Last week, I wrote about the transitions we’re experiencing as the seasons change. While fall doesn’t officially begin for several weeks, its unofficial start has happened. You’re back from summer vacation, the kiddos have returned to school, and your plate is piled high with numerous projects, goals, and activities. Your schedule is packed, and your daily patterns are changing. Do you feel calm and prepared, or anxious and not ready?

Transitions can be tricky and uncomfortable. However, intregrating mindfulness into the mix can bring calm and confidence to this next phase.

There are six ways to feel ready as you prepare for your busy season. You can use these strategies for any shift you’re experiencing, such as starting a new day, month, season, year, project, or life change.

6 Ways to Mindfully Prepare for Your New Season

1. Prepare Emotionally

Your emotional state benefits greatly when you prioritize your self-care. To fortify your energy reserves and to create a positive emotional state:

• Get enough sleep

• Eat healthfully

• Hydrate

• Move your body

• Make time for just you

• Engage in nourishing activities

2. Prepare Environment

Clutter can cause blockages in your thinking, well-being, creativity, daily flow, and routines. Make time to let go of the physical things you no longer need, want, are in your way, or are no longer relevant for this new phase. Clear the path for your new season. What can you declutter now?

3. Clarify Goals & Why

Did you create an ambitious list of goals at the start of this year? This change of seasons presents an excellent time to revisit and reset. Ask:

• What one or two things do you want to accomplish this season?

• What will success look or feel like when you accomplish those?

• What is driving you to get there?

• What is your why?

Taking the time to clarify will be valuable. The clarity will help with more effortless and less stressful decision-making when your choices align with your goals and overarching why.

“Integrate mindfulness to bring calm and confidence to this next phase.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

4. Gather Your Team

The busy season makes it a terrific time to gather more support. Collect your go-to peeps- family, friends, colleagues, and professionals. There is no reason to go it alone. Who will be on your team? They can help you:

• Succeed

• Provide accountability

• Brainstorm and discuss ideas

• Navigate frustrations and challenges

• Cheer you on

5. Gather Your Resources

Aside from your ‘team,’ what else will help you prepare for this season? What physical supplies or products will be beneficial? What about finding resources for ideas or referrals?

As we’re in the back-to-school mode, images of sharpened pencils, blank notebooks, and boxes of new, colorful crayons fill my thoughts. While our kiddos are adults now and not in that stage, I remember when they were. Returning to school meant gathering the essential supplies, which helped them feel prepared and ready to learn. What do you need to feel prepared?

6. Schedule Downtime
During the fullness of this new season, plan time to stop. We aren’t designed to be constantly doing. We also need time to just be. Whether you make time daily, every week, or once a month, build breaks from the busyness. Each of us has different refueling needs. My daily mindfulness meditation practice and walks in nature keep me grounded and calm. They give me a quiet space to practice mindfulness, restore my energy, and prepare me to engage more fully after I pause.

New Podcast: Helping You Reset for the New Season

A few weeks ago, I enjoyed talking with the engaging, delightful podcast host, writer, and my new friend Kara Cutruzzula on her “Do It Today” podcast. Our conversation covered many topics, including ways to get ready for the new season. Listen to our conversation below:

If you are gathering your team and would like support from me as your Virtual Professional Organizer, let’s talk. I’d love to help as you travel on this next part of your journey. Call 914-271-5673, email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com, or click here to contact me through this site.

What helps you mindfully prepare for change? How do transition times affect you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

We constantly receive internal and external messages. Do they help or hurt you? Have you heard of the 5:1 magic ratio? Research suggests to counteract the sticky Velcro-like negativity bias, it takes approximately five positive encounters, thoughts, or experiences for every negative one.

Consider fortifying your Personal Positivity Bank by making regular deposits. Here are a few ways to build your reserves:

• Create a “Feel Good” file with positive emails, notes, or letters you received from family, friends, clients, or colleagues:

• Keep an ongoing gratitude list

• Connect with nature

• Prioritize self-care

• Spend time with people who energize and uplift rather than drain you

• Display positive reminders in your environment

Today, I am focusing on that last one, the visible messages you see every day. I’m sharing several of my favorites below. I’ve written before about the fidget bowl on my desk. This fun collection of miniature objects combines word reminders, trinkets from places visited, old toys, and visual and tactile delights. Playing with the tiny pieces while I’m in meetings helps me focus. Having uplifting messages front and center enhances my well-being. What encouraging messages will you surround yourself with?

7 Ways the Reminders You Display Will Help You Each Day

1. Bloom Where You’re Planted

Bloom where you’re planted encourages me to embrace the growth mindset anywhere, anytime. Every encounter, action, observation, experience, success, and failure are opportunities to learn, expand, and blossom.

2. Head & Heart

Navigating life’s hiccups and choices can be stressful. “Head & Heart” reminds me to use my cognitive and sensing gifts to support positive decisions and outcomes. While not included in this purple pin, my gut is another guiding element. When I listen, it leads me with a distinct “yes” or “no.”

3. Nourish

My Word of the Year is nourish. This essential encourages me to feed my heart, mind, and body so they feel nurtured, positive, and supported to thrive. My heart wants connection. My mind needs stimulation, and my body wants loving care.

4. You Are Here

While these words are often found to locate yourself on a map, to me, they embody presence. Especially when my mind is racing, and even when it’s not, this message prompts me to pause, notice, and ground myself with where I am, what I’m doing, what I’m feeling, and what I’m experiencing. When distracted, I use these words to gently bring me back, reset, and move on.

“Fortify your Personal Positivity Bank by making regular deposits.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

5. Oy Vey!

Years ago, I gave my dad this blue “Oy Vey!” computer key. It became a favorite inside joke between us, and one of the many things that connected us was our shared sense of humor. This message reminds me that things in life have the potential to go sideways. However, my sense of humor can bring a brighter perspective and allow me to laugh at myself during difficult situations.

6. Radiate Positivity

According to the CliftonStrengths assessment, one of my top strengths is Positivity. Seeing the “Radiate Positivity” button helps me with several things:

• It reminds me to continuously develop and live from my strengths.

• My natural inclination towards positivity helps me be resilient and growth-oriented.

• Positivity is ‘catching,’ so my mood can have an encouraging effect on others.

7. Exhale the Bullshit

This new pin has quickly become a favorite. We all experience life ‘stuff’ (aka difficult situations, conflicts, threats, bullshit). During those challenging encounters, you can experience emotional hijacking. Stress triggers are sent to the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for emotional processing. Your automatic warning system goes on high alert, and your body wants to protect you. Your heart races, your palms sweat, your face flushes, and your breathing turns rapid or shallow.

“Exhale the Bullshit” reminds me to take a deep breath through my nose and a longer exhale through my mouth. Repeating that several times, I soothe my system, access the rational part of my brain, and am better equipped to respond calmly to the circumstance.

How does having positive visual reminders help and influence your day? What helpful messages are in your view? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

The newest release (v38) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature has my latest finds, which inform, educate, and relate to organizing and better balance. These unique, inspiring, life balance discoveries reflect this month’s blog theme.

You are a generous, communicative, and engaged group. I am deeply grateful for your ongoing 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 Life Balance Discoveries

1. Interesting Read – Happier Balance

Does life feel hectic this time of year? As we wrap up one year and head into the next, how can you move forward with a happier, more fulfilling life balance? In Happier Hour – How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, social psychologist, professor, and researcher Cassie Holmes, Ph.D., shares her ideas on our most precious resource, time. Holmes says, “Our hours and days add up to years and decades, and ultimately our entire lives. How we spend our time defines who we are, the memories we cherish, and how we will be remembered by those we leave behind.”

Backed by research, wisdom, practical advice, and exercises, Holmes brings you through a doable process. You become aware of where your time is going, which activities are most meaningful, and how to use “time crafting” to “piece together your hours to design an ideal week, like piecing together the tiles of a mosaic.” With a focus on joy and meaning, Holmes says, “The mosaic you create is the magnificent life you get to live.” What makes your days happier?

2. Interesting Product – Office Balance

With a constant flow of emails, texts, calls, projects, and meetings, office life (be it at home or off-site) can feel anything but balanced. A simple solution to restore calm in this hectic setting is to bring nature indoors. Tons of research supports the positive benefits to our well-being when we’re in or near nature. The Container Store offers a simple solution with the Design Ideas Mini Succulent Planter Magnets. This set of three tiny magnetic plant holders is perfect for displaying small succulents or dried grasses.

While I don’t own the magnets, I have a small air plant in my office in a ceramic pot on a wooden stand that my daughter made. I love having greenery in view. It also brings me joy to care for plants. What helps bring balance to your office space?

“The mosaic you create is the magnificent life you get to live.”

— Cassie Holmes, Ph.D.

3. Interesting Article – Noise Balance

In Time’s article, How Listening to Silence Changes Our Brains, authors Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz remind us that the “world is literally louder right now than it’s been at any time in known history.” Research shows how excessive noise causes stress, hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, stroke, depression, and learning lags.

“While the costs of noise are increasingly clear, the power of silence for the mind and body is actually something bigger and deeper than the transcendence of stress or interruption.” Silence can accelerate the growth of brain cells. “The act of listening to quiet can…enrich our capacity to think and perceive.” Whether you meditate, practice yoga, or listen in a quiet environment, your mind and body will benefit from the silence. “In an age of so much noise, silence deserves our attention.” What is a recent experience you had with silence?

4. Interesting Resource – Mood Balance

My friend and colleague, Julie Bestry, is an incredible organizer, researcher, and blogger. In a recent post, she shared a visual breathing app for calming the system. I was intrigued and discovered this other one from eXHALeR designed to help with yoga, meditation, anxiety, or panic attacks. You can adjust certain variables, including the timing for inhaling, holding your breath, and exhaling.

If you want to create an immediate shift in your mood and be more balanced, experiment with the eXHALeR. Breathe in. Hold. Exhale. Hold. Repeat. How do you feel?

5. Interesting Thought – Boundary Balance

Especially during this season, we get asked to do, attend, and gather more. That isn’t necessarily negative, but all the extra doing and saying “yes” to things can create added stress. Setting some boundaries can significantly affect how you navigate the holiday season.

Perhaps you chose to celebrate with a smaller group, take a self-care break between events, or get takeout instead of cooking. There are many ways to enjoy your time and feel more balanced by setting a few well-placed boundaries. What boundaries will you create?

Do you have an interesting life balance discovery? Which of these resonates with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Mindfulness strengthens awareness, which filters into all aspects of life. Mindfulness can influence how you approach moment-to-moment experiences, your choices, and how intentional (or not) you are. Bringing a mindful approach to people, places, and things enhances your wellbeing.

Intertwined with mindfulness is a question that my good friend and life coach, Yota Schneider, offered recently. I first heard her question during a retreat she facilitated. Yota also wrote about it in her recent blog post, The Power of the Questions We Ask Ourselves. So what is this profound question? She asked, “Is it necessary?”

I love how the query brings mindful attention and focus to your thinking. The question cuts through the noise and is universally applicable. It allows for a gentle opening, which creates a path for positive, intentional choices. Many things in life are unnecessary, like unhelpful thoughts, physical stuff that blocks your space, calendar clutter, or relationships that drain rather than energize you.

The beauty of Yota’s question also encourages you to also answer the opposite one; What is necessary? When you let go of the unessential, unproductive, and damaging stuff, you create room for remarkable possibilities and a life filled with the things you purposefully choose.

“Is it necessary?”

— Yota Schneider

Going back to Yota’s retreat, she guided us in a group meditation with the “Is it necessary?” prompt. After, we wrote about what surfaced during our practice. Below is a personal journal entry from that experience where I reflected on “necessary.”

Linda’s Journal Entry

Is it necessary? Breathing? Most definitely necessary. Resting? Yes, yes, and yes! Having quiet? Not always, but sometimes like tonight, so needed and lovely. As I relaxed in the silence of the meditation, I drifted and then floated. Where did I go? It was a still, peaceful, calm place. No demands on myself or the time. A feeling of being. I might have drifted off here or there. When I returned, my awareness was of stillness- no sound or sensations, no attention to my breath. It felt necessary. Needed. So needed.

What isn’t necessary? The negative self-talk, doubt, and feeling of not knowing what to do next. When I’m in ‘focus mode,’ doubt generally recedes. I feel the momentum and motivation to move towards that thing, goal, or destination. I’m on the journey, a path of discovery and action.

But when the wind changes, and it does, I head in the not necessary direction. The breeze took me there today for a portion of my day. The plan for the day veered off course, and so did my thoughts- the unnecessary, unhelpful ones.

Slowly, after two good walks, a few meals, and snacks, I willed myself back. I let go of the doubt or suspended it long enough to take one step. That led to another and back to where I wanted to be. Is it necessary to course correct? Sometimes it is because it’s impossible to be at 100% capacity 100% of the time.

Is it necessary? Breathing? Yes. Resting? Yes. Making a distinction between the essential and not necessary? A resounding yes!

How does mindfulness influence your decision-making? When you think about the choices before you, will you use the question- Is it necessary? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.