In our world today everyone is running all over the place, connected to electronic devices. People are so busy, no one stops to listen. Eating and multitasking is becoming the norm. I believe that is why so many people are overweight. No one is really aware of how much they are eating or if they are full. If you would like to lose a few pounds, it is essential that you start to listen to your body. You can’t listen to your body if you are reading emails or watching the news. Start today to eat mindfully.

Listen to your body, it doesn’t lie. It takes your brain 20 minutes to signal to your stomach that you are full. You will feel fuller when you eat slowly. Here are some tips:

Before you eat, say a prayer

Take small bites

Chew completely

Put down your fork in between bites

Savor the flavor

Enjoy your food

Eat as if someone important is with you

Eat sitting down at a table, no sitting on the couch watching tv, standing at the fridge, or driving in the car.

Eat when you’re hungry.

Your body will tell you when it’s time to eat. Don’t eat because 12 o’clock is lunch time. If you’re not hungry, don’t eat.

Do you know the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger? Sometimes what you’re craving isn’t even food. Listen to your soul. Connect your body with your soul. Can you take just 5 minutes and listen? Listen to your heartbeat and listen to the sound of your breath.

The greatest secret to weight loss is self love. Love yourself. Sometimes God uses our struggles to get our attention to the real issues, our separation of mind, body, and spirit. Ask yourself, “why are you gaining weight?” “Have you stopped loving yourself?” Are you disconnected from your true self?”

Pema Chodron quotes, “Nothing ever goes away, until it teaches us what we need to learn”. What is your weight gain trying to teach you? What lessons can you learn? Write in a journal and let your thoughts flow. Your weight gain could be your teacher trying to put you on a path of transformation.

If you want to lose a few pounds, just listen to your body.

On my show this week, I talked about how to clean your closet. Here are some tips that I suggested:

Open your closet door and confront it

Take a really good look at all the confusion

Take a picture, so you can have a before and after

Take a deep breath and let it go and remove every single thing from your closet. Don’t leave anything on the floor.

Wipe down the racks and vacuum the floor.

If it still looks grungy, give it a fresh coat of paint

Burn some sage and let the smoke get in every crease and crevice to get rid of any bad energy

Now, stand back and enjoy what you just accomplished. Feel the surge of new energy.

Once I told my audience how to clean their closet, I had to show them what to do with that big heap of clothes on the floor. Here’s the key: Only put back in the closet what you love. Love, love love. If you hesitate, you don’t love it. If you spent a lot of money on something you don’t wear, don’t feel guilty. Let it go. Let go of everything that doesn’t look good on you. Now, arrange all the clothes in your closet just for this season. Take all your clothes from other seasons and put them in another closet. The secret is to have the clothes in your closet be for just this season and you love them because they look good on you.

With everything that didn’t make it back into the closet, make piles. One to donate, one for trash, and one for cash. Bag up all the stuff and put it in your car. Get it out of your house!

Now, look back in your closet and what do you see? You see your style in there. It’s your style because it’s the clothes you love. You love them because they’re you.

Here’s another way to find your style: You can discover your energy. Your dominant energy really dictates the movement of your energy and your style. We’re all made up of four kinds of energy: nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. However, you lead with one. The one you lead with is your dominant energy. That’s what makes you, you and me, me.

Type 1: Do people call you cute? Is your face round or heart shaped? Do you have apple cheeks? Or a button nose? Does your nose turn up? Is it small? Are your eyes round? Do they sparkle and pop? Does your whole face light up when you smile? You are a bright, animated person because your dominant energy is nitrogen. Just like your energy, you should wear bright colors, animated patterns, round collars, push up sleeves, twirl-around type skirts, anything that sparkles. Just like your energy. It’s your nature. Get rid of any black clothes that you might have. Black is not your type of energy, it is not you. If you need something dark on an occasion, wear navy. It will much better suit you.

Type 2: Do people say you’re beautiful? Is your face oval? Do you have “s” curves on your cheeks? Or on your nose? Or in your nostril? Do you have a blended skin tone? Are your eyes almond shape? Do you have heavy eyelids or doe eyes? You are soft and subtle because your dominant energy is oxygen- a very fluid and flowing type energy. Like your energy, you look best in blended colors, or muted shades with grey undertones. Get rid of black and wear grey instead. Wear blended patterns that flow together, flowing skirts that are relaxed and comfortable. Comfort is the most important thing to you.

