The holidays have arrived in full force. It’s the season of gatherings, parties, decorating, baking, and overdoing it. Too much might look like eating that extra slice or two of pie, sampling the delicious homemade cookie platter your friend made, or saying “yes” to all the invites you receive. Overindulging could show up as having one drink too many or getting very little sleep. This adds to having little to no life balance during the holidays.

There is an Albert Einstein quote I’ve always loved. Every time I read it, I’d nod in agreement and think about how true it seemed. However, recently, when it appreared in my daily quote feed, it didn’t land as it always had. Einstein said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

To keep your balance on a bike, you do need to keep moving. If you don’t, well, we know what will happen. You’ll fall over. However, we need periods of motion and stillness to feel balance in life. Time to move and time to rest. So as much as I respect and admire Einstein, I don’t agree with his bike riding/life balance analogy.

You might choose to pedal through the holidays in perpetual motion. What I propose is something different. As you plan your season of gatherings, traveling, parties, and more, I invite you to build in some stillness and rest. What that looks and feels like for you will vary.

For me, it will include time for . . .

• Sleeping

• Thinking

• Staring out of the window

• Writing

• Meditating

• Sipping a hot cup of aromatic tea

• Dreaming

• Saying “no”

• Observing

• Reading

• Watching the candles flicker

• Stretching out on the sofa wrapped in a soft blanket

“Build in some stillness and rest.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

Moments of quiet will be intermingled with activity. I will intentionally invite moments to pause, regroup, and recharge. This way, I’ll be able to fully embrace the joy of this season while balancing the need for stillness and fun.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season! How will you create more balance during this time of year? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

The newest installment (v33) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature is here with my latest finds informing, educating, and relating to organizing and life balance. Included are unique, inspiring, wonderfully human-related discoveries, which reflect this month’s blog theme. 

You are a generous, compassionate, and engaged group. I am deeply appreciative and grateful for your presence, positive energy, and contributions to this community. I look forward to your participation and additions to the collection I’ve sourced.

What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? – 5 Best Wonderfully Human-Related Discoveries

1. Interesting Read – Human Being

“Awareness is a capacity of the human mind…the state of being conscious of something.”  This quote is from Diana Winston’s The Little Book of Being – Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness. Diana is an author, mindfulness teacher, and director of mindfulness education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center.

Mindfulness practices have different areas of focus and awareness. In Diana’s book, she features natural awareness, which she says, “…is a way of knowing and a state of being wherein our focus is on the awareness itself rather than on the things we are aware of. It is generally relaxed, effortless, and spacious.” The book’s three sections help us understand what natural awareness is, share natural awareness meditation techniques, and give ways to informally practice natural awareness. What is the benefit of an awareness practice? Diana says, “…both natural awareness and classical mindfulness practices…give us a capacity to handle life.”

2. Interesting Product – Human Doing

This hot off the press game, Declutter Go!™, which officially goes on sale on November 15th, was invented by my amazing friend and colleague, Lynne Poulton, founder of Wholly Organized®. Declutter Go!™ is as fun and colorful as Lynne. The game entices you to get started, especially if you feel overwhelmed by clutter, with the roll of a dice or two or six.

This is a motivational tool that uses brain science and gamification to help you conquer clutter. The game will help prepare you to declutter, choose an action, set a time boundary for your decluttering session, select the room to work and enjoy a reward after completing three decluttering sprints. Designed by humans for humans, use this yourself, or play it with the whole family. Learn more at decluttergo.com.

3. Interesting Resource  – Human Experiencing

With intolerance and hatred on the rise, we need more kindness and compassion in this world. One way to do this is to seek to understand rather than to “other.” The Human Library®, a non-profit developed in Denmark over 20 years ago, is a learning platform that hosts personal conversations that aim to “challenge stigmas and stereotypes” and talk with people you would not usually meet. They create a safe space to openly discuss topics between their “human books” and readers. The “human books” are volunteers who share their personal experiences. The Human Library® says, “difficult questions are expected, appreciated, and answered.” They host events virtually, in libraries, and other venues in over 80 countries.

