We’ve all heard the advice: Be fully present. But what does that look like when you’re talking to others? And when you’re approaching your best work?
Here’s a link with my thoughts on this fun topic. This is a quickie tip!
Sending you best wishes on a warm Virginia spring day.
If you’re trying to get a lot done and find you aren’t staying on track, it may be time to do a little less and focus a little more. In this video, I’ll share five of my favorite tips to help you get more done. If this is helpful, please like, share, and subscribe to my channel on YouTube!
Happy Spring!
We have a limited amount of time on this earth. When you go, what would you like to leave behind? And how would you like to be remembered?
Writing an Ideal Obituary for yourself helps you prioritize on a daily basis. If you’re faced with a task, favor, short-term goal, or long-term goal that doesn’t support your Ideal, what could you do instead that gets you closer to the life you want to live and the memories you want to leave behind?
If this video helps, please “like,” subscribe, and share on your social media. When we work together, we can help many. Thanks for watching!
What are the top priorities in your life? And how are you going to get to them? Creating a visual image can help you picture ways to make choices that get you to your best, most heart-happy work. That, plus a little time thinking, of course.
If this video is helpful, please “like,” share, and subscribe so YouTube knows I am not a robot :).
Thanks! I hope you have a terrific day.
Owning a lot of stuff can give you a temporary feeling of being happy. But when you start to collect a lot of belongings, the burden can feel overwhelming, says a person who moved three times during the Pandemic :). And, the more we own, the more we demand of the earth to support us.
In Braiding Sweetgrass, author Robin Wall Kimmerer muses on ways in which our relationship with the earth is reflected in our relationships with others. Being caring and conscientious with our natural environment gives us a feeling of belonging to the earth. She gives beautiful examples of how we have co-evolved with the earth – where we need the earth and the earth needs us.
Continue reading“This, too.” ~ Tara Brach
Trevor Maxwell is one of my favorite human beings. He is a kind, connected, enterprising person who holds his family and friends at an extraordinarily high level. When Trevor found out he had stage four colon cancer at age 42, the pain of the illness was nothing to him compared to the pain his diagnosis placed on those he was closest to.
His first reaction when he got the news was to shut down, to remove himself from those he loved most. For a year after his diagnosis, he struggled through multiple surgeries and chemotherapy only to find out that the cancer kept returning. Trevor was in for the fight of his life but he didn’t want to fight. He wanted to crawl into a cave and disappear. Depression, understandably, overwhelmed him. But the bonds he’d formed over the years with family and friends meant that no one was ready for him to disappear. His wife told him simply, “You are still here. And you have to fight.”
Trevor is a professional writer and started writing his story, expressing his fears and his hopes. And he started writing to others on a mix of social media sites. Others found him incredibly helpful as he explained various options for those with similar cancer diagnoses. By reaching out, he gradually became part of a larger cancer community. And he started to connect in person with doctors and others in Colontown, “an online community of over 100 “secret” groups on Facebook for colon cancer patients and survivors.” You can find out more their site at colontown.org.
Continue readingAs soon as I got bumped out of my cross-country trip (Thank you, Covid!), I started looking for a house to buy. I figured that the housing market would fall apart – which would have made sense with so many people losing their jobs. But as you may have heard, just the opposite happened. The housing market went crazy as everyone started to nest.
For months, I found nothing I liked that I could afford, but I kept searching until I found a gem – an 1880s house in Bath, ME that had been converted into law offices. The 10-room house was in serious need of renovation but it was in a beautiful location along the Kennebec River. With high ceilings and hardwood floors, this beautiful old house would convert nicely into two luxury apartments – one for me to live in, and one to rent out to help keep the monthly mortgage payments low.
My mom offered to go in with me on the deal, but I still needed a mortgage. And according to the mortgage broker, in order to get one, I had to have a job.
Continue readingWhen making a change feels overwhelming, trust that if you take one baby step in a new direction, other steps will follow. This is true when you’re considering a new habit. Decluttering your house. Changing jobs. Or moving across the country!
One step… you make a decision.
One step… you’re facing in a new direction.
One step… you’re a tiny bit closer to a goal.
What’s vital is that you choose each step with intent. What do you want to get done in the long run? And what’s one small step you can take today to get going?
It’s been almost a year since Covid bounced me off my writing path and I ended up back in Portland, Maine. It’s been an insightful year despite the restrictions of a pandemic. Before I left to travel and write, I got divorced, sold my house, and quit my job. So when I came back to Maine, I had no responsibilities and no agenda. What’s an organizer to do with no agenda?
I wrote – not the book I intended to write based on history and travel – but a book called Organizational Zen (which has the fun nickname of OZ!). OZ captures the essence of what I write about in this blog. How do you get to your best work? How do you stay calm amidst chaos? How do you remain joyful in the face of life’s many challenges and uncertainties?
Organizational Habits 