On my recent walks this week, I noticed more leaves changing colors. The luminous sun embraced the intensely colored foliage and highlighted the shifts in the fall palette. Frequently, I paused to fully appreciate the beauty. I saw the brilliant warm reds, oranges, and yellows juxtaposed with the cooler greens. I felt the gentle, refreshing breeze on my face as I heard the rustling of the leaves above. During the later part of the holiday season, a commonly overheard phrase is “winter wonderland.” Today feels like a fall fantasy ripe with possibilities. Are you feeling motivated? Are you sensing a change? What is possible?

I look forward to the intimate monthly virtual gatherings led by my wonderful friend and incredible Life Coach, Yota Schneider. At the retreat, we meditate, journal, and share our thoughts. She selects a theme each time, and this month was The Season of Change. During the gathering, she told us about Chris Bianco, an “inspiring pizza man from the Bronx,” and his philosophy on life. He sees life as a “petri dish of possibilities.” What a concept and approach to living!

While we typically think of a petri dish in a scientific context where microorganism cultures are developed in a small shallow container, there is another definition. Something that fosters development or innovation can be a petri dish too. A petri dish of possibilities supports a growth mindset. You’re not a stuck, fixed being. You can stretch, create, change, and imagine.

Have you ever felt stuck? If so, you’re not alone. We all get stuck at times. There can be many reasons why or when that happens. Often our thoughts keep us fixated on a single idea, and we have difficulty changing the script. What if you integrated the “petri dish of possibilities” into your consciousness? Would that open up your thinking?

At times having too many options creates paralysis. When numerous choices make you feel stuck, the ‘petri dish’ phrase isn’t a great choice. However, in many situations, it is a useful concept to engage.

“Life is a petri dish of possibilities.”

— Chris Bianco

The phrases you repeat in your mind can change the trajectory of where you’re going. Are these affirmations helpful?

• I am moving forward.

• I am no longer stuck.

• I am making a choice.

• I am taking action.

• If my action isn’t effective, I will experiment with something else.

• I will embrace what’s possible.

• I see a petri dish of possibilities.

It’s fall. Change is all around. Are you thinking about what’s possible? Which ideas resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation.

When you think of mindfulness, what are your thoughts? Do you think about the formal practice of mindfulness meditation? Are you conjuring up images of breathing slowly or being still? Do you think about mindfulness as being present and aware of something like slowly sipping a hot cup of tea or watching the fall leaves gracefully float to the ground? There are formal mindfulness meditation practices and informal ways to incorporate living mindfully.

For today, I’m going to focus on the mindfully living aspect. I recently discussed the joy stretch with one of my organizing clients. This ‘stretch’ extends the experience of joy-filled moments through mindful awareness. Most mindfulness definitions include present or presence. However, the joy stretch consists of the past, present, and future. You bring conscious awareness to positive thoughts about the future, delightful experiences in the present, and happy memories from the past.

The joy stretch can be used in many ways. This summer, we had a few mini-vacations. Before each one, I engaged in future-thinking about the fun things we would do and the places we would visit. During the vacations, I stayed present to enjoy what I was experiencing, seeing, exploring, and feeling. In this post-vacation time, I appreciate thinking about the happy times we had while away. I read my journal, look at photos, or talk about our travels with my husband, family, or friends. All of these things increase my joy in the present moment.

Without mindfulness, I would be going through the motions of life and not necessarily stopping to appreciate and capture my pleasurable experiences. Extend happiness beyond a particular time or event by activating the joy stretch.

“Activate the ‘joy stretch’ for a happier past, present, and future.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

Use the joy stretch for all life experiences, including organizing. Let’s say you want to organize your clothing closet to prepare for the cooler seasons. Instead of leaning into a place of overwhelm or stress, envision what it will look and feel like when you’re done. Imagine what it will be like after you edit the clothing that no longer fits, you never wear, and are taking up time, space, and energy. Bask in those positive images of your future closet. Feel that joy, calm, satisfaction, and spaciousness.