“Awareness is a capacity of the human mind . . . a state of being conscious of something.”

— Diana Winston

4. Interesting Podcast – Human Listening

Last month I loved talking with Dr. Christine Li, Make Time for Success podcast host, psychologist, procrastination coach, and all-around extraordinary human being. Christine invited me to be a guest on her podcast for a two-part series. I shared ideas for managing clutter and discussed, at her request, the virtual organizing work we did together. If you missed our organizing conversations, listen here.

If you haven’t signed up for Christine’s podcast, add it to your listening cue now. She has a calm, warm way of normalizing the challenges we all face and sharing ways to overcome them. Christine is authentic, brave, and asks excellent, insightful questions. Her voice is so soothing. You come away feeling inspired along with learning simple, doable strategies for change.

5. Interesting Thought – Human Appreciating
The holidays can be full of stress, rushing, overdoing, and indulging. There are parties to host or attend, presents to purchase and wrap, and special meals to shop for and prepare. But here’s the thing. Many moments can be missed if we’re so focused on doing. We forget to stop, breathe, and notice the beauty and joy available to us. So while you are rushing and stressing, take a minute. Choose the lovely route to the store, take a forest walk in the rain, and slow down enough to be present. It will help you enjoy the holidays with more gratitude and less stress.

What are your interesting, wonderfully human discoveries? Which of these resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Is it possible to find balance during the holiday season? This can be a stress-filled time between the parties, shopping, wrapping, and comings and goings of our loved ones. There’s an atmosphere of flux and movement. While perfect balance is an unrealistic goal, there are ways to navigate this time to encourage less stress and more joy.

1. Adjust – We often expect things to happen in a certain way...”our” way. Those expectations can extend to how we’d like others to behave and act. While it’s reasonable to have certain expectations (like you invite people to a party and if they say they’re coming, they’ll be there,) it’s unrealistic to expect that people won’t cancel at the last minute or ask to bring an extra guest. Life happens and things don’t always go according to our plan. Being flexible is a useful strategy. It will help reduce the holiday season stress.

2. Marvel – There are moments of joy to notice and embrace wherever we turn. From watching your children enjoy one another’s company, to seeing your holiday table filled with your family and friends, to smelling the sweet scents of burning candles, to tasting that first morsel of homemade apple pie, to laughing until the tears roll down your cheeks, the season offers many opportunities for joy-filled moments. Engage your senses and your heart. Focus on what you see, feel, hear, smell, and taste. Appreciate the joy.

3. Let Go – Especially with guests around, we want everyone to be happy, get along, and feel “festive.” Or, is that just me? Big surprise. We’re responsible for own behavior and moods, but we have no control over others. This time of year can include big transitions that are accompanied by questions and uncertainties. Our youngest daughter will graduate college soon, and our oldest daughter is making plans for the next part of her journey. While they know what they’re doing today, fast forward a few months and life will be different. We can give our emotional support, but we can’t live their lives for them. Focus on how you can help (if help is even wanted.) Then step back and let go. This will result in less stress for you and them.

4. Organize – We each have different ideas about what it means to be or feel organized. There is no one way of being, doing, or structuring our lives. However, figuring out what makes sense for you can greatly enhance how balanced you feel, especially during the holidays. For me, having easily updateable “party” lists, knowing where my entertaining supplies are stored, and making time to plan party details with my husband, help me to feel organized. Invest the energy and time in discovering the organizing strategies that will work for you. If you’d like help strategizing and implementing organizing solutions, call or email me anytime.

5. Select – We love to say, “yes,” don’t’ we? However, especially during this season (well, any season, really,) remembering the other option, “no” is just as important. There will be many invitations for fabulous events and parties. The options for fun are abundant. However, being selective about what you choose to do, will allow you to enjoy even more the events you do attend. It’s about finding your balance between “yes” and “no.” Look at your calendar. Consider your energy. Then decide.

