Thanksgiving is just around the corner. My husband and I are excited to host our family and bring everyone together. I might even make my new peanut butter brownie recipe. A word of warning: it’s hard not to eat the entire tray because they’re so delicious. So, if you ask me for the recipe and make it, be sure to invite people to share it with.

Gratitude fills my thoughts. At the same time, I’m very aware of how challenging these times are. The constant stream of bad news, division, and suffering is impossible to ignore. Hope, love, and gentleness can feel elusive.

Perhaps it’s the eternal optimist in me, but I can’t help myself. Those small moments or glimmers of connection, comfort, generosity, kindness, and joy are also available. I hold them close. They are as essential to me as breathing oxygen.

Recently, I was reading through my journal from this past year. I found a passage I want to share with you. It reminded me how gratitude and being present have been, and continue to be, guiding forces in my life.

My journal entry:

For now, I am here. Rooted in the past, ready for the future, and grounded in the present.

Consider these questions:

• How has your past influenced you?

• Do you feel ready and excited for your future?

• Are you fully present right now?

• How does gratitude connect to your past, future, and present?

3 Ways to Nurture Gratitude To Help You FLourish

1. Rooted

As I reflect on the past, gratitude fills my being. I think about my family, loved ones cherished and now gone, the boundless love and connection, the feeling of home that traveled with me wherever I went, the deep conversations, traditions, music, laughter, and hugs.

I remember and feel grateful for the time spent visiting relatives, traveling, hosting and attending gatherings, renovating, learning, creating, snuggling, being raised, raising kids, and so much more.

Of course, no life or family is perfect. Still, I am grateful for everything and everyone—the beautiful moments and the challenges.

2. Ready

Are any of us ever truly prepared for the future? On one hand, unexpected surprises can arise that might throw us off course or discourage us. Many of these will be impossible to predict.

At the same time, there will be incredibly joyful experiences, opportunities for growth, and adventures.

To me, future readiness is mainly about having an open and flexible attitude toward what may happen. Being ready also involves a certain level of confidence, positivity, anticipation, and acceptance. While I can’t predict what will happen, I hold hope close.

I recognize that what I do today can positively or negatively affect my future. I’m grateful for the actions I’m willing and able to take to create a better tomorrow.

“I am grateful for this moment. I am here now.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

3. Grounded

The past has already happened, and the future is not yet here. All we truly have is the present. I am thankful every day for the moments I get to live, breathe, see nature’s wonders, create, work, contribute, inspire, love, and be loved.

I am grateful for my senses, which always delight me and bring me back to the present moment. The magic of this season offers a feast of colors, a variety of delightful scents and flavors, cozy fabrics like cashmere and velvet that bring warmth and comfort, and sounds of wind blowing, music playing, animals calling, and leaves dancing.

Being grounded in the present helps me show up each day for my loved ones, friends, clients, community, colleagues, and myself.

I am grateful for this moment. I am here now.

Are You Rooted, Ready, and Grounded?

We’re complex humans with different backgrounds, dreams, and circumstances. Gratitude can color where we’ve been, where we’re headed, and where we are.

During this season of gratitude, what are you focusing on? Which ideas resonate most with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

This is a wonderful time to plan, get unstuck, and prepare for what’s to come. Are you feeling overwhelmed, stuck, disorganized, or unfocused? Would you like to make progress? I’m here to help! Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – Local feel with a global reach.

Let’s talk. I’m easy to reach.

• Schedule a Discovery Call

• Fill out the Contact form

• Email me at linda@ohsorganized.com or

• Call 914-271-5673

Getting organized, focused, and progressing is possible, especially with support.

Happy New Year! Hello to you and to 2022. Your blank slate is ready to be painted with a wash of gorgeous colors. Behind are the successes and challenges you experienced during the last twelve months. A new level of energy and motivation is here. You can start again and chase the dreams and goals you desire. The New Year cues us for a do-over, reset, or reinvention.

Have you already done your reflecting and planning? Maybe you don’t like to reflect or plan. For me, there are years such as this one, where that process happens in January rather than December. There is no right, wrong, or one way. There are many paths, including making resolutions and setting specific goals, which will help you get the most from the New Year’s fresh start effect. I’m excited to share some ideas with you and would love to hear about your process.

In conjunction with using one or more of the ideas below, I re-read my personal journal entries from the past year and make a list of highlights, challenges, and ah-has. My perspective deepens where I traveled and clarifies where I’d like to go. 

5 Ways That Will Make You Get The Most from Your Fresh Start

1. One Word

Choose a single word as your guiding force for 2022. I don’t do this every year but decided to select one word for 2022. It is flourishing. The past few years have been challenging. With my ‘word’ in mind, I want to cultivate the seeds planted and changes made in a positive direction. 

