Mindfulness practice is visible in several ways. There is the formal practice of mindfulness meditation and the informal practice of living mindfully. I engage in both daily, but not 100% of the time. Practicing mindfulness is being in the present moment with awareness of what you’re doing, feeling, or sensing without judgment. That can include focusing on the breath moving in and out of your body, returning your keys to their designated ‘home,’ noticing the leaves turning bright red as the season shifts, or feeling the tightness in your belly as you return to the office after working from home for the past 18 months. The body and mind constantly give us cues and opportunities to practice mindfulness and bring us back to the present moment.

Recently I found mindfulness cues and inspiration from an unlikely source- my cordless phone. Yes. I still have a landline. The messages displayed on the front of the telephone describe its status. While they serve a specific purpose in letting me know what my phone is doing, the words triggered ideas connected to mindfulness practices. As you continue reading, notice which cues and concepts resonate with you.

4 Mindfulness Cues I Discovered on My Phone

1. “Fully charged”

What does it mean to be “fully charged?” Are you ready for your day? Are you focused, aware, and living in this moment? In a mindfulness context, consider this as a reminder to be present. Be like that red “You Are Here” marker on a map. You are not ruminating about the past or worrying about the future. Your feet are firmly planted on the ground and you are here now. You are available and present.

2. “Missed call”

I mentioned earlier how I engage in daily mindfulness practice, but not 100% of the time. A “missed call” indicates you weren’t available when someone reached out. The person chose not to leave a message. Does that sound familiar? I equate the “missed call” to how our mind tends to wander, which is normal. Being aware when you’ve strayed brings you back to the present moment to engage more fully in your life. A mindful presence will improve your relationships, work, and pursuits.

“A mindful presence will improve your relationships, work, and pursuits.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

3. “Voice message”

Unlike the missed call, which has no message attached, the “voice message” includes information requiring a response or action. Considering mindfulness, what words do you tell yourself? Are they uplifting or self-deprecating? Is it time to record a new message? Use the “voice message” cue as a mindfulness check-in and a way to support your best self.

4. “Charging”

When we’re distracted, over-extended, and overwhelmed, it’s easy to skip the basics. We’re so entrenched with doing that we forget about our needs. In this stressed state, it’s more challenging to incorporate mindfulness. We eliminate the importance of renewal or “charging.” Our electronics need to be juiced up, or they stop working. Our minds and bodies need rejuvenation, too, or we’ll cease to function well. Let the “charging” cue be your self-care reminder. What helps you refocus and relax? For me, sleep is essential. But I also like to journal, meditate, do yoga, read, sit in the sun, be or talk with loved ones, watch movies, and walk by the water and woods. What will you include in your mindfulness charging station?

Just like my phone, many of our devices display messages. Usually, we take them at face value, which is how they were designed to function. But it’s fun to find inspiration and extend their meaning to create more mindfulness in our lives. Which ideas resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Does getting organized feel elusive? If so, don't give up because there is hope. In the almost 30 years I’ve been helping people get organized, there are successful organizing habits that I’ve observed. Even when few are applied, the results can be life-changing.

Being organized will look and feel different for each person.  Someone’s end goal can be another’s starting point. What matters is finding the level of order and organization that feels right for you. 

Let’s look at the useful things people do most frequently to get and stay organized. As you read, note the ones you already do and concepts that will be helpful to try. 

5 Useful Things People Do to Help Get and Keep Organized

1. Make a Plan

When you think of the word “plan,” what comes to mind? Are you imagining detailed lists, charts, and graphs that track your every move? Or, do you think of a plan as something loose and flexible? To become and stay organized, some type of plan needs to exist. The format should align with how you best function. I’ve seen that both detailed and loose plans work. However, with no plan, getting and staying organized won’t happen. 

