Breathing Space & More...

The view as I iced my ankle.  Maybe a slow down is in order more often. This summer I had a firsthand lesson in patience-a big one!  I am a pretty motivated lady.  I set goals for myself, I have big expectations, I dig in, and I stay active, but this summer I had to shift down to the slow lane on the highway of my daily drive. I sprained my ankle goofing off-feeling young and fun!  It was an uncomfortable way to be brought back to reality and it put the brakes on some of my best laid plans for what I had hoped to get out of the summer. So.. I worked on my patience.  I had to rest.  I had to take time off.  I had to rethink how I was going to shift my goals and also fight the fear that time off would mean that I couldn't get back into the things that I loved-that I would miss opportunities and have regrets. I tried a lot of things that didn't really get me any where.  Some days I wanted to whine and other days I was sick of waiting to heal and tried "powering t

Dear anyone out there that has been tuning in & following my journey, I apologize for my sporadic check-ins lately.  Thanks for being patient. I wanted to let you know that I am at a place that involves making room for more.  (I actually just typed room for me before quickly changing it to more -could be a slip of the fingers, or could be my subconscious typing the "real" truth, but anyway...)   It is a time for me.  A time to start moving in the direction that involves less care-taking and more time devoted to what I enjoy.  I am committed to keeping my time open to truly dive in and make this first attempt at a business work. What that means is that some things have to shift, change, evolve or be tweaked in order to feel like there is room for everything.  I have had to let go of things, put things on hold, and fight the feeling of wanting to do everything.  This is hard for me.  I want to be able to do it all and do it all well!  But, I know myself- the standa

"You are the gatekeeper of your home." L. Rosenfeld Today I was thinking about the small shift that I am noticing in our societal message of consumerism.  It is the notion that we should treasure each and every one of our possessions & surround ourselves with things that evoke joy.  Marie Kondo talks about this in "The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up" and L. Rosenfelf & Dr. M. Green agree in "Breathing Room."  Both books have some great insight on how to break out of the cultural norm of More = Happiness. They passionately believe that we need to evaluate how we want our space to feel and then surround ourselves with the things that evoke those feelings.  This notion feels a little crazy when you look at our cultural track record!  We have been asked to consume!  Buy, buy, buy!   Everything we need is right there for the taking, so go ahead... buy whatever looks good.  And when you get tired of it, you can throw it out.   It

"May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back."                                                                                                      -Rilke I wanted to write a little more about what was underneath the last post.  What I continue to need to hear again and again.  It is the promise to resist urgency. I feel urgency in my body as a tightening.  It is a tightness in my breath.  It is a tightness in my expression. I find that my brain can get consumed with uncertainty, comparison, and fear.  It feels like there is a buzzing in my back that scares me into thinking that if I don't get to all of my ideas soon, then I will lose them, fall behind, miss an opportunity, and not be successful.  I know in my heart that this isn't true.  The truth is that the feeling of urgency is fear and it isn't reality. When I feel the anxiety of uncertainty, I start to cling to my old ways.  I try to gather more information, look to

This little phrase might get me through the next few months:  "Remember the lichen."   Lichen is an algae or bacteria (or both) that lives in a symbiotic relationship with fungus.  It can grow on almost anything and in almost any climate.  I typically see it on trees and rocks when I take a walk in nature.  It can be confused with moss, but it isn't related to moss or plants.  Lichens do not have roots, instead they produce their food from sunlight, air, water, and minerals in the environment.  They are not parasites and only use the plant, tree branch, or rock as a place to stop and grow. Lichens come in all colors and shapes.  They are beautiful in their patterns and designs.  And they are slow growers.  The fastest lichen grows at .5cm per year!   So why am I bombarding you with all of this science?   Because many times I want to see progress.  I want results and I don't want to wait.  When I remember the lichen, I understand that things need time t

This past week I was off on an adventure.  On Monday, in the darkness of an early morning, I boarded a charter bus full of 5th graders, teachers, and other chaperones headed to Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, MN.  5 days and 4 nights together, with a schedule so intense that I wondered if I had made a mistake when I volunteered to go. I was a veteran to Wolf Ridge, but my last trip was in ninth grade and my memory of the experience was very sketchy.  One thing that I did remember was a class called Winter Survival.  A three hour course in which you and your teammates were "stranded" in the woods and had to use the simple supplies provided to make shelter, build a fire, and make hot cocoa.  At the time I was scared of matches so starting a fire felt super daunting and I remember the COLD as we worked to build a shelter!   This time around, the class fell on our last day.  I was prepared with hand warmers and many layers.  We met in the classroom f

Yesterday I sat down to type out what I really believe about my business.  I had just been searching websites of professional organizers to find out how they let other people know what makes them special; what they share in their "About" section.  I thought it might be a good idea for me to put down on paper why I want to do this work and why I believe it has value. One person had labeled this page her "manifesto."  I took that idea and started to type.  It was fun to collect all of the little thoughts and phrases that have been surrounding me for the last 4 months and put them together on one page of text.  It felt like a culmination.   Here's are a couple paragraphs from my business manifesto: I believe that it is really helpful to have a partner as you begin this process.  A partner who only wants the best for you and is ready to be of service.  A partner to help you gain clarity around what you are really looking for in your space an

It's funny how junk starts to accumulate if you let your guard down just a little bit.  We have been redecorating/reorganizing the bedrooms in our house with the goal of clearing clutter and creating space for the items and activities that matter the most to each of us.  As I work on sending out the things that we have outgrown or that no longer serve a purpose, I am looking at them with new eyes.  I am thinking about how they entered our lives and where they will go next. Last night I finished the book Garbology by Edward Humes.  The book has been moved from my coffee table, to my bedside and back again as I chipped away at it over a few months.  It wasn't a book that I could digest all at once.  The history of trash in this country, how our cultural norms were developed, the gravity of the numbers surrounding our waste, the descriptions of our landfills, the depth and consequences that surround this topic weighed too heavy on my heart to take it in in a short period.

"Be daring enough to tell us-your customers, your fans, your people-about your ambition  because we'll be the ones to help you fulfill them."  -  Danielle LaPorte It is a new year.  A time of new beginnings.  A time to clear out the old and make way for the new and I am ready for it.  I have been inching forward in my new business and now it's time to push the go button and let things begin.  I am ready to see where this leads. Just the other day, I was listening to Oprah interview Sue Monk Kidd, the best-selling author of "The Secret Life of Bees."  She was talking about her transition from being a nurse to becoming a writer; something that she had wanted to be since she was a child.  She was speaking about listening to what is calling from the bottom of your heart.  Hear it and then proclaim it. Last year I proclaimed that I was done teaching in the classroom or in a traditional "teacher" way.  I know there is something deeper call

Holidays around here are usually all about tradition.    Traditions become things that we can look forward to and they create a pattern that makes the holiday run smoothly.   Predictable and expected.   But sometimes things have to change.   How do I deal with things when they change?   When life throws a curveball or we start to outgrow a tradition?   How flexible can I be? I know that my default is predictability.   It takes work for me to shift gears, especially when things are out of my control.   I usually have a little period of overwhelm and then eventually my pendulum swings back and I realize that whatever the new plan, it will work.    It won’t be the end of the world and I might even be pleasantly surprised by the change. I have been thinking a lot about making memories as I spend time with my eighty-six-year-old grandmother who is suffering from Dementia.   It is a hard fact to swallow.   There are times of clarity and times of heartbreaking confusion.    I