Every organizational system – for clothing, clutter, files, tasks, personal relationships – can be reduced to one rule: separate the living from the dead, and keep the dead in check.  Recognize the living: what the person you are right now values and needs to achieve her goals.  Pare down, organize, and store the relics that […]

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Lately, my life quickens and “leans to beginnings,” in Theodore Roethke’s words, at the Lunar (or Chinese) New Year rather than on the traditional Western date of January 1.  It’s more a time of beginnings, omens, and positive nudges than Jan 1, which tends (for me anyway) to get swallowed by holiday events and emotions, […]

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