With the Lunar New Year coming soon, most Asians are busy trying to wrap up any unfinished work and preparing to welcome the Beginning of Spring (立春) for the Year 2017. Weeks prior to the arrival of Lunar New Year, most families start Spring Cleaning chores, clear or clean the old stuff and create a new space at home.

Immediately decluttering process kicks in:

1. Survey – “What do I not need in this room?”
2. Think – “How do I decorate to make it presentable?”
3. Action – “When was the last time I used this item?” (If more than 3 months ago, most likely you won’t use it.)

After a thorough cleaning and organizing our messy and crowded room, we discard away the unwanted items. A few days later, our room begins to restore back to where it has been before the clutter. We may be even unable to recall where we have placed our things. We once again, spend our time, focus and energy to plan or to improve the effective ways to re-organize the home again. We are so happy that we achieved it again. However…….

Although we spend our time and efforts to organize things, most of us still have the habit of simply placing our items around our home, our office, etc.

How to solve this once and for all?

Obviously, we need to resolve the root of the problem, which is:

Create new set of habits to replace the old habits

OR

Use the right items to replace the unnecessary items.

I am one of the contributors for WeChat group named “Five o’Clock”, and the main objective of the group is to guide members to cultivate good and positive habits. There is no one against sleeping in late at night but we invited them to set up a specific time in the morning and encouraged them to strive to complete the intended plan of their choice. The results turned out to be very positive. More than 75% of members in the WeChat group have successfully cultivated the habit of getting up early at five o’clock in the morning.

When we choose to do the right thing, we immediately break the ground for bad habits to take place in us. Doing so effectively simplifies the process of cultivating good habits by changing our focus and attention in the right direction so that we are able to discourage the bad habits to appear again. Yet for those who are determined and fight very hard within themselves to get rid of their bad habits, in the end, while the new habits still have not formed, the old habits are reluctant to leave!

If we want to cultivate the habit of  getting up early, when we hear the alarm going off in the morning, we must act to what our heart says accordingly with the right virtues, values, and principles instead of bargaining with your heart, “If I sleep half an hour more, it’ll be just fine!”

Similarly, if you brought a discounted jacket and decided to throw it away, this wouldn’t mean that our closet would always be 70% full. Unless next time, we decided to buy clothes and adhere to this fundamental principle: “Buy only the right one, don’t buy just because it’s at a low price!” We would make our life easier and would effectively manage our space well.

Therefore, by adjusting and correcting our habits and order in life, we begin to eliminate the negative energy that influences us and bring the auspicious energy for everyone in the family, paving the path of abundance and success in the year ahead!

~ Darren Ong 

Co-Author: Sarah QiuYaqin

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