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Search Results for: woty

Sanity Saving Holiday Organizing Tips

December 8, 2022 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Organize, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

Each of these holiday organizing tips will help you get through the season with a bit more sanity and joy!

Holiday Organizing Tips

  • After receiving new holiday gifts, donate used items you no longer need to charity (One in, One out Rule).
  • Ditch the photo holiday cards…generally, they end up in the trash (recycled, hopefully), especially since people can see you more frequently via social media. How about a digital holiday card? I compromised and began sending recycled content postcards a few years ago.
  • As you pull out holiday items, consider donating old ornaments and outdated decorations. Many thrift shops set up significant holiday display areas! Pick up new or vintage items from thrift stores as needed.
  • Begin memento boxes for your kid’s holiday traditions, and keep these separate so they can be given to your older kids when they leave home.
  • Clean out your attic, garage, or basement space before you return your holiday decoration bins (vacuum, wipe down shelves if needed, etc.).
  • Have a Grab-A-Gift bag or bin with an assortment of “anyone” appropriate gifts (for last-minute hostess or holiday gift exchange items).
  • Clean out your spices as you cook and bake. Toss the old items and make a note of anything that needs to be replaced (include the date of purchase on the bottom).
  • Spruce up your kitchen whenever you have 10-30 mins. By tackling small areas or appliances (fridge, stove, toaster, sink, etc.) a little at a time.  You’ll feel healthier & I bet you’ll eat healthier! See this kitchen organizing post.
  • Get your gift & wrap organized. Use a gift tracking list & invest in or DIY a great wrapping station—see Pinterest for ideas

How to care for yourself with purpose this season.

  • Don’t overbook your holiday calendar. If you’ve been invited to a million parties and events, occasionally, say no to a few and leave yourself some evenings at home, either alone or with your family and relax!
  • Schedule a date with your honey or yourself for a little holiday pampering. Dinner and a movie, a bubble bath and champagne, your pick, but keep it easy and fun.
  • Plan for the next year! Get a planner or calendar to map out large events such as vacation and business travel, important family occasions, and setting personal and professional goals for at least the first 1-2 quarters of the year.
  • Create a vision board to see what you want to create…it’s a beautiful thing! Learn more about my upcoming 2023 IN-Person workshop in Charleston (it’s been years, I’m excited!)
  • Pick a Word of the Year-AKA-#WOTY
  • Take a thorough home inventory this year-don’t wait for a disaster! Subscribe to my mailing list for more frequent tips and inspiration!
  • Keep your body moving, dance, hit the gym, take a walk…whatever your thing is, this is a great way to get out of your head and feel your way through the season.

My final and most important Holiday Organizing Tips, take time to Celebrate what is truly Sacred to you.

Is there a tradition, time with family, or a treat that you honor yourself with?

Whatever it is, this is the season to celebrate the sacred!

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2022-HOPE for what is possible

January 3, 2022 by Heather Filed Under: Creative process, Inspiration & Education, Planning & Goals, Productivity, Uncategorized, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

The beginning of a new year fills me with HOPE for what is possible.

Hope

My word for 2021 was Possibility. In 2021, possibility felt like an opening, and an invitation to release my grip on expectations. There is no failure, there is only what is possible! 

Not everything I envisioned came to be, but I was conscious that I had and have a choice to pursue or release whatever possibilities come across my path. 

Possibilities are limitless.
Possibilities are an invitation.
Possibilities are the seed of the future.

Reflecting on the past DECADE of my practice of selecting a WOTY, here are some of my previous words. I love how they connect and flow into one another.

2011: CLARITY
2012: SOAR
2013: RADIANT
2014: PLAY
2015: CHOICE
2016: HARMONY
2017: ACCEPTANCE
2018: FEARLESS
2019: INTENTION
2020: INTEGRATION
2021: POSSIBILITY

2022: HOPE

Hope is one of the three ethical Christian virtues, along with faith and charity. Although this is not what drew me to the word, my choice for hope is an expansion of the possibilities of 2021. Hope is related to faith, and trust. It may for some, require those qualities, yet it is an expectation.

With hope, I envision something better-I give myself permission to dream again, to invite, to anticipate, to DESIRE.

Word Cloud Created with Thinkmap: https://www.visualthesaurus.com/

Hope is a Promise and an Invitation, an Outlook, and a State of Mind.


I would love to hear your thoughts on the word of the year process (WOTY). Hit reply and let me know your word (s)?

Being Fearless means asking for help

January 31, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Planning & Goals, Productivity, Wellness & Mindset 1 Comment

You might be wondering how being fearless means asking for help. Since selecting my WOTY, Fearless I have begun to understand that being fearless is about surrendering. It’s about taking the leap, allowing the free fall and trusting the outcome.