Both ways of planning work for me, depending on what I’m doing. Currently, I have a long-term goal to reduce the amount of stuff in my life. My plan isn’t a detailed room-by-room-do-this-by-x-date proposition. It’s a low-pressure, loose plan. I have one simple daily repeat on my to-do list that says, “Edit & release some stuff.”  I go to the room, drawer, or closet I feel like doing that day and spend 15-30 minutes editing something.

Some might prefer having a more specific plan, listing each room, and detail the exact things that need editing or organizing on a particular date. This also works. It just depends on what you need to stay motivated and on task. There is no right or wrong.

2. Be ‘Edit’ Aware

One of the reasons that clutter accumulates and disorganization happens is we stop listening to our time to edit antenna. What the heck is the edit antenna? This is the ability to notice when things are piling up and making an area unmanageable. Awareness is essential for getting and staying organized. This edit awareness cues you to activate decision-making. That, in turn, will help you release things that you no longer want, need, or belong elsewhere.

The visible cues can include . . .

• an unwieldy pile of unopened mail gathering on the dining room table

• a stuffed sock drawer that can no longer close

• some random objects that have taken up residence in the wrong rooms

• a crowded clothes closet, with the feeling you having nothing to wear

• many back-to-back entries on your calendar without time to breathe

“Awareness is essential for getting and staying organized.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

3. Get ‘It’ Together

Becoming and staying organized involves putting similar things together in the area you are going to use them. Organize so things are easily identifiable and readily available when you need to retrieve or return them. We describe this in various ways that include creating zones, grouping like-with-like, organizing by the ease of use, or corralling related stuff into bins, trays, or boxes. 

Think of the hot beverage zone in the kitchen, which includes an assortment of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, mugs, sweeteners, and filters. Items are strategically placed in the cabinet next to the coffee maker and electric kettle. When it’s time to brew your morning cup of Joe, everything you need is in one place. 

4. Return Home Today

Closely tied to the like-with-like concept is the idea of establishing specific ‘homes’ for all of your belongings. Organizing our stuff involves choosing the most helpful location for things to live. It’s unlikely that you would store your underwear in the kitchen, although that might be the best spot if it’s where you get dressed. But for most of us, having an underwear drawer in the bedroom or dressing area is a more practical location.

The beauty of having a specific home for underwear is you know where to find a pair when getting dressed, where to put the clean, newly washed ones, or where to find extras when packing for a trip. Creating a home works for underwear and everything else you own too. 

Establishing homes is not just about creating specific spots but returning things to their location. That’s what “return home today” is about. Imagine life in pre-pandemic days when you left your house in the morning to go to work and came back when you were done. You physically returned yourself home. You completed the cycle of out/in, which readies you for the next day.

Apply that same concept to your stuff. Something leaves its home. That’s OK and expected. It might leave for a few minutes, hours, or possibly days. Like gravity, what goes up, must come down. With our stuff, what leaves its home gets returned. This includes . . .

• silverware back to the cutlery drawer

• pens back to the pencil cup on the desk

• keys back to the zipper compartment in your bag

• cell phone back to the charging station

• pants back to the hanger in the closet

“Like gravity, what goes up, must come down. With our stuff, what leaves its home gets returned.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

5. Make a Quick Exit 

You did some decluttering and identified things to release. In the process, you filled four 30-gallon bags of clothes, two big boxes of dishes and housewares, three shopping bags of linens, two boxes of books, and a large bin of toys. They are contained and ready to exit your house. However, the bags and boxes of donates continue to sit and take up space. The organizing process isn’t complete until the stuff leaves your home.

One of the things people do to get and stay organized is to physically remove the outtakes as soon as possible. Once you identify the giveaways, keep going. Bring them to your local charities or arrange to have them picked up. Focus on that quick exit and then enjoy your clearer, more organized space.