2. Three Things Reflection

A terrific way to look back on the previous year and ahead to the current one is with the Three Things Reflection. It includes seven pairs of questions such as:

• What are three things you said “yes” to this past year?

• What are three things you hope to have the opportunity to say “yes” to in 2022?

I’ve done this exercise for the past several years. I love reviewing the previous year’s reflection to see how many things happened as I had hoped. It’s a great way of gathering a quick overview of the past and future hopes.

“Your blank slate is ready to be painted with a wash of gorgeous colors.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

3. Intention

Consider the ‘intention’ strategy instead of planning every change, minute detail, or date of when “x” will be accomplished. Select an overall intent for your year and let that be your guiding force as you make decisions each day. A few months ago, I purchased the most deliciously scented Hive to Home candle at the Renegade Craft show in New York City. While it smells great, it’s the message on the container “Manifest Amazing Shit” that spoke to me. It is the perfect pairing for my “one word.”  Between “flourishing” and “manifesting,” I feel ready to embrace all that 2022 will bring.

4. More or Less

Using a single question can help you focus your choices and actions for the year. Are you curious what some of my colleagues like Judith Kolberg, Joshua Becker, Erin Doland, and Yota Schneider had to say about this when asked,

• What do you want more of and less of for this year?

The question will encourage you to think about last year and the current one to create a vision of where you’d like to be.

5. Past and Future Smorgasbord

A few of my blogging colleagues wrote great posts that describe detailed methods for setting goals and making resolutions. They incorporate the importance of looking back to move forward. Here are my favorites:

• Review & Renew for 2022:  Resolutions, Goals & Words of the Year by Julie Bestry

• Set Your Compass to Reach Your Goals for New Year by Janet Barclay

Did you select a word for the year, set an intention, or create a list of goals? Or, perhaps like me, you’re still in the process of discovering your way into the New Year. Which ideas resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Wishing you health, happiness, and a joy-filled New Year!

We’ve all been through a lot with the pandemic, change, loss, political unrest, uncertainty, and this sense that life is and will continue to be different. We’ve had to be flexible, resilient, and creative. Last year, many of us canceled Thanksgiving and other holidays that we usually celebrated. Instead, we found different ways to “be together.” Zoom was our new best friend. It was a lost year of non-celebrations and sadness for some of us because we missed the human contact and in-person gatherings. 

Personally, I’ve felt a great hole from the loss of my mom, who died this year. Yet somehow, as the months have passed, while I miss her greatly, I’m also feeling such gratitude for the wonderful people who are here. Through the tumult, friends, family, and colleagues have brought moments of joy and lightness to a challenging time. We’ve stayed connected through texts, emails, phone calls, social media, Zoom, FaceTime, and in person. 

My conversations this fall, which often were “walk and talks,” covered everything from challenges to successes, plans, hopes, dreams, family, friends, work, travel, feelings, stories, tears, laughter, and so much more. Many of these treasured moments happened while we walked side-by-side, taking in the beautiful views of nature or hearing the crunch of the leaves as our feet made contact with the forest floor. 

What does any of this have to do with organizing? Organizing can be about managing our physical stuff and also how we use and prioritize our time. Between pivoting my business to virtual organizing and letting go of things to “live with less,” I made time to stay connected. Life isn’t all about working and doing. It’s also about having time with the special people in your life. 

“Life isn’t all about working and doing.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

I am so profoundly grateful for my family, friends, colleagues, and clients. Life would not be the same without you. There are too many people to name. But I’d like to give a special shout-out to my wonderful husband, Steve, our amazing kiddos Cassie and Allison, and beautiful friends old and new Joanne, Yota, Christine, and Juliet. Thank you for the many ways you share your wisdom, love, and light.

Grateful for wonderful family and friends who bring their special blend of wisdom, compassion, humor, love, and light to this world.

As we navigate the holiday season, who do you want to connect with? Who are you grateful for? How do you connect with the people most important to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Success is the topic we’re exploring this month on the blog. Apparently, we’re in good company. In this month’s Real Simple magazine they shared the results of “The Success Poll.

Real Simple and Timeasked 1,000 women and 300 men to weigh in on success issues including questions about work, life, ambition, finances, and time.

Nearly two-thirds of women said that success was “a never-ending pursuit rather than a defined goal.”

One particular question caught my attention, which I’d like to share with you. Women were asked to define success. Their top three responses were:

1. “Accomplishing your goals and dreams.”

2. “Being at peace.”

3. “Having financial stability.”

About a year ago, my good friend and colleague, Geralin Thomas interviewed me for her Managing Modern Life® Organizing Blog as part of the “Professional Organizing Business Models” series. She asked, “Do you consider yourself successful and why or why not?” Click here to read my response.

What does success mean to you? What are your top three responses or definition of success? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation.