We have learned that procrastination is a major source of stress and is also a companion of clutter.

A simple example of the two working together hand-in-hand to get us upset, sad, shamed is the almost daily reality of mail, either snail or email, coming into our space. Email is somewhat easier to attend to. We open up the messages, read them and sometimes respond, if warranted. And then those few messages start to add up and up and up and soon there are a thousand on the screen, 50 at a time, and we just leave them there. No harm done. Really?

Then there is snail mail which comes in, gets dropped on the foyer table or the desk or even the bed, our primal nesting place. That pile of paper, magazines, flyers is left alone, unattended until one day a notice that we haven't paid that bill or that the sale we were looking forward to has passed emerges from the fact that we just didn't attend to the stuff that came in some time ago.

What's to be done? Well there is light at the end of the tunnel. A start to the process that will provide relief. It's called naming a project that will help us dig into the pile and relieve it of its presence on our table, desk, counter, even bed.

Just go for it. Tackle the forest of mail. Prune, chop and deal with it. Pick up some of it. Look at each piece and right then and there decide what to do with it. Address the issue or toss the thing but don't put it down again in the pile to sit for another day.This can be accomplished in 10 to 15 minutes initially, the mere idea and task of picking up the stack and doing something productive with it, even if it means letting go of the mail that doesn't add value to your life.

Read this, digest it and then toss it. You can always find it again. Some things that are hidden, you may never find them again but without looking, addressing what's there and seeing the reality of the space, you are not doing justice to yourself. You can do it. And having help helps.