The latest installment (v25) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature is here with my recent discoveries that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. I’ve included unique and inspiring possibilities-related finds, which reflect this month’s blog theme. You are such a wonderfully engaged group. I am 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? . . .

1. Interesting Read – Learning Possibilities

Most of us aren’t great at accepting criticism. It’s common to become defensive. In Thanks for the Feedback – The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well* even when it is off base, unfair, poorly delivered, and frankly, you’re not in the mood, coauthors Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen explain why receiving feedback is essential for growth yet challenging to accept. It’s how we learn from life. They say, “Receiving feedback sits at the intersection of these two needs – our drive to learn and our longing for acceptance.”  They explain that individuals who can view themselves are “…easier to work with and to live with.”  The positive news is they believe that receiving feedback is a skill that can be cultivated. The authors provide insights into the three triggers that can block feedback- truth, relationship, and identity triggers, along with strategies to overcome them. What would be possible if you were better able to receive and evaluate feedback?

2. Interesting Product – Morning Possibilities

Studies show that getting quality sleep is essential for our well being and functioning. So having good sleep hygiene and routines is crucial. What if we extended our good sleep habits to our wake-up patterns? How do you get up each morning? If you want to enhance your mood and possibilities for the day, consider this alternative way of waking. Sensorwake Trio designed a unique alarm clock that gently eases you into your day by slowly activating three of your senses- smell, sight, and sound. You can choose from a variety of scents like freshly brewed coffee or a pine forest, and also select a sound. The clock’s three minute “good morning” cycle has a minute of your chosen scent, one minute of light, followed by one minute of sound.

3. Interesting Resource  – Doing Good Possibilities

One of the challenges many of my clients have is letting go of things they no longer want. They often feel bad about tossing something that could be useful to someone else. We look at ways to eliminate their letting go obstacle by helping them feel good about giving things away. We identify potential recipients like family, friends, neighbors, charities, or resale groups. In most households, especially those with children, stockpiles of broken and full crayons are common finds. Bryan Ware, founder and a parent who created The Crayon Initiative, found a way to keep discarded crayons out of the landfills. The non-profit collects donated crayons, melts them down, remanufactures them, and distributes them to art programs at children’s hospitals across the United States. What could be better than releasing your crayon clutter to bring color, joy, and possibilities to kids in need?

4. Interesting Season – Organizing Possibilities

The inspiring, colorful fall is here. If you are feeling disorganized, overwhelmed, and unsure of how to move forward, make this your season to get organized. Take this opportunity to reset your organizing goals, declutter the extraneous, and create the calm you deserve. Change is possible, especially with support. Enlist help from a compassionate and non-judgmental friend, family member, or professional organizer like me. You’ll be amazed at how much more you can accomplish when you work side-by-side with someone. I’m ready to help. Let’s talk. Call 914-271-5673 or email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com.

5. Interesting Thought – Noticing Possibilities

How will your day unfold? Will you approach it with intention, dread, or an open mind? How will your attitude influence what transpires? When we seek out new experiences, opportunities we might have missed otherwise, come into view. Create your day full of possibilities.

What are your exciting finds? Which of these resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation!

As professional organizers, part of our work is about helping clients learn new habits and skills. We also help them release the unessential to create space for the things, activities, and people that are most important. I do this in my own life and thrive on established routines. I know many of my colleagues do too. However, there is something to be said for having solid habits and alternatively being willing to change things up. When life is chaotic, we tend to crave certainty. So our routines create a stabilizing, comforting force. There are other times when we desire change, yet we aren’t sure what that might be. Possibilities exist, but we don’t know what or how to pursue them. We might feel overwhelmed or stuck.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been writing about the “expanding my universe”  journey. The experiments revolve around me trying new activities. The goal was to create an open environment for discovery, surprises, and possibilities to emerge. It’s been an incredible adventure so far and one that I am excited to continue.

Since I was unclear about what to explore, I began collecting ideas. I continue to add new ones daily. I’ll have to live a long life so that I can try them all. To keep some sense of order and balance, I made a list and organized my ideas into seven categories, including creative, education, event, excursion, mind/body, nature, and not my comfort zone. Having just completed two weeks of doing six experiments from the list, I realized that I choose a different thing to do from each of the six categories, but one.

“Every moment is a chance to note what’s happening inside. Every moment is another step on your tour of discovery.”

— Rohnan Gunatillake

By challenging some of our habits, we make space to expand possibilities to learn and grow. While I had multiple takeaways during the past few weeks of experiences, I’m about to share with you one single discovery made from each of the six experiments. I hope that you’ll feel encouraged to explore something you’ve been thinking about. What is possible?