As you organize your closet in the present, remind yourself that you ‘get to do this.’ It’s not a have-to or should-do but a get-to. Appreciate your ability to ask questions and make decisions. Will you decide to donate, recycle, or keep that pair of pants you bought on sale but never wear? Feel the joy in the moment of doing, improving, and progressing.

You’re on the other side now. You completed your closet organizing project. Only those clothes you love, fit, and are seasonally appropriate are accessible. There is space for your clothes to breathe and room for you to move around. You find yourself ‘visiting’ the closet a few extra times a day to admire your work and how it looks. The project is done, but the joy continues to be experienced way beyond completion.

Life isn’t always joy-filled or happy. There will be dark times and days. As a counterbalance, creating as much joy as possible is essential. Mindfully activate your joy stretch with positive thoughts about a future experience, happy moments in the present, and reflections on joy-filled times in the past.

Have you used mindful awareness to do a joy stretch? What joyful experiences are you looking forward, currently experiencing, or recently happened? What role has mindfulness played? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Having an array of emotions is part of being human. There are no good or bad ones. However, at times, our strong emotions can make clear thoughts challenging. In fact, some emotions like anxiety, sadness, or fear can cause procrastination or completely zap our motivation.

When the amygdala, the primitive, emotional region of the brain, becomes the boss, it creates a cycle that activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight.) The good news is many self-help strategies are available to help switch your internal gears from fight or flight to the rest and digest, parasympathetic nervous system mode.

When calmer, you can more readily access the pre-frontal cortex, a part of the brain that helps with decision-making, organization, attention, planning, emotional regulation, and impulse control. In this more relaxed state, you can reset and access the motivation to move forward.

Recently, I attended a meeting with fellow Nest Advisor, Monica Moore, a health and fertility coach. She led a workshop on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT.) The four-step process is helpful when making behavioral changes. ACT encourages working towards a value rather than avoiding something. In other words, focus your energy on something positive you want to be or do instead of on something negative you wish to avoid.

The ACT process:

1. Identify a value. Who or what do I want to be?

2. Identify feelings. What “yucky” feelings get in the way?

3. Identify relief valves. When you feel these things, what behaviors occur?

4. Create a nourishment menu. What behaviors will feel helpful, sustainable, and give perspective when experiencing the “yucky” feelings?

Your nourishment menu is where self-help strategies thrive. For example, when feeling anxious, you might engage in negative self-talk, binge-watching, or eating sugar-heavy snacks. What if you acknowledged and noticed those feelings when you felt anxious and instead, engaged in more helpful behaviors from the nourishment menu? Below are some suggestions. I’d love to know which of these or other ones work best for you.

20 Self-Help Strategies - Nourishment Menu

• Journal

• Meditate

• Take a walk

• Change your setting

• Organize or clean

• Create boundaries

• Breathe slowly

• Get a massage

• Hug a loved one for at least 20 seconds

• Run or exercise

• Watch leaves flutter

• Light a scented candle

• Use humor

• Rest

• Read

• Pet your dog or cat

• Listen to or play music

• Take a shower or bath

• Help someone else

• Talk with a friend, family member, or professional

I had a recent anxiety-inducing experience when I inadvertently deleted the most current 45 days of emails from my inbox. After long calls with tech support at Apple and Carbonite, it became clear that the emails might be retrieved, but not without many more hours spent with tech support and possibly worse complications.

A tech hiccup is never convenient. My plans to accomplish a lot that day were derailed because of the anxiety inability to focus. At a point, I decided to let it go and not retrieve the emails. However, I was still anxious and not functioning well. My emotions were in high gear, and my brain was foggy. So what did I do?

“Your ‘nourishment menu’ is where self-help strategies thrive.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

I grabbed my journal and wrote. As the inky pen glided along the smooth paper, my heart beat rapidly, and my stomach was in knots. I wrote about the ‘gone’ emails, my anxious feelings, the power they had to deactivate my motivation, the shift in my emotional state of feeling calmer as I wrote, and the choice to let this go and move on. I noticed my environment (birds chirping, trees swaying), took several deep breaths, and shifted gears to write about positive memories from the mini vacation we just had.

