Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Ruth Ostrow wrote an interesting article in 'The Weekend Australian Magazine (March 14/15 2009) which was about garbage. One day her wheelie bin was left full and this stirred an honest glimpse into 'garbage'... in particular, emotional garbage in relationships. We have our household rubbish and we have the blessed council wheelie bins... we put out our garbage on a regular basis and it gets taken away. Simple.

Yet the garbage in peoples personal lives may seem easier to push away, or hide and pretend it doesn't exist, or maybe there is someone buried so deeply underneath the rubbish that they are lost in it.

She quotes relationships therapist Jo-Anne Baker as saying, 'the most important way to clean up one's emotional environment is to be truthful. Identify feelings and express them openly and regularly to each other and use a counsellor or mediator if needed'.

Nearly all of my couples talk about honesty and open communication as one of the essential foundations to a healthy and vital marriage.

Ruth goes on to say, 'We need regular cleansing rituals to declutter our relationship and to clear our minds of negative self-talk and disempowering thoughts, so that fresh ideas flow'.

And so much more energy for living life to the full!