yourself from fear.

Whenever you see fear creeping into your life, follow these three steps to embrace reality -- a reality free from fear. Each time you do this, you'll get better at it until it feels natural. The instances where you discover yourself afraid and need to go through this process will diminish.

At the same time, you'll find that without fear, you are more effectively accomplishing your goals and attracting everything you want into your life. Go ahead. Get started. What have you got to lose... except your fear?

1. Live in the moment.

Many times, our fear arises because we project into the future situations that won't ever come to pass. Or we think about something that happened in the past and predict the same undesirable result in the future. If we are truly living in the moment, then we're not thinking about a future that hasn't yet occured or dwelling on a negative past. There's no room for fear in the present moment, because nothing in the present moment is endangering you. (Again, unless there is real and imminent danger, in which case, action is needed and it's even more important to stay in the present moment and deal with the danger in the best way possible.)

When you are living in the present moment, there is either no reason and no room for fear.

2. Having a hard time staying present? Face your fear and question why it's there in the first place.

Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real. Once you start to call your fear into question, you'll realize it's based on false evidence.

Let's imagine that you meet an attractive person who is a friend of a friend. You want to ask them out, but you're afraid. What are you afraid of? Rejection? What if they say no? So what if they do. You asked. Would it mean you're completely undesirable and destined to remain alone?

Absolutely not. Rejection has nothing to do with you. Maybe that person just got over a bad relationship and doesn't want to date. Maybe they had a bad day at work and are just in a lousy mood. Maybe they're too shy to accept a date! You don't know, but any of your thoughts of your own unworthiness are unsubstantial. It's not about you... except in your own mind, which is the only place your fear lives.

Once you start calling your fears into question, you'll see how untrue these projections are.

3: Let yourself feel the fear.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “What we resist, persists?” If we resist our fear, it will only grow stronger. Trying to avoid it or ignore it doesn't work; it just makes it worse. Instead, let yourself feel the emotions. Again, be completely in the moment and present with your fear. Try breathing deeply to bring yourself into the present. Breathe through the fear. Let the fear flow through you... and out.

You'll realize you survived the emotion, the fear is gone, and you survived. Now it's time to accomplish your goals!

Your Next Step

Now that you have three tools to free yourself from fear, put it to action. Do the thing you fear the most, whether it's skydiving, public speaking or starting your own business. Each time we face fear -- in any context -- it weakens its grip on us.

Knowing we can face fear and survive, even thrive, our fears (all of them!) begin to diminish.

Remember, our coping mechanisms to liberate us from fear are like muscles... the more we use them, the stronger they grow. Take the steps to live an existence free from fear, where you can pursue and accomplish your goals and remain true to yourself.

Feng Shui isn't necessarily about clearing clutter, but in many homes, it definitely helps with clear-thinking and staying focused on your goals. Where do you start? Looking at a mess can seem overwhelming unless you develop an action plan and tackle one space at a time. Here are 5 easy tips to get you started.

1. Start with the kitchen - Do you expect -- and receive -- an avalanche every time you open your kitchen cabinets? Time to take stock and re-organize. Check the expiration dates on everything and toss the old stuff. If something's on the verge of expiring, Google some recipes and see how you might be able to use it ASAP. Nothing appeals? Toss it now and cross it off future grocery lists.

Moving down to your kitchen drawers, it's time to be brutal. Keep two of common utensils like spatulas and cake servers -- not five. Evaluate everything in your drawer. Have you used it in the past year? Do you foresee using it the future? If not, out it goes. Well, you may want to hang on to Grandma's french fry cutter, but only if it brings back fond memories. Then, make a commitment to slice some crinkle cut sweet potato fries and bake them up tonight.

When you're done with the great purge, set your intention to keep your countertops clear (think of creative places to stow appliances you don't use often, like the garage or basement) and to wipe off your stove every night after dinner.

2- Focus on your home office. - How can you bring your best self to the table for creative, fulfilling projects or even paying bills if you're sitting amidst piles of clutter? Take the same approach you did with the kitchen, and toss or shred junk mail, expired coupons, catalogs and old magazines.