There are many things people do that help them get and keep organized. Which ideas resonate with you? Are there other common strategies you do or have observed? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Have you ever tried to create a new habit or behavior? Altering your habit cue will encourage a different result. For example, if you want to stop losing your keys, you can put a small bowl in a landing spot to catch your keys when you enter your home. The bowl becomes your new cue and helps to change your habit. No more misplaced keys because you have established a specific home where you will always find them. This sounds good, right? What happens when you successfully put your keys in the bowl for days, even months, and then one time you forget to do it? You frantically hunt for your misplaced keys and berate yourself for losing them. How do you bounce back from there? Do you give up? Do you engage in negative self-talk? Will you embrace a fresh start even after your break in continuity?

Recently, I had an upsetting experience with one of my habits. I’ve been practicing mindfulness meditation for four years. I’ve meditated almost daily with a gap here and there. For a while now, Insight Timer has been my favorite meditation app. Aside from the app offering diverse meditations and teachers to choose from, it also tracks my activity. So I know how many consecutive days I’ve meditated. To help keep me committed to my practice, I also use a daily repeat on my to-do list that cues me. 

So what happened? I intentionally deviated from my normal morning routine, including mindfulness meditation, so I could make a special birthday breakfast for my husband. My plan was to meditate later that day or at bedtime. However, the day got away from me for various reasons, and before I realized it, it was past midnight. I missed my practice that day. I’ve missed meditation practice a day or two at other times, so why was I so upset? I mentioned before that Insight Timer tracks my activity. Up until the other day, I had 390 consecutive days of practice. By missing that single day, the consecutive days counter restarted. I was so disappointed in myself. How could I have missed a day? The negative self-talk was quite insistent. And then something happened. I asked, “What lesson can I learn?” I wanted to shift my unhelpful thinking to a more positive, growth-oriented mindset.

“What lesson can I learn?”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

3 Lessons Learned From My Break in Continuity

1. It’s just a number.

Seeing the consecutive days’ number increase after each meditation gives me a motivation boost. But the reason I meditate has nothing to do with the number. I meditate to feel calmer, provide quiet space, practice focus, shift attention, and be more mindful. None of those things have anything to do with a number. I don’t meditate for the gold star or days tracked by the app. However, by missing one practice, I recognized how reliant I had become on the tracker, which wasn’t healthy.

What I know is the more I practice, the better I feel, and the more I’m able to regulate my emotions. The 390 consecutive days I practiced aren’t lost. And the meditations ahead will continue to be helpful. I reminded myself to use the tracking if it helps but recognizing it only represents a tiny part of the entire story. 

2. Understand the “what-the-hell effect.”

I recently attended a meeting with fellow Executive Mom Nest Advisor, Monica Moore, a health and fertility coach. She talked about habit change and how certain actions can derail us. Monica described the “what-the-hell effect,” a term behavioral scientists use. It’s a feeling of shame we can experience when we mess up and deviate from a habit we’ve established. For example, let’s say you committed to not eating ice cream. You successfully eliminated it from your diet. Then one day, you eat a small spoonful. Instead of stopping there, you down the entire pint thinking, “I already screwed- up, so I might as well keep going.” 

This made me think about missing my morning meditation practice. I could have gone down the “what-the-hell” path. But I rejected the ‘all or nothing’ thinking. Yes, I made one sidestep that I was unhappy about. However, I stepped back in the following day, practiced, and gifted myself a fresh start.

3. When all else fails, let go.

I woke up to face the Insight Timer app. After my morning meditation, I knew that the consecutive days displayed wouldn’t increase to 391 but would revert to just 1. Ouch. My berating began again, which wasn’t helpful. I wanted to reframe my negative thoughts. I selected one of my favorite practices, Letting Go Meditation, guided by Annemaree Rowley. Before the meditation ended, she read a poem by Erin Hanson. I love the last line, “. . . not everything you ever lose, is bound to be a loss.” How true that is. I lost consecutive day 391. However, in doing so, I strengthened my commitment to my practice, remembered my why, and let go of the negative self-talk. 

“. . . not everything you ever lose, is bound to be a loss.”

— Erin Hanson

Is it possible to embrace a fresh start, especially when your habit or goal get derailed? You always have the opportunity to begin again. When you go off course, what helps you move forward? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.