Type 3: Do people say you are hot? Is your face triangular or angular? Do you have a square or angular jaw? Chiseled cheekbones? Is your nose angular with triangle shapes in your nostrils? Are your eyes exotic looking? Just like your energy, hydrogen, you are a Rich and Dynamic woman. You look best in rich, earthy colors, peacock blue is good, too. Get rid of all black and wear rich browns instead. Animal prints really suit you. Anything with asymmetric lines and triangular shapes will look good on you.

Type 4: Do people say you are stunning? Is your face an elongated oval? Do you have parallel lines on the sides of your face? Do you have straight lines down the side of your nose? Are there oval shapes inside your nostrils? Just like the energy of carbon- a still energy-you have a stillness about you. You look good in pencil-skirts and straight parallel lines. Just like your energy, you are bold and stunning. Black and white are great on you because of the stillness and bold colors, like cobalt blue really look good on you.

So, if you missed my show, you can see it on youtube, but I hope you learned a little something from this blog.

My show on Monday was about how you could actually release excess weight by clearing clutter from your life. Recently, I came across a feng shui ritual and it goes like this. Everyday, for nine days, you let go of 27 things. Now, that might sound like it’s really time consuming, but it really goes fast. Just try it and see how good you will feel when you let go.

Clutter is stagnant energy, clearing out 27 items every day for nine days is the easiest thing to do to start the new year off on the right foot. You need to release the old to make room for the new.

To become a lighter more slim version of yourself, start to clear clutter. As you let go, you remove blocked energy and your vibrations will rise. As the energy flows, you will feel lighter. Extra weight on your body and extra stuff in your life often equals extra protection. What are you trying to protect? Are you holding on to something, just in case?

When you keep stuff around even though you don’t need it, you’re telling the universe that you don’t trust it. You need to start to trust that your needs will be met. Stop draining your energy by holding on to older stuff to feel safe. Relax and breathe. Exhale and release what you no longer need in your life. As you start to let go of your stuff little by little, you will begin to let go of that need for protection and begin to feel secure and emotionally safe to let go of the weight.

Weight gain is another form of clutter. Clutter holds us back and keeps us from moving forward and causes stress. Just a few hundred years ago, we had to hunt for our food, it was natural to gain weight and store fat to protect ourselves from cold and famine and that program is still in our DNA. All it takes to trigger cortisol levels is a little stress.Then, the body thinks it has to retain the fat.

When we clear clutter, our stress is reduced and our cortisol levels drop causing our bodies to release excess fat. Here’s a tip: When you feel triggered to eat for emotional reasons, take a minute to clear out a draw or a cabinet, or your pocket-book. The lightness you will feel after you let go of stuff can help to eliminate the urge to eat unnecessary stuff.

Reducing clutter can also reduce disorganization. When everything is a jumble in your head and you can’t find anything, that kind of stress makes you want to eat. To support your weight release journey, make clutter clearing a lifestyle habit. As you lighten your life, so too you will lighten your mind, spirit, and body.

Another kind of clutter is mental clutter- resentment, blame, shame and any beliefs or thoughts that don’t support your greatest version of yourself. How much dialogue in your head is uplifting and positive. You can actually gain weight from mental clutter.

Start today. I challenge you! Let go of 27 things each day for nine days. Look in your closet. If your closet is filled with unflattering, outdated clothing, you are holding on to unflattering, outdated beliefs about yourself. As you let go of these, you are letting go of limiting beliefs. It’s those limiting beliefs that sabotage your weight release effort. So, let go. Keep only clothes you enjoy wearing and that you look great in. Let go of old sheets, towels, make-up, medicine, the list can go on and on. Just look around and let go of the stuff you don’t use. Keep your vanity tops free of clutter and clean off your kitchen counters.

Look around and see how you can begin to clear away anything that does not serve you. When you do, you’ll begin to lose excess weight. Think about what old habits or old beliefs are standing in the way of you losing weight. Let go of those thoughts and starting today, say a little affirmation, I surrender. I let go of the old, so I may see the new. To make peace with your food and your weight, you must first make peace with yourself and this means learning how to nourish your soul. When you decide to let go of fear, you will start to let go of your excess weight.

If you want this year to be your best year ever, clear up your clutter!