What’s your brain keeping you from doing? Find your own Raffi sound bath and see what wonders you might experience.
Read MoreThe Fun of Winter Citrus
Why do kids get to have all the fun? As adults many of us let fun go somewhere along the way. Like everything else is so much more important that there isn’t just time for fun. Ever feel like you wasted time playing a video game, doing a puzzle, or doodling on a piece of paper? Ever feel like reading a cheap romance novel was indulgent and embarrassing. You know what it really was? FUN.
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And, I Got to Hold Fire!
How do we deal with the emotions that the crises abroad and at home generate, yet we are largely powerless to affect?
Read MoreOh Hi Future Self! You Look Great!
I was recently invited to do an exercise where I had to visualize the end of my life and look at my “older, wiser self”. I had to imagine - as if watching it on a screen - where she was; the feel of that place, the smell of it. I was asked to contemplate as a curious outsider - what does her life look like? What would she want me to know? What would she say were her greatest experiences, joys, sources of gratitude? What might her regrets be? Here’s what Big Anne showed me:
Observations of a Patriotic Snowflake
I was gone for a week, and it wasn’t a total news blackout for me – I got the headlines. Upon my return home, the stressful news of the world hadn’t changed much. Climate change was still making the weather scary. Political parties still sniping at each other and starting culture wars. Bad guys around the world are still being greedy and cruel to the less fortunate. People still frightened by things that they don’t understand about each other. It was not made better or worse by my lack of consuming the details.
Read MoreCraftmatic Adjustable Bed
Also as a professional organizer for over ten years, I know all to well what it’s like to take too much of your parents' stuff. I can’t count the number of clients whose initial call with me includes the phrase “...oh and I’ve got a bunch of things in my basement that came from my parents’ house that I need to figure out what to do with…” That was a burden that I did not want for myself. I was very deliberate about what I chose to keep take home with me.
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Happy Cheerleader Safety Month!
Some people are able to plan their regular content months in advance. I tend to wait for inspiration to strike and it usually does. I did actually have multiple ideas, so I decided to give you the nuggets of inspiration I had this month. Sometimes nuggets are all you need.
Read MoreOld Year's Resolutions
Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, I considered a list of what I’m NOT gonna do. But it felt negative, and I couldn’t come up with a great list. So I flipped the script. Not a list of what I HOPE to do. Not a list of what I WON’T do. I decided to just make a list of what I’ll KEEP doing. Recognize what works in my life and keep doing that. A sample:
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Step1Organizing's Clutter-Free Gift Ideas
You want less clutter in your life. So do your friends and family! Here is a list of clutter-free gift ideas to help you all achieve that goal. A couple of them actually take clutter away…
Read MoreSo....How About Now?
…The voice told me to - but I replied to that voice with: “I’ll do it when I get in the car.” A brief procrastination, but one that made the hour I lost that day an absolute waste of time, instead of the heroic parental gesture it was intended to be.
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Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
Best Practices for the Zag...
Productivity, or whatever you want to call it – getting your sh*t done, isn’t about how much you get done, but whether you get done what you really need and want to get done. And without realizing it at first, my dog walk planning put into action some of the very best practices for being productive
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"...Prone to Wishful Thinking..."
Being late makes you stressed. It gives people a poor opinion of you. Most significantly, it disrespects other people’s time. We disappoint ourselves because we intended to be there, feel different, take a moment to settle, but we didn’t. Being late is bad.
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What DID I do today…?
We all know it would be great if we journaled every day and I’m sure some of you do. I write long form in a journal sometimes, but it does feel a little like something you need to be in the mood for or be kind going through something to do it. My daily review is not that.
Read More“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
The Power of Habit
My obsession with the idea of habit & rituals led me to do an informal survey of my friends and family about their habits and routines. The answers offered fascinating insight into some of my closest people that I didn’t know. Got me wondering if I wonder if they recognize the powerful effect their rituals have in their lives. There is so much power in habit/ritual/routine…. So I wanted to share some of them with you - and show you their impact.
Read More“Success doesn’t come from what you do occasionally, it comes from what you do consistently.”
The Journey of a Thousand Miles...
My runner friend probably has low cholesterol and a strong heart. She probably starts her day with a clear head and lots of energy. She has all this because she puts on her shoes at the same time each morning and walks out the door.
Read MoreDeath, Gratitude and Bagels
You hear a lot about ‘practicing gratitude’, along with mindfulness, yoga, deep breathing, journaling, yadda yadda yadda. It is one of the ‘self-care’ mantras of the wellness industrial complex. Things we sometimes foolishly guilt ourselves about NOT doing because we know they are good for us.
Read MoreOctober! Well that didn't work....
Remember Hot Vaxx Summer and things were going to finally get back to normal? How I told you in August back to school season is an important transition back to routine for us all? Well I don’t know about you, but that is not at all what’s happened for me. It many ways it’s been a bit of a sh^t show. It’s felt like one false start after another and working through it all has certainly taken a toll on me. Back to School has yet to bring the relief we were eagerly waiting for.
As a result, as October arrives, many of us have lost our momentum and our get up and go. Lost sight of our grand goals and gameplans. What we do next matters.
Read MoreIt's September. Why exactly are you doing this?
The reasons I exercise have changed over the years. Sure, I liked it when my belly was flatter, and my arms had a little more definition. Compliments are nice. But now, my #1 reason for putting on my sneakers, getting outside, or back on the bike or the mat is that I have plans for my next 30 years. If you can’t identify a why for something, that might just be something you don’t really need to do.
Read MoreIt's August, and Back to School for Us All!
We all grew up with this pattern of the end of school to summer and then back. It’s a transition for us all. Even if you are neither going back to school or sending someone off to school or college, it likely still feels like a new season for you. Back to a consistent schedule. Ready to start new things, get organized. Often summer has renewed our energy and generated perspective for us.
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July Newsletter - Power's Out Again. Time to Get S*#t Done.
A week or so ago our power went out about 7pm. Not at all uncommon where I live. One strong wind, some old trees, and we can be off the grid for a full day or more. A piece of me actually loves it when it happens, especially at night. You can’t watch tv or be on your computer, it’s dark, it’s wonderfully quiet except for a few distant generators. It’s a detox. We all went to bed.
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