Uncover happiness.

"Organisation is the key to happiness!"

Alitza finding happiness in a tree.

This is one of the joke phrases that i preach around our house in the hope that others might take it on board, and while it is a joke, like all jokes there is a little truth in it. Stay with me and i'll run you through it.

In the wake of the whole un-schooling movement in our life we have had a big clear out, everything from the attic to the papers in the filing cabinet, kids toys, clothes, cookware. It was all taken out and put in front of the ruthless jury that asked just one question. Does it have value in our lives?

Something being of value can mean a host of things, do we use it? do we love it? do we need it? and so on. And unless each item serves some purpose or adds something of value to our lives then it has to go. Don't get me wrong, we don't live in a minimalist home with one set of clothes and a dinner set each. But thanks to our recent cleanse, we now live in a home where there is a sense of space, a sense that we can now breathe and enjoy the space that we have.

Watching the children in their newly sorted, tidied and organised playroom made me realise that it actually was true, now that they could see the floor, they could see the set of play stands, cloths, pegs, paper etc. Their imaginations were immediately sparked, and the most elaborate games took place, that involved structures, and travel, adventure and exploration. This game simply wasn't possible when the floor was covered with mess and the things they needed were buried. Something new was now possible.

This playing and dreaming was happiness at it's very purest. And i'm not saying that it was all because of the organising, but the clear room and tidy playthings was the catalyst for a sudden, huge expression of creativity and passion, on a level that i can only dream of.

And it occurred to me that i get the same sense of creativity, space and freedom from seeing a space clear, tidy and open. Suddenly things are possible that weren't before. I especially love the sense of clarity i gain from transforming a space from messy, cluttered and unused into a beautiful haven of possibility. It's like the tangible version of what life coaching creates, clearing away the accumulated debris and mess, to leave a clearing, an open space, within which new things can be created, and things are suddenly possible that weren't before.

Eli, on the tools.

Dreaming is something that i get people to do in a new open space in their lives as part of being coached, when we have cleared away the mess. Often people forget that they can dream, and as soon as they try, immediately they limit their dreams with "reality" or "feasibility".

When you listen to a childs dream, there are no limiting factors. They can dream as big or small as they please. Knowing that a dream is all it is, there is no need to limit your dreams or cut them down unless you are planning on fitting them into a small space, a messy space perhaps.

We all have dreams from childhood, you may not think you do, but you do. But something will have touched you or really spoken to you as a child, and it will have stayed with you. It may not seem huge or even be something specific, and often it's completely illogical or crazy, but it is very real. And it will never leave you, it is why you have that feeling that there is something you still haven't achieved in life.

Reuben dreaming up high

My big childhood dream is one of adventure and vehicles. The freedom and endless possibility of carrying your home with you. I get excited by long drives, new places and even service stations, it takes me back to a place in my childhood that was happy beyond measure. Which is why, when i bought a rusty old van, converted it into a small home and travelled Europe with my children i experienced a deep sense of happiness and peace that i couldn't explain, a tangible sense of knowing that what i was doing was right, and it was fulfilling something deep inside me that knew what life was really all about. And i couldn't logically explain why i did it, or what it would achieve. But what it created was magic, for me and my family.

So my advice today is to do some sorting, clear a space, and you never know what you might find. You might find the clarity, space and freedom to do something you didn't previously think possible, or you may even find, buried deep under things that you haven't moved for a long time. an old dream, and if you take it out and make it happen, then you might just discover the happiness and peace that you have been looking for.

Isaac, just being Isaac.