This past week has felt like a dream to me. Thursday was my birthday, and on the eve of my 51st birthday, the Dinner Diva and I found out we were on the New York Times best-seller list for our book "Body Clutter." My home is filled with beautiful flower arrangements to congratulate our news and celebrate my birthday.

In all my wildest dreams did I ever imagine being on the New York Times best-seller list. All I ever wanted was to just help one person get rid of the clutter and CHAOS in their lives. None of this would have ever happened if I had stayed stuck in my own clutter and CHAOS.

Clutter has a way of sucking the life right out of us. When it consumes our homes, it consumes our brains. We spend our waking moments trying deal with it: piling it up, stuffing it away in closets and putting it in plastic tubs! Why in the world are we trying to organize our clutter? All we can really do is get rid of it — purge it from our lives so we can live without having to give up on our dreams. These are dreams we have never had.

While the clutter is surrounding us, we don't even have time to dream. We spend our every moment being ashamed of the way we live and feeling guilty. It was only after I started to rid myself of my clutter that I could think! But not just think but think clearly and see clearly. The fog was beginning to lift.

It took me nine months of gradually flinging my clutter and establishing one simple habit after another to finally find my voice. Or shall I say to hear the voice that was telling me what my life's mission was to be. I will never forget a plea from an anonymous person begging me to start my e-mail group. I didn't even have to think twice. I just did it. My home was not nagging at me telling me that I didn't have time to help another human being! I was not beating myself up saying that I was not good enough or that my words were not perfect.

Somewhere in those nine months of decluttering my home, I also decluttered the fear, negativity and perfectionism that had kept me locked in a cocoon of self-doubt. As those layers fell away, I had more time to follow the "God Breezes" that were leading me to my purpose for living.

One of my favorite songs is "Dream Big" by Ryan Shupe. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever dream this big! Now I know what my mission is. All I ever wanted to do was help just one person. After helping myself by getting rid of my clutter, I was able to open myself up to the world! "Body Clutter" is our gift to help you release another layer of your clutter.

Is clutter keeping you locked away from your purpose?

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For more help getting rid of your CHAOS, check out: www.flylady.net. Also see Cilley's book, "Sink Reflections," and her new book, "Body Clutter." Copyright 2007 Marla Cilley. Used by permission in this publication.