This is the newest release (v45) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature, with my latest finds that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. These unique, inspiring clutter discoveries reflect this month’s blog theme.

You are an intelligent, generous, 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 Clutter Discoveries

1. Interesting Workshop – Overwhelming Clutter

Do you feel stuck and overwhelmed by emotional and physical clutter? If you answered “yes,” you’re not alone. Help is here!

Join me, Linda Samuels, Professional Organizer, for an empowering workshop – How to Let That Sh*t Go on Thursday, June 6th, from 7:00-8:00 pm EDT.

Together, we’ll unleash your superpower and learn to let go of thoughts, time, and things that no longer serve you.

This one-hour Zoom workshop will teach you transformative strategies to spark immediate positive changes. Release the clutter holding you back and say hello to a happier, more organized you. Reserve your spot now!

2. Interesting Product – Card Clutter

One of the questions clients frequently ask me is,

“What should I do with all the cards I have received?”

Card recipients often feel guilty for letting them go, so they hold onto them for years or decades. However, they feel distressed by card clutter and the space they take.

Some cards aren’t as treasured. However, many are sentimental and meaningful, received by loved ones here and gone. So, how do you decide what to do?

Card Decluttering Process: 

• Gather your cards

• Keep your favorites, which include cherished hand-written messages or ones you especially enjoy

• Recycle the rest

What can you do with the keepers? You can contain them in a box. Or, there’s another fun way to make them a usable keepsake. Transform them into an 8” x 8” custom hardcover book with Cards by Artkive.

Check out the video describing their process.

3. Interesting Read – Communication Clutter

Are you overwhelmed by email, text, and other communication clutter? This deluge creates mind clutter, too. There have never been this many ways to communicate, and it’s a lot to sift through.

Smart Brevity–The Power of Saying More with Less by the co-creators of Axios and Politico said, “Never in the history of humanity have we vomited more words in more places with more velocity.”

As a verbal processor, I am guilty of using lots of words. However, this book inspires me to think about the impact and stress this has on others. It includes specific techniques for creating shorter, more robust communication for email, meetings, speeches, presentations, social media, and more. “Smart Brevity is a new way to think about creating, sharing, and consuming information in our cluttered, clanging digital world.”

Authors Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz created a nifty AI-powered Smart Brevity® test. Enter your text, and the tool scores how “smart, clear, and effective it is.”

Declutter your communication. Stop overexplaining. “We make people deduce what we’re trying to say instead of just blurting it out. Don’t be fancy-be effective.”

“Remove clutter that’s distracting you.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP@

4. Interesting Resource – Textile Clutter

Do you have textile clutter and want to keep it out of the landfill? If so, you’re in luck. Retold Recycling has a solution for you. To date, they’ve diverted 150 tons of textiles from landfills.

Easy Recycling (Decluttering) Process:

• Gather your unwanted textiles, including fabric scraps, rags, stained, ripped, or unwanted clothing, linens, single socks, cotton face masks, and more.

• Do not include pillows or cushions.

• Order your Retold bag with a pre-paid label.

• Fill your bag and bring it to the post office.

• Retold will sort your goods and send them to thrift stores, donation centers, recyclers, resellers, and up-cyclers.

5. Interesting Thought – ‘Noise’ Clutter

When your spaces, calendars, and thoughts are filled with too much noise, it’s impossible to focus on what matters most. This is an excellent time of year to quiet things down. Remove clutter that’s distracting you. Let go of the unnecessary, and create space to invite in what you truly value.

Can you share one interesting, clutter-related discovery? Which of these resonates with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation.

Do you want help decluttering? If so, reach out anytime. Please email me, Linda, at linda@ohsorganized.com, call 914-271-5673, or schedule a Discovery Call. Letting go of clutter is possible, especially with support.

When the world within and around you is drenched in chaos, how can you thrive? Humans are complicated beings. We can simultaneously hold profoundly opposite ideas, emotions, and thoughts. We can experience love and safety when wrapped in our loved one’s embrace. We can also experience intense pain when we hear news about wars, hate, displacement, and heartache. The hard stuff can weigh so heavily on you that it can feel impossible to thrive. You might even feel guilty about experiencing joy when there is so much suffering.

Several years ago, I listened to a conversation about opening and cultivating the human heart with Frank Ostaseki, co-founder of The Zen Hospice Project, and Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D., Buddhist teacher and Founder of Upaya Zen Center. One of the ideas that resonated with me then and even more now is that hope is essential, especially in a “time of radical uncertainty.” Hope is not about “sappy positivity,” bypassing the truth of suffering, or thinking that everything will be OK.

Thoughts About Hope

During the conversation, Ostaseki and Halifax shared their perspectives about hope:

• Hope helps us go beyond the rational.

• Hope can be the flip side of fear.

• Hope is not based on optimism.

• Hope is a surprise. It’s light and buoyant and not about a particular outcome.

• Hope reflects an understanding that what we do matters, even though we don’t know how, why, who it will touch, or what will unfold from our actions.

• Hope is resistant to futility.

• Hope resides in resourcefