Is Your Shredder Broken? I was shredding a stack of papers the other morning (you know, all the credit card applications you get in the mail, bank slips, old bills, etc) and the shredder stopped in its tracks and overheated. I had to give the machine a break before it would start working again. I guess I was trying to put too much into the shredder and too fast. As I sat there staring at this machine that was letting me down because I thought I broke it, I began to wonder how this shredder applied to our everyday lives. What in our lives do we want to shred and have we been putting it off for so long that when we eventually do come around to letting it go, it clogs the machine and causes it to quit working?  It seems that our machines (that’s us) would work with greater ease if we shredded frequently and tossed out those itsy bitsy pieces in the trash. You cannot begin to shred until you acknowledge what is not working. So what’s clogging your path to happiness, balance, and peace of mind? Do any of the following ring true for you? • Past failures – business and personal • Debt • Past hurts • Anger • Grudges • A toxic relationship, past or present • Fear of the future • Destructive habits – drinking, gambling, overeating, drugs, etc • Blaming others for your circumstances • Playing the victim • Inability to forgive • Clutter in your home and/or office • The limiting beliefs your inner critic believes to be true • Controllers in your life • Family members who bring you down • Unfulfilling job, career • Team members who are not team players • Bottom 20% patients It is difficult sometimes to let go, but the rewards are well worth the effort. When you hold onto all your negative and angry feelings the law of attraction says that all you do is attract more of these feelings into your life. Continuing to harbor old resentments, grudges, destructive habits, and all the rest can only eat away at your inner peace and balance. Releasing all the negative energy enables you to focus your full attention on the present and into the future so that you can create the life you want. Learn from the past and move forward. Have that courageous conversation with your loved one or a team member, start reducing your debt, take responsibility for your actions, fire that problem patient, clean up your house, change jobs if you need to, release the anger in you, and forgive yourself and others.  Quit blaming others for your plight. Begin to shred and over time your load will lighten and you will live with more joy, freedom, love, and peace.

Stephanie’s visualization:  When you find yourself ready to “let it go” but just haven’t taken that final step, picture a shredding machine next to you with open arms.  Go ahead and drop “it” in there, watch the gears shred “it” into itsy bitsy pieces and then take “it” on out to the trash. Watch as the trash service hauls “it” away. Be rid of “it” and don’t look back. “Let go.  Why do you cling to pain?  There is nothing you can do about the wrongs of yesterday.  It is not yours to judge.  Why hold on to the very thing which keeps you from hope and love?”   Leo Buscaglia “We must learn to let go, to give up, to make room for the things we have prayed for and desired.”   Charles Fillmore Do you need to forgive?  Recite this affirmation several times a day:  “I release myself from all the demands and judgments that have kept me limited. I allow myself to go free – to live in joy and love and peace.  I allow myself to create fulfilling relationships, to have success in my life, to experience pleasure, to know that I am worthy and deserve to have what I want.  I now go free.  In that process I release all others from any demands and expectations I have placed on them.  I choose to be free.  I allow others to be free.  I forgive myself and I forgive them.  And so it is.”   Jack Canfield, The Success Principles

I’ve probably filled at least one dumpster over the years with all the stuff I have shredded. I have not been immune from grudges, anger, limiting beliefs, failures, clutter, controllers, debt, and blame, to name a few. I have had disagreements with family members that went on for far too long, grudges that served no purpose, fall outs with friends, failures too numerous to mention, team members and patients whom I allowed to stay way too long, and negative energy that made me physically ill. It has not been easy to shred little by little, but I do know that life is so much more in balance and enjoyable when I rid myself of these hurts. Life is too short to be carting around baggage.  I look around and I see families at each other’s throats, people who are miserable and angry, and who never smile, and others who are living in their own prison.  What a tragedy. Keep the shredder handy, shred often, and handle with care.