In examining what my deepest fears are, I understand that many of us are striving to control the outcome of almost everything in my life. After all, I’m a professional organizer, which means perhaps I am predisposed to trying to control the outcome of not just my circumstances but my clients! Well, that’s kind of true on the surface but if we began to talk more about why people need to be more organized, there are many reasons.

[bctt tweet=”Being more organized can lead us to feeling more free, not more controlled. ” username=”hkpowerstudio”]

But we often think that in asking for help we are showing weakness, we think we should be able to EVERYTHING ourselves…or some of us are taught to think this way.

Say it ain’t so! I promise, it isn’t. That is old programed mindset that we can all choose to free ourselves from.

When I began to investigate what I can do to be more fearless, I realized it meant I need to be more willing to ask for help. I began to see that if I really wanted to do all the things I dream of it would require taking some big leaps of faith!

Being fearless means asking for help. Deep rooted in the old lack-mindset programing is the idea that I will not be supported, that I will fail, that asking for help is weak.

That’s a big burden to place upon ourselves! That is part what fires me up to help others find systems and solutions for their support! As incredible as it is to be strong, independent women (or men), it’s also totally necessary to ask for help in order to grow personally and professionally. Living in fear means we are limiting our growth, freedom, creativity, health and future.

So absolutely YES, being fearless means asking for help! My clients model that for me on a daily basis.

Since I have spent time investigating my mindset of fearlessness, I have discovered where I feel panicked and afraid to asking for help. Since much of that is related to $$ Mindset, I have limited the kind of help I’ve been willing to ask for. I’ve been afraid to make a commitment to hiring help because I’ve been afraid that the abundance will stop and at some point I may not be able to afford to have the help. In my mind, I LOST the game before it began! That is not my truth, that is no way to live and I am way too curious and adventurous to let that old mindset (ego) hold me back!

Since December I’ve been searching for, interviewing and hiring several helpful people who can make my life and my business run more smoothly. I am 45 years old and have never hired a housekeeper…that was the second person on my list and I was practically walking on CLOUDS when I found the right person and agreed to have them come help in my home two times a month.

I CANNOT WAIT to hand over $$ to them for this kind of help! That is how Fearless should feel! 

Do you struggle to ask for help? What holds you back and what makes you feel fearless? I’d love if you share in the comments below or on Facebook here.

Embracing Harmonious Beginnings

December 30, 2015 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

This will be my 6th year choosing a word as a beacon for the year. The word I choose will shine a light on where I’m headed, supporting my intentions, goals, desires and giving me a sense of purpose without feeling the pressure of success or failure (such as in the practice of resolutions). Over the past 5 years I’ve selected Clarity (2011), Soar (2012), Radiant (2013), Play (2014) and Choice (2015).

Since I’ve been practicing this for awhile I find that a little stillness and guidance is really all I need to let my word discover me. I begin with a list, start thinking about how I want to feel and become anchored in those feelings. Those feelings are usually tethered to a word that somehow sum’s it all up. This has become a bit of a ritual and practice. It gives me an reason to take some time out, reflect upon the year and how the word I choose has guided and taught me. I always discover a deeper richer understanding of the word I select at the end of the year than what I may have anticipated at the beginning of the journey. This year  these are the the words that began floating around in my head as I plant the seeds for my 2016 intentions. Together they led me to discover the word Harmony for 2016.

Embracing Harmonious Beginnings

harmony: a pleasing combination or arrangement of different things

  • pleasing or congruent arrangement of parts
  • internal calm :tranquility
  • an interweaving of different accounts into a single narrative

The word goes so much deeper for me than the simple definition above. Being in harmony begins with observing yourself in relationship to the world around you and then radiates out to others. Finding a harmonious relationship (connections) requires insight, stability, balance, surrender (to the flow) and nurturing. To be in harmony is to be a part of the great collaboration of the universe. One melody may be sweet but many notes together create a harmony that can not be created by oneself. Sometimes being in harmony means being grounded, other times it means being in flow, sometimes there is harmony in collaboration and yet others may find harmony through alignment and or stillness. It is this combination and knowing awareness of what is needed to create a harmony that I seek to better facilitate and deeply understand for myself over the coming year.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.

–Mohandas Gandhi

Are you planning to choose a Word of the Year (or One Little Word)?  If so below some of my favorite helpful tools. I’ve used a combination of these over the years!

  • Danielle LaPorte-Core Desired Feelings, need more than one word? Pick how you want to feel!
  • Susannah Conway-Find your word and Unraveling the Year Ahead
  • Christine Kane-writing exercise
  • Kim Klassen-an exercise in discovering
  • Thinkmap-a visual thesaurus to help you visualize your word
  • Huffington Post-a broader exploration of this idea within media
  • Ali Edwards-word ideas) & a yearlong workshop

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Friday Favorites::Book Roundup of 2015

December 11, 2015 by Heather Filed Under: Books, Inspiration & Education Leave a Comment

In no particular order here’s the list of books I read this past year (and counting since I’m still finishing up a couple!). I’ve made a couple notes below each about favorite quotes and thoughts on the book overall. It was a diverse year of reading and I dove into some very new topic’s of exploration!

