I was so excited to be asked to review Peter Walsh’s latest book, Lighten Up. If you have been with me from the beginning of this blog, you know that the very first organizing book I reviewed was Peter Walsh’s classic uncluttering book: “It’s All Too Much: An Easier Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff.”

Peter Walsh is the Jedi Knight of streamlining and uncluttering. He has written books on reducing physical stuff, weight loss and mental clutter. He pushes all of us to focus our lives, prioritize and eliminate distractions from everything except those things that bring us true happiness. It’s an intense, difficult goal and Peter Walsh is the tough love messenger. In his latest book, Peter Walsh takes us to the most emotionally charged issue of the moment. . . money. The subtitle of Lighten Up is “Love What you Have, Have What You Need” (and the hardest to hear) “Be Happier With Less.”

Peter Walsh’s special gift is that he is able to deliver messages that have the equivalent emotional impact of being hit in the head with a 2 x 4 and we still love him and listen to him!

Imagine with me, for a moment, that Peter Walsh is the star of a TV special on the difficult economy, promoting Lighten Up. First, he parachutes into the middle of the Occupy Wall Street movement (why parachute? . . . well, it’s just more dramatic that way), pulls out a megaphone and shouts to the unsuspecting crowd:

“You may think the tension in your life stems from your unpaid student loans but is it really coming from the fact that you haven’t figured out what you want to do with your life and you hate your current job? Be honest.”

–Peter Walsh, Lighten Up

He then goes knocking on the doors of the parents of Occupy Wall Street protesters, with this message:

“When your home is overrun with clutter and debt, you’re channeling a hopeless message of I don’t like this but I can’t change it into your children . . . They learn to push away their emotions like you and absorb a message of powerlessness.”

–Peter Walsh, Lighten Up

He then visits a giant stadium filled with a mixed crowd of: homeowners deeply underwater on their mortgages and facing foreclosure; seniors who have drained their meager 401(k) savings and are living on Social Security; people who have been unemployed 99 weeks (and counting) and homeless families living in hotel rooms and unable to afford sufficient food. His message:

“[N]o matter how many people contribute to your life and your problems, you have to take a personal stand all on your own. . . . The path to happiness starts with you owning the life you have. Until you take no less than 100 percent responsibility for your life—and your choices, your debts, your failures, your disappointments, your unhappiness, and so on—you won’t ever gain financial freedom.”

–Peter Walsh, Lighten Up

Whoa! That would make for some intense discussion.

Peter Walsh is not wrong in this message but it is still a tough message to hear.

If you follow the latest economic news, you can terrify yourself. No one knows what the economic path forward from here looks like. Most of us, emotionally, are still in a place where we think that the economy will eventually rebound to exactly where it was before and that we just need to tough out a few difficult years. But there are those who believe that the world has just drastically and dramatically changed, that there could be even worse years yet to come, that we may never get back to the way it was before and that is time for everyone to adjust to the new economic reality and plan the way forward.

I would count Suze Orman’s latest book in support of the latter proposition and Peter Walsh is on that track too. If the whole idea that life as we know it has dramatically changed overnight is terrifying to you, take heart that Peter Walsh is there to guide you through the process and the new world is not all bleak.

“Most of us need an attitude adjustment at two big levels. One, we need to shift our emotional relationship with money from one of fear to one of empowerment; and two, we need to change our sense of entitlement.”

–Peter Walsh, Lighten Up

Lighten Up takes you through a series of life audits, asking you to examine your goals for your life, your relationships with others, your money and your possessions. Peter Walsh draws the connection between cluttered and disorganized possessions and cluttered and disorganized lives.

“When most people think of clutter they think of the stuff that fills their garage or closets, of all those things strewn across kitchen countertops, and the flood of paperwork that seems insurmountable. If that’s your concept of clutter I need you to think much more broadly. In the work that I do clutter means anything that stands between you and the vision you have for your best life—it’s so much more than just the stuff. Those repeated bad decisions you make in your relationship? Clutter. Your anger and anxiety at work? Clutter. That voice in your head that tells you you’re not worthy of happiness? Clutter. The thoughts and feelings that constantly say you don’t deserve to be happy? Clutter. The fear and self-loathing that consume your days now that life ain’t what it used to be when money was abundant? Clutter.”

–Peter Walsh, Lighten Up

The only minor point I would disagree with Peter Walsh about here is that it isn’t always the case that people disorganized with physical possessions are disorganized with money as well. I have also seen plenty of examples of people with perfect physical organization whose financial lives are chaotic. But I believe he is correct that we all have clutter in our lives somewhere and that that clutter spills over and affects every facet of our lives.

Lighten Up asks some deep and thoughtful questions. The sections on money and financial responsibility were primarily aimed at those struggling with basic budgeting issues. People who need to scale back or people who disagree with their partner or children about where to cut expenses will find this section extremely helpful. There is even a nod to this month’s Ruly theme about healthy eating at home.  If you feel that you have a good handle on this aspect of your financial planning you may find the financial section a bit light, but will still learn from his audit questions. All of us, however, will learn something from the relationship and possession audits.

Overall, Lighten Up is a brave work that asks all of us to face the economic downturn head on and do the difficult work necessary to transition to what lies ahead, which Peter Walsh argues (and supports with insightful testimonials from his readers and clients) will ultimately lead us all to deeper happiness.

“Remember, change starts at home. We cannot expect (nor should we ever) that our government will bail us out and fix the problems that were a collective force in the making to begin with. If there’s one thing that I want you to take away from this book, it’s that you can make a tremendous difference in your own life—and even in the world at large—if you commit to just cleaning up your own little space.”

–Peter Walsh, Lighten Up

I would strongly encourage anyone struggling with the economic crisis to give Peter Walsh’s book a read and I thank him for getting us out of our comfort zones and empowering us all to embrace the future and not fear it.

How do you respond to Peter Walsh’s call for change? Please share in the comments.