Then create a sorting system you'll stick with. Buy folders or bins that are fun and inspiring so you want to use them, and make a place for bills, mail, receipts, magazines to read, etc. As papers pile up monthly, sort through and get rid of what you don't need.

Also, begin transitioning to a “paper-less office” by requesting electronic statements for your monthly bills. Scan in important paperwork when you do the monthly purge. You can store on your hard drive or securely online for an automatic back-up solution of important paperwork.

3- Create a leaner library. - Don't have a Kindle yet? Or maybe you're a bibliophile who can't bear to part with a book. Evaluate your the books in your home library the same way you evaluate other items in your home. Do you use it frequently? Does it bring you joy? Does it serve a purpose? Books you use for reference (and you can't find the equivalent online easily), books you read over and over again, or titles that  make you smile when you see them deserve a space on your shelf. Donate the rest to your local library -- an organization of people who still appreciate books the way you do.

4 - Go for a photo finish. Photos, like books, accumulate with time. Piles of photos that need to be placed in albums, or photo albums that are falling apart, create emotional and physical clutter in your environment.

View photos objectively, rather than with sentiment, and follow these rules: Toss duplicates, unflattering pictures, photos that are too dark, too light, too blurry or too grainy. Now that you're left with the best, sort into relevant categories and place them in photo boxes. Find your favorites and put them in frames to hang down a long hallway, in the foyer, or on stairwell walls.
You might also scan your pictures (this is a great task to give to kids on a rainy afternoon), back them up, and stow the originals.

5. Create a sanctuary in your bathroom -- starting with your make-up drawer and medicine cabinet. - Ladies know it's hard to create a private space for rest and re-awakening when you can't find your mascara in the morning. The first step to a more zen bathroom is to clear the clutter, including toiletries, make-up, perfumes and lotions you don't use. This is also important for your health, since expired make-up, make-up that doesn't look quite right, or has a bad odor is spoiled and could be harboring dangerous bacteria.

The medicine cabinet is also an important space to keep clean, organized and clutter free. You don't want to be rummaging for a band-aid when you're bleeding and expired medications lose potency.

We've come full circle here -- start by checking expiration dates and tossing anything that's old or about to expire. Then toss anything you haven't used in at least a year. You might create two baskets or bins, and place all your make-up inside one. As you use a particular cosmetic, place it in the second bin. Anything in the first bin -- meaning you haven't touched it in a year -- should go. As you buy cosmetics, only buy products to replace ones that expire or run out.

Prevent “Clutter Creep”

Now that you're finished, you don't want to go through that again, do you? Stay on top of expiration dates and sorting. Follow this rule with everything in your home: If it doesn't serve a purpose or bring you joy, out it goes.

With less “stuff” to worry about, you can focus on finding and living your true life purpose.

In Feng Shui, we often say it's better to begin with positive energy than to implement remedies.

This is especially true in situations when someone is using Feng Shui to help them make a choice in buying a house.

That's why it's best to look for a home with good Feng Shui than to remedy unfavorable layouts or to try to improve the flow of chi. That's not to say there aren't Feng Shui fixes available if you believe your home is not in alignment with your goals, but it's best to take Feng Shui into consideration when you first begin looking for a house.

Ask yourself these three questions when you begin evaluating homes for potential purchase:

1. Will the layout of the home encourage you to pursue what you really want in life? If you want a large family, you wouldn't want to buy a home with only two bedrooms, as this wouldn't fit the life you want to live. If you are focused on a home business, you may prefer a house with a home office in the wealth or career trigram of the ba gua. Someone who loves cooking may want a specific kitchen layout.

2. How is the overall energy in the home? Even if a home's layout is perfect, it may have negative or dead chi, exemplified by factors like dead grass, dead or dying shrubs, and an overall depressed mood.

3. What are your goals and life dreams? Will your home and the neighborhood assist you in achieving your goals or do you see ways that it may block you?

A professional Feng Shui consultant can help you evaluate any home before purchase, or even help you pinpoint exactly what you want in a home to help you fulfill your true life purpose. Contact me here to find out more about a consultation.