After journaling, I met a dear friend for a walk along the river. We talked, laughed, and I shared the email saga with her. Not knowing about the nourishment menu at the time, I realized after how I had used several of these strategies to calm my anxiety, let go, and reset.

What self-help strategies work for you when your strong emotions take over? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

There are tons of cues that shout, “It’s time to declutter!” However, sometimes life gets so busy that you don’t see or feel the indicators. You can quickly become clutter blind and ignore the signs. The challenge, however, is when clutter creates overwhelm, procrastination, lack of direction, or anxiety.

For me, physical clutter is less problematic than mind clutter. When I notice myself aimlessly wandering from room to room and lacking focus, I know it’s time to declutter my thoughts. Depending on the situation, I might take a walk in nature, which helps me feel grounded and clear. Or, I might pull out my journal and free write to release the thoughts swirling around in my head. As a verbal processor, another helpful strategy is talking aloud with a trusted friend or loved one who is an excellent listener.

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you’re going to love what comes next. There is power and relief in noticing, reflecting, and taking action as you’re about to learn.

I invited a stellar group of colleagues to share some of their personal discoveries with you. They explain their decluttering cues and the actions they take to get uncluttered. These generous friends include Julie Bestry, Christine Li, Seana Turner, Leslie Josel, Diane Quintana, Marcy Stoudt, Ellen Delap, Jonda Beattie, Geralin Thomas, Janet Barclay, and Yota Schneider. I asked them to respond to and elaborate on this prompt-

How do you know when to declutter your things, thoughts, space, or schedule?

Their diverse responses encompass various decluttering cues, from feeling tired to mentally blocked. My deepest gratitude goes to this inspiring group for sharing their time, hearts, and wisdom with us.

11 Pros Share Best Cues for When It’s Time to Declutter

1. Feel Pressured

“My catalyst for decluttering is pressure. I might recognize it as stress, inconvenience, irritation, or even physical friction.

If I lack buffer time between tasks, too many lower priority items squeeze against higher priority obligations, leaving no room to breathe, think, or re-set. When items in my desk, bathroom, or kitchen drawers lack margin to move smoothly or for me to retrieve them easily, the friction is a trigger to declutter. A closet packed so tightly that clothes rub against one another, causing wrinkles, means there's too much pressure in my space.

Sorting and reducing relieves the pressure!”

Julie Bestry, CPO® – Certified Professional Organizer, Author, Blogger, Speaker

2. Feel Fatigued

“I know I need to declutter when I am feeling drained or fatigued. It’s a bodily response informing me that there are too many things going on or too much to focus on accurately and well. When I have that realization, I do my best to spring into decluttering mode so that I free myself up for smooth action again.” 

Christine Li, Ph.D. – Procrastination Coach, Clinical Psychologist, Make Time for Success podcast Host

3. Feel Over-Scheduled

“I am quick to declutter my spaces, but I have a tendency to over-program my schedule. I know I am in trouble when I have no chance during the week to ‘catch my breath.’ While any given day may be heavy-laden, if looking at the week ahead leaves me feeling anxious about my ability to meet my commitments or anticipating insufficient sleep, I know I’ve taken on too much. 

For me, the ‘fix’ is to intentionally block out some ‘white space’ each week, including one day of rest and at least an hour each day to relax.”

Seana Turner – Professional Organizer, Blogger, Speaker

4. Feel Mentally Blocked

“We all define clutter differently. For me, clutter isn’t about my physical stuff, as my environment is well organized and consistently edited. However, my clutter is mental blockage, time robbers, emotional demands, and digital or electronic dependency. And the list goes on and on! In essence, it’s anything taking up viable space – in my head and life. So as soon as I can’t see what direction I’m heading as too much ‘clutter’ is blocking the view, it’s time to brain dump on paper. Clear my head and edit! That’s my no-fail method for feeling less overwhelmed and staying on my path.”

