We’re miles away from it (we live on the coast). But oh my goodness… The house smells like a wonderful campfire, the air in the house is actually noticeably dry and even a little smoky. I’m hoping the fire alarms don’t go off. The air outside is so thick with smoke, the moon is blood red tonight. The winds are whipping. Our Chief Meteorologist, Loren Nancarrow from ABC, shared that if the winds are 50mph, then that means that the fire moves at 50mph. Did you know that? I hadn’t put that together before. Earlier today the winds were 69mph, so the fire was actually moving at a rate of 69mph.

I find this interesting.

Simultaneously in the last 24 hours BOTH, not one but BOTH of our printers died. The first one had an irretrievable paper jam and after three years of service with my MAC, I let go without too much trouble. The Canon printer was affordable and came with my MAC but the ink refills were off the hook expensive and they needed to be replaced a lot. The second had a print head die after almost 8 years in service and it isn’t MAC compatible, so I decided it was time to let go gracefully. It was my HP Business Inkjet I spent $900 (a big business purchase at the time) when I lived back in New York. I really, really loved that printer and it performed exceptionally well for me on my projects and presentations.

A mutual friend had her printer die and her computer die all in the same 24 hours, too. Mercury in retrograde may be more than a KOINKI-DINK - just maybe…

Meanwhile, this weekend I purged. I went through most of my office and asked myself one question, “What is in these binders, in these drawers, on these shelves, in these boxes that will benefit me as I move forward in my business and in my life?” I dumped the rest. It was a brave move… Sometimes you need to let go of what no longer serves you to make room for what you are living into.

So the little lessons learned?

1. Back Up. Seriously, it is your business. If your computer dies, your business could die or at least be put on hold in a big way. Plus, who wants to tell a client that the projecct has disappeared? Who wants to wake up to discover the book they’ve been working on painstakingly for over a year of intense research and development has just VAMOOSHED?

2. When things fall apart, sometimes what comes out of it is so much better than you could ever anticipate. Let the old fall away and the new come into being. For me, the new is our brand new WIRELESS ALL IN ONE HP print, scan, fax, photoprints, legal prints, etc. printer… Prints 34 pages per minute in black and white and 33 pages per minute in color. I am so happy I’m thanking Mercury Retrograde for helping me out!

3. As yourself, “What’s important now for me to move forward with my current dreams, goals, and visions?” Be Brave. Dump the rest… Let it go, because it is an energy sapper and time vampire. If you haven’t come back to it, the likelihood that you will come back to it is sort of small. I’m not talking about your key educational materials that you reference. I’m talking about stuff that matched the old you but that doesn’t match or help the new and improved you that is taking charge of your business life.

A few more things I’d like to share?

* The notes they take at conferences or during discussions have the same light touch. Only the actionable items.

So I happily let go of two old printers and a desktop I’m no longer attached to in lieu of my laptops (both MAC & PC)… I shred 5 huge hefties full of stuff I no longer needed. I donated anything technological I own but don’t currently use. I cleaned up my vision boards.