  • 13 Original Clan Mothers: Your Sacred Path to Discovering the Gifts, Talents and Abilities of the Feminine Through the Ancient Teachings of the Sisterhood by Jamie Sams ***

I had a hard time getting started with this book but once I got focused I found it delightfully helpful as a means to share archetypal stories and teachings of life.

  • The ADHD Book of Lists: A Practical Guide for Helping Children and Teens with Attention Deficit Disorders by Sandra F. Rief, Ariel Rief ***

Reference-this book was read (jumped around a bit) as a means to help clients

  • Olive Kitterage by Elizabeth Stout **

Not a favorite, kind of downtrodden and depressing story. I abandoned it a little over half way through (but at some point will watch the TV series)

  • Little Bee by Chris Cleave ****

I loved this charming story, picked it up because of the name (my kitty’s name too) and was pleasantly delighted with it.

  • Lillian Too’s 168 Feng Shui Ways to Declutter Your Home by Lillian Too ****

Not your light hearted Feng Shui book of Decluttering, a bit more in dept but I really enjoyed the deeper dive into this practice that I often find helpful for myself and client work.

  • The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin ****

I’ve been getting wonderful daily quotes from Gretchen for years and I finally got this book checked off my list. It was helpful to hear how she put Happiness into practice as a conscious Choice (my word of the year for 2015)

  • The Little Friend by Donna Tartt ***
  • Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes *****

Started this thick read in the last months of 2014 and finished in the first part of 2015. It’s a big read and I couldn’t put it down at times. I’d long wanted to read this book, it almost felt like a right of passage. I was delighted to find out that my 95 year old grandmother had read it. I think it’s a book all women should read (and it was a great segue into 13 Original Clan Mothers).

  • Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert *****

I was skeptical, what more can be said about creativity than already has (especially for someone who’s read a lot of self help/creativity books) but EG had a really fresh take on what makes creative magic happen in our daily lives.

  • The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry ***

Off to a slow start, was intrigued by the theme and topic of the book and gradually was guided in deeper as the story unfolds to a little mystery, romance, history (non biographical) and magic.

  • The Exquisite Risk: Daring to Live an Authentic Life by Mark Nepo ****

This book has traveled with me through a good part of the year. I read a chapter or two at a time and let the messages, poems and story’s sink in deep. I got this book after meeting Mark and hearing him speak earlier in the year.

  • Hildegard of Bingen by Matthew Fox ****

The divine feminine has been a big reading subject for me this year (can you tell!?). I was drawn to this book after meeting Matthew and hearing him speak earlier in the year.

  • The Artist Way by Julia Cameron ****

This is the 3rd time around reading this book.  I facilitated a reading group for 5 artists/writers over 12 weeks and watched as all our lives were transformed and catalyzed by the practice of implementing simple process such as the Artist Date and journaling.

  • Organizing Plain and Simple by Donna Smallin****

Reference-One of the newer organizing books out this year. Donna breaks down what can sometimes seem daunting into a really simple process. As an organizer I was familiar with almost all the process and suggestions in this book but would certainly recommend it to anyone going through the process of organizing on their own (doesn’t cover challenges such as organizing for ADHD and Chronic Dis-organization)

  • Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness by Donna Smallin****

This little “quick reference book” is really fun and an easy, quick read. Well broken up by subject/theme of organization.

  • The Two Choices by Carrie Jole Dale ****

This book was written by my friend Carrie and I had to read it because Choice has been my WOTY (word of the year). She simplifies our ongoing quest for finding happiness and self fulfillment by sharing her thoughts on what it really boils down to. (Hint: “You are your own Guru!”-CJD)

  • Animal Speak by Ted Andrews *****

I found myself drawn to animals and the messages that they share with us, often looking up references online until I finally got this book for myself. I use it often as a reference but also am fascinated by some of the rituals and practices we can engage in to connect us more deeply to the animals that surround us daily.

  • Numerology with Tantra, Ayurveda and Astrology by Harish Johari ****

This is not your typical numerology book. It’s more complex but also leads to a much more personal and specific analysis of how numbers and patterns show up in your life and help you learn and find connections to those around you. I label this one as reference as well.

It’s kind of interesting to look back on my year in books, some interesting themes emerge. I’ve got several books on my holiday wish list and many of them are creative. I also have a few books “left over” form this year that I plan to read in 2016. What books did you read this year and what were your favorites?

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