6. Create – Getting your hands, mind, and body fully engaged in creative pursuits is a wonderful way to restore balance and reduce stress. During this season, there are many opportunities to engage in these types of activities, but you might not think about them in that way. A slight perspective shift can turn the most innocent of pursuits into creative adventures. Some of my recent creative play included making a new soup recipe, decorating the Thanksgiving table, writing in my journal, arranging flowers, taking photos, and playing Charades. There’s nothing quite like activating our creativity (in whatever form it takes) to energize us.

The holiday season is here. Do any of these strategies resonate with you? Do you have others to share? Come join the conversation.

Gratitude is something I think about every day. The smallest things like the joy I feel when I see a vibrant color to the larger ones, like being thankful for a loving family. As Thanksgiving arrives this week, gratitude and thankfulness are in my thoughts even more than usual.

My husband and I have always enjoyed having gatherings. There’s nothing quite like bringing positive energy and love into our home. Even before we were married, we hosted our share of events. The tradition has continued over the last 27 years to include birthdays, holidays and impromptu gatherings.

In particular, we love hosting Thanksgiving. Each time it rolls around, we reminisce about two of our classic Thanksgiving adventures.  No matter how many times we recall these stories, we continue to delight in them.

The first Thanksgiving we hosted was shortly after we got married. We invited both sides of the family to our loft in Brooklyn. Steve was very serious about cooking the main dishes (turkey, stuffing and gravy.) He worked for hours, maybe days, preparing the gravy. At the last minute, when it was time to strain the giblets from the liquid, and right as our guests were about it arrive, I heard this big scream coming from the kitchen. I then heard many other explicatives, which I won’t repeat here. It sounded like someone was wounded.

“I’m grateful for the mishaps of life.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

Just as his aunt and uncle arrived, Steve poured the gravy into the strainer without a dish below to catch the gravy. As he poured, he realized his “prize” gravy was going right down the drain! Right after that happened, his aunt walked over to check things out and said to him, “Do you think you have enough gravy?” Distressed, Steve turned to me and asked me to call his mother to see if she could bring some extra gravy. Thank goodness for mothers!

It wasn’t funny at the time, but over the years, it’s become one of our favorite stories. It makes us laugh every time think about it. I’m grateful for the mishaps of life. They remind us that we’re not perfect, we are flexible and we can laugh at ourselves.

Fast-forward about five years from our first Thanksgiving. This particular Thanksgiving was the first one we hosted as new parents. Our oldest daughter, now 20, was only six months old at the time. Steve and I remember waking up early to prepare everything. About an hour or so before our family and friends arrived, we commented to one another how smoothly things were going and how not stressed out we were. I suppose at that point we should have knocked on wood for good luck.

As I was preparing the table, I notice a tremendous amount of smoke coming from the kitchen. Steve yelled out, “CALL the Fire Department!” The smoke alarms went off, our daughter started crying and the cat was meowing wildly. One of the turkeys (we cooked two that year) had caught on fire, which in turn made our oven catch fire.

The Fire Department showed up quickly, but Steve had already extinguished the fire. His Boy Scout training has come in handy countless times, including that Thanksgiving! Twenty people were expecting Thanksgiving dinner and we had to continue preparing, even after the “incident.” Once the excitement subsided and the fire was extinguished, we continued cooking and airing out the house. We had to open all the windows and doors to get the smoke out. Our poor guests froze that year and had to wait a long time until the meal was ready.

But in the end, it was another wonderful Thanksgiving providing us with lots of happy memories. We were surrounded by the people we loved most, no one was hurt, we ended up getting a new stove and as a bonus, we ate smoked turkey.

Steve and I had our Thanksgiving planning meeting yesterday. We figured out who was doing what, when we’d do things and reviewed our notes from previous years. And of course, we had to retell our Thanksgiving stories and enjoy a good laugh together. Who knows what surprises will be in store this year? All I do know is that I’m very grateful to have all the people we love most coming to our home to celebrate the holiday of thanks and gratitude.

Do you have any Thanksgiving stories or tales of gratitude? Please share them.