Before the Easter Bunny shows up bearing baskets of holiday treats, consider this: Sugar.
Need I say more? Okay, I will.
An Australian documentary filmmaker did an experiment on his own body maintaining calories but ingesting 40 teaspoons of sugar a day – all from what we think of as “healthy” food – like juice and sauces.
The resulting impact on his health in just 3 weeks tells a powerful story. Here’s a link that includes clips from this documentary. Continue reading
When I give talks on organizational Zen, my focus is on helping people think about how they want to spend their time. Part is figuring out a long-distance focus, and part is figuring out how to get there.
When we talk about what gets in the way, I often get a question along these lines:
“I lost a parent last year and ended up with all of their stuff. I’m overwhelmed. How do I get through the boxes?”
As organized as I like to be, you know what my response is? If the boxes are too heavy to lift emotionally, leave them until they feel lighter. Continue reading
What you eat is at the core of how you feel. And how you feel has a direct impact on your ability to get good work done.
If you’re looking for healthier ways to eat this year, here are 10 ideas to get you started. Continue reading
At the core of how we feel, how we function, and how we think is how healthy we are. If you’re not healthy, it’s hard to get organized – and don’t even think about getting big, cool projects done!
A huge part of being healthy is eating healthy.
My #1 suggestion for anyone thinking about getting organized is to start by getting healthy. If you aren’t feeling healthy, the last thing you want to tackle is a major decluttering/reorg of your life.
An important part of getting healthy is being really picky about everything you put in your body – including medications. Personally, meds don’t work well for me. I know for many, they seem to work well but are they good for you in the long run?
Consider this from an article published last Friday in the Washington Post. Continue reading
I’m reading Tiny, Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. The book is a compilation of advice Cheryl offered in her column, “Dear Sugar”. As I read, I’m struck by the number of people who reveal a secret, a doubt, a fear, or a wish. And I’m struck by the fact that most of the secrets, doubts, fears and wishes are the same ones we all have.
When I worked as a volunteer at the Center for Grieving Children, I saw secrets of grief revealed every week. Grief is a weird, hidden thing. We think if we don’t talk about it the loss will hurt less. We don’t talk about it because it makes us cry. We don’t talk about it because we don’t want anyone to worry that we’re still sad. We keep grief bundled up and secretly tucked away, and it feels huge. Continue reading
Think about some of the best times in your life. How many of them were times you spent with family or friends, cozied up in a quiet place enjoying simple times with good people? Candles were lit. Maybe there was a storm outside. Maybe there was a game. There was definitely great conversation. Everyone felt included and everyone loved being part of the group.
If you’re like most Americans, these times “just happen”. In Denmark, hygge (pronounced hoo-gah), is about striving to create these times, to be “consciously cozy”. What an awesome choice in a time of uncertainty, unsettling change, and elitism.
Here’s how the Danes define hygge: Continue reading
Two weeks ago, the US presidential election tipped our world and left many of us feeling anxious, uncertain of the future, and way out of balance.
Here are a few thoughts to help you get your balance back, focus on the good in the world, and be honestly grateful this week: Continue reading
Have you ever noticed when you’re doing something out of habit, like taking a shower or driving to work, that you think of all sorts of things that have nothing to do with taking a shower or driving to work? That’s your brain on autopilot. You are in a habit loop.
Think about the last time you learned something new, drove a new route, or started a new job. When something’s new, your brain slows down to make a myriad of decisions. Once you’ve done something for a while, your brain shifts to autopilot.
Because your brain saves energy being on autopilot, old habits can be hard to break. And new habits can be slow to form because new habits take full brain power.
So how does a habit loop work? Continue reading
Organizational Habits 