Leslie Josel – ADHD Student Coach, Author, Speaker

5. Feel Overrun

“I know it’s time to declutter a space or things when I have a hard time putting something away. I declutter my thoughts by doing a brain dump – writing everything down on paper that I’m thinking about. My schedule has become a problem because I have not created boundaries for my time and make appointments even when I know my time would be better served by focusing on my own work. I decided to change this habit. Recently, I set aside two mornings a week to work for myself and will no longer make any appointments during those times.” 

Diane N. Quintana, ICD Master Trainer, CPO-CD®, CPO® – Certified Professional Organizer, Author, Blogger

6. Feel Visually Distracted

“As a person who leans into my strength of being a highly visual person, what I see helps me know it is time to declutter. Visual clutter looks to me like there are too many items that do not fit in the designated space for them, such as clothes that do not fit into my primary closet. As I look at my paper calendar crowded with back-to-back tasks or appointments crowding the week, I see that it is time to say no more to projects. Once I see that cue, right away I take time to let go of stuff and add it to my donate bag. For my calendar, I move appointments a week out and have a prepared statement to decline requests for new projects.”

Ellen Delap, CPO® – Certified Professional Organizer

“You can quickly become clutter blind and ignore the signs.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

7. Feel Overwhelmed

“Want one solution to help you declutter anything from papers on your desk to putting away laundry to your email inbox? It's setting a timer and monotasking. When I'm out of time and feel overwhelmed, I simplify my thoughts and say a mantra: I can do anything in 15 minutes.

To put this in practice, pick one task, end a meeting early, set a timer, and be amazed at what you can accomplish by monotasking for 15 minutes.” 

Marcy Stoudt – CEO of Revel Coach, Founder of The Executive Mom Nest

8. Feel Encumbered

“Out of sight- out of mind, or is it? I store archival papers in my attic. That means at least once a year, I climb a ladder to the attic and schlep up tax papers and anything else I feel I should keep but deem archival. The plan is that when I take up new files, old ones can be gotten rid of. You can guess how well that worked. 

This past year the weight of 7 years of not decluttering those papers haunted me. It felt so wonderful to finally get all that weight off my head!” 

Jonda S. Beattie, M.Ed – Professional Organizer, Author, Speaker

9. Feel Inspired

“To remain as clutter-free as possible, I follow calendar prompts for inspiration. For example, June is National Safety Month, and I add it to my calendar. This alerts me to update first aid supplies, our hurricane prep kit, and my vital documents file. In June, the second week is National E-mail Week, which cues me to declutter my email and delete or merge duplicate contacts. The second week in June is also Small Business Week. My calendar prompts me to inventory and organize Metropolitan Organizing’s office bookshelves and office supplies.

Personally, this system feels less overwhelming than trying to do everything at once or whenever I think of them.”

Geralin Thomas – Career Coach for Professional Organizers

10. Feel Confined

“I usually know it’s time to declutter when I can’t find space to store something new or when it’s too much work to do something I enjoy because of what’s involved in gathering the items I need. 

Most recently, I was feeling closed in at my desk and realized that I was tired of looking at the file organizer on my desk, which is always in my line of sight. I removed some books I no longer refer to from my bookcase, freeing up space for the organizer and making my desk a little more open.”

Janet Barclay – Certified Care Plan Specialist, Digital Business Consultant, Website Caregiver

11. Feel Rushed

“My state of mind tends to be reflected in everything I do and how I do it. My space, schedule, and thoughts are constantly informing one another. When clutter of any kind enters my life, eventually, there will be signs pointing to the need for change. I may wake up at night with my to-do list running through my head and a feeling of overwhelm pressing down to my chest. I get clumsy, anxious, irritable, or indifferent. I skip the daily rituals that support my sense of well-being and peace of mind and rush from one thing to the next. That is when I know it’s time to simplify and downsize so I can create the space I need to taste the sweetness of my life’s moments.”

Yota Schneider – Life Coach, Retreat Facilitator, Blogger

As you read this, did you increase your clutter awareness? Which decluttering cues resonated with you? What helps you move forward? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

If you are struggling and want a decluttering partner, I’m here to help. I love supporting my clients with decluttering their things, thoughts, time, and space. Create the calm you deserve. Contact me at linda@ohsoorganized.com, 914-271-5643, or click here.