6 Discoveries That Will Expand Your Possibilities . . .

1. Nature – Loosen the Muscles

My first experiment I wrote about in detail. You can read the full story here. For a quick recap, though, I bought food I don’t regularly eat, from a place I rarely frequent, and ate it outdoors at a park I don’t often visit. My biggest takeaway was this . . .

My habits have, at times, prevented me from experiencing new things. Challenging my choices in even small ways will help me gain new perspectives and stretch my possibility muscles.

2. Excursion – Savor the Pace

I spent a gorgeous fall day at the New York Botanical Garden to visit the spectacular exhibit of the Brazilian landscape designer and artist, Roberto Burle Marx. I’ve been to the garden many times with my husband, Steve. However, on this trip, I went on my own during a weekday. The day was lovely as I walked, photographed, road the trolley, ate lunch, and wandered around the garden store. I moved at my pace, respecting my inner voice as it guided me along. There were no negotiating, rushing, or disrupting of thoughts. My most significant takeaway aside from affirming how much I love being surrounded by beautiful greenery and taking photos was this . . .

Making time to explore by myself at my own pace is just as essential to me as the time I share with my loved ones.

3. Not My Comfort Zone – Navigate Wobbly Paths

I don’t know about you, but for me, wearing a harness while navigating a rope course and jumping off of a 43-foot platform at Spins Hudson was way outside of my comfort zone. I didn’t know what I was capable of until I tried. I wrote about this experience in last week’s post. You can read more about it here.  My biggest takeaway was this . . .

Every day requires a leap of faith. Self-doubts, naysayers, and hardships are part of life. Navigate these wobbly paths by drawing from inner strengths and supportive guides. 

4. Mind/Body – Merge Pursuits

For several years I’ve been hearing good things about Encourage, a newish yoga studio near me. My oldest daughter, Allison, loves practicing yoga and has tried on many occasions to spark my interest in doing it too. We even took a class together in Brooklyn a while back. Decades ago, I did some yoga, but eventually, I stopped. I decided to try it again for one of my experiments. And guess what? I loved it so much that I ended up signing up for additional classes. The teacher and studio owner, Al, is a gentle, calm soul. His teaching combined movement, mindfulness, meditation, humor, and philosophy. This single yoga class connected many of the things I’ve been exploring in the last few years. My biggest takeaway was this . . .

It takes time to connect life’s dots, so keep exploring. Enjoy the serendipitous surprises that arise along the way.

5. Education – Put Love in the Frosting

For those of you that don’t know this about me, I love cupcakes. Partly I like eating them (chocolate/chocolate is my favorite,) but what I also love is decorating them. The more colorful and sparkly, the better. I have many happy memories of baking and decorating cupcakes with our daughters, Allison and Cassie.

Inspired by this passion, for my fifth experiment, I took a cupcake making class at the Institute for Culinary Education (ICE.) The school is located in New York City’s Financial District, across the street from the Freedom Tower. While I enjoyed demystifying how to make buttercream frosting (which has a ton of butter) and learning which ingredients define red velvet cake, the entire experience wasn’t as satisfying as I hoped it would be. There was too much chaos in the kitchen when fending for ingredients and supplies. It made me appreciate the organization and process that I have in my kitchen at home. But what I really missed was that feeling of love, connection, and teamwork that has been integral to baking with our daughters. My surprising takeaway was this . . .

It’s not just about doing. It’s about doing things with love with the people you love.

6. Event – Be Brave

For the sixth adventure, my husband and I attended “What’s Your Story?”  This was a storytelling event at Tompkins Corner Cultural Center in Putnam Valley based on “The Moth” format. Eight people from different walks of life shared a true story about their lives that spoke to the core of who they were. When introducing the program, the moderator, and also one of the storytellers said by “sharing them [the stories], we share ourselves.”

After listening to the performers, Steve and I began reminiscing about our life stories. Which ones were significant? What did we remember? What would we be willing to share at a mike in front of a room full of strangers? How vulnerable would we let ourselves be?  Remind me to tell you about the night of the crazy rabbits. It was a poignant and uplifting evening filled with laughter and tears. My main takeaway was this . . .

What a brave thing it is to put yourself out there, be vulnerable, and share a piece of who you are.

There will be many more experiments to come. Possibilities abound. How they will connect and evolve, I don’t know. But I am excited to see what will transpire in the coming months. What resonated with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

When we try new things, neural pathways and connections are created in the brain. Last week, I wrote about the “expanding my universe” journey. As you may recall, I’m trying some new activities. The purpose of this adventure is to create an environment for inspiring possibilities to surface that I might not have considered or noticed.

As I collected ideas for possible activities to pursue, I organized them into seven categories, including creative, education, event, excursion, mind/body, nature, and not my comfort zone. Some sections, like education, had many ideas. Not my comfort zone, though, had only one, which I opted to try this past week.

“And its in practicing discovery, we feed our ability to create and soulfulness in our lives.”

— Rohnan Gunatillake

When thinking about engaging in something outside of my comfort zone, jumping out of an airplane, eating raw fish, and being submerged in a sensory deprivation tank came to mind. However, those didn’t make it onto my list because frankly right now, they are too far beyond what I’d consider. Instead, I chose to do something outside my zone that merged stretching with reality.

I went to Spins Hudson, an indoor and outdoor rope climbing activity course with my friend, Joanne. Wearing a harness, while clipped to a wire high above the ground, I walked and balanced over a variety of oddly shaped, narrow, and super-wobbly paths. This was a big stretch for me that required focus, faith, endurance, and letting go of fear and negative messages. While the elevated path crossings were physically and emotionally challenging, perhaps my bravest moment was when I took a backward jump to the ground from a 43-foot tall platform with my harness attached to a single rope. Talk about a leap of faith! Literally, that was one.

In doing and engaging in life, there is learning. There is a possibility for expansion and understanding. From my rope course experience, I had several takeaways that I hope you’ll find useful.

5 Ideas to Expand Your Comfort Zone and Possibilities . . .

1. Respect Your Zone

Know where your line is and find ways to push your limits periodically. What is outside the zone for me might be well within your comfort zone. When I described my rope course experience to one of my friends, she thought it sounded like pure fun and something she’d do without any hesitation or fear. However, she said that speaking in front of a big audience, which is enervating for me, is frightening and entirely outside of her comfort zone. 

2. Reframe Your Fear

When I was waiting to begin the rope course, one of the things I quickly noticed was how many negative thoughts were racing through my head. Phrases like,

• “You’re not strong enough.”

• “You’re not brave enough.”

• “Maybe this wasn’t such a smart idea, Linda.”

• “I don’t understand the instructions for hooking and unhooking the clips. I’ll never get this.”

• “What if the clips unfasten?”

• “What if my hands slip?”

• “What if I fall?”

• “What if . . . ?”

I understood that these thoughts weren’t helping me, so I worked on reframing them with more positive messages like,

• “Breathe.”

• “I can do this.”

• “Use my adrenaline and heart-pounding to move forward.”

• “Take one step. Balance. Take the next step. Keep going.”

• “Stay in the moment instead of analyzing it.”

• “Wow! I crossed my first path!”

• “I am strong.”

• “I am walking across my comfort zone.”

3. Understand Your Ground

Doing the rope course made me realize my tendency to gravitate towards safety, security, and that feeling of my feet planted firmly on the ground. But life isn’t always that way. Walking across the wobbling paths, I was indeed on shaky ground. Uncertainty abounded. Would I make it across without falling? Would my grip give way? Every step forward was unsteady. Only stillness settled the movement. But as soon as I shifted even a minuscule amount, the path would move. When I walked from the indoor to outside course, my feet were firmly on the ground. Despite that, my legs felt shaky, my heart was pounding, and the adrenaline was coursing through my body. These sensations felt like the physical manifestations about the uncertainty in life, in embracing change, and in challenging our limits. At the same time, I derived comfort in discovering that we can find our way forward even when the path wobbles. 

4. Appreciate the Pangs

The rope course had me engage muscles in a way that I don’t usually do. It’s been several days since going on the course. When I move in a certain way, I feel a slight ache in my upper arms or wrist. It’s nothing terrible, but just a reminder that I used different muscles in my body. Those pangs are small reminders that I was open to testing the possibilities. I was willing to strengthen and exercise the getting out of my “comfort zone” muscles. This experience will encourage me to be brave and open to other challenges and possibilities.

5. Embrace Support

We don’t walk through life alone. I recognize that I wouldn’t have considered this experiment, let alone to manifest it without support from others. While we often feel as though we can handle life on our own, embracing help can enhance our experiences. I’m grateful to Jane for challenging me, to Joanne for doing the rope course with me, to Eli for teaching me how to navigate the paths, to my family and friends that listened to me recount and make sense of my experience, and to all of you for reading and engaging in the conversation. 

Do you have a comfort zone pushing experience that comes to mind? What possibilities did you notice? What resonates with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Having just returned from Wisdom 2.0’s fantastic one and a half day Mindfulness in America summit in New York City, my head is swimming with the depth of conversations, ideas, and emotions that were heard and felt. About 600 people attended from all over the United States and other countries including China, Canada, and Ukraine. The speaker line-up was incredible and included dynamic leaders in the mindfulness movement such as Jon Kabat-Zinn, Tara Brach, and Soren Gordhamer. A wide range of perspectives on mindfulness was discussed including relevance for the military, healthcare, prison, politics, sports, social justice, communication, and personal growth.

The possibilities and ways that mindfulness is percolating in our society are exciting. The sessions were mostly interview-style with some group mindfulness meditations showered throughout. When Karen May, Vice President of People Development at Google, interviewed Chip Conley, hotelier and author, about cultivating and harnessing wisdom, she used the phrase, “pulling back the curtain on what’s possible.” Her idea encapsulated my overarching takeaway. Practicing and integrating mindfulness in our lives, helps us remove personal barriers so that we can be more open, present, and engaged for each moment. We pull back the curtain on our true selves. We become more available and clear for the possibilities that arise.

Here are some of my conference highlights.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

About two years ago, I took an 8-week MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) course created by Jon Kabat-Zinn and led by Laurence Magro through the Eileen Fisher Learning Lab. It was life changing. Since then, I’ve integrated into my life a daily mindfulness meditation practice along with living more mindfully. In this time, I’ve read many of Jon’s books and practiced with his meditations. Jon was the opening presenter at the Mindfulness summit and led us in a beautiful group mindfulness meditation. One of my favorite conference experiences was meeting him in person and having a brief conversation. He was gracious, encouraging, and present. 

Soren Gordhamer

Wisdom 2.0 founder and creator of the Mindfulness in America summit, Soren Gordhamer, offered the idea that engaging in mindfulness creates a “field of presence.” This is a gift that we can give to others in all situations as we listen and interact. Soren encouraged us to share our attention with the speakers instead of being distracted by our digital devices. The presenters would sense our focus, which would create a more welcoming environment for them to share their personal stories and ideas.

Chip Conley and Karen May

I loved Karen May’s interview with Chip Conley and their conversation about cultivating and harnessing wisdom. One of Chip’s tools for growing wisdom is to write down weekly what he’s learned. His positive ideas about aging included being able to recognize patterns and listen to your intuition more easily. Chip described that as someone who mentors and consults he often listens with closed eyes to enhance his “full body listening.” He also talked about being a “modern elder,” and is about to launch the Modern Elder Academy, which is devoted to helping people navigate midlife transitions.

Mark Bertolini and Dan Harris

Dan Harris, ABC anchor and 10% Happierauthor, interviewed Aetna CEO, Mark Bertolini. Mark’s severe skiing accident led him to explore alternate methods of recovery when regular medicine didn't work. He used cranial sacral therapy, yoga, and tantric and loving-kindness meditations to heal. After experiencing positive life-altering results, he introduced yoga and mindfulness practices into Aetna’s culture. As a result of the new programs, Aetna’s culture changed. Employees reduced stress 33%, were more productive, decreased health care expenses by $3,000 per year per person, made better decisions, and increased engagement by 1,200%. All of this came about because of Mark’s terrible accident. Dan Harris commented, 

“Horrible moments can create great change.”

Gisele Bündchen and Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper, CNN journalist and author, interviewed the effervescent model and author, Gisele Bündchen, about lessons from creating a meaningful life. One of the things she believes is that everyone has a unique gift. She said, “Use your gift in service of others.”

Michael Gervais and Soren Gordhamer

Soren Gordhamer interviewed Michael Gervais, sports psychologist for the Seattle Seahawks. One of the things Michael spoke about was the need for elite athletes to have “mastery of craft” and “mastery of self.”  He integrates mindfulness into the mastery-of-self-plan to help athletes develop awareness, insight, and wisdom.

Tara Brach

Tara Brach, psychologist, author, and meditation teacher, was one of the few presenters that spoke to us directly without being interviewed. She talked about developing compassion for our selves and others. Tara emphasized that self-compassion needs to come first. Without that, we can't fully offer compassion towards others. She shared poignant stories and led us in a profound loving-kindness meditation that had me in tears. A beautiful question she offered to extend to those in pain was,

“Where does it hurt?”

Arianna Huffington and Soren Gordhamer

For the final session, Soren interviewed author and businesswoman, Arianna Huffington. She talked about her company Thrive Global and their mission “to end the stress and burnout epidemic” by prioritizing our well-being. One of the products they’ve developed is the Thrive app (for Androids only), which helps establish personal technology boundaries by disconnecting with our phones so that we can reconnect with our selves.  Arianna mentioned a phrase that was new to me. I’m familiar with FOMO, fear of missing out, but JOMO, the joy of missing out, was new to me. JOMO encourages us to guiltlessly not engage in everything. Mindfully choose what’s meaningful. Embrace less.

As part of the conference wrap-up, Soren impressed upon us the uncertainty of life. He encouraged us to be purposeful with the time we have remaining. He said you don’t know if you have ten or 10,000 heartbeats left. Make your beats count. He asked,

“How do we want to spend those heartbeats?”

There were many other deep conversations and speakers. I’ve only shared some with you. Each one opened the door for possibilities and change. I left the conference with a sense of hope. Incredible people are working in small and large ways to infuse positive change for individuals, families, teams, groups, corporations, and the world through the path of mindfulness. Have any curtains of possibilities come forward for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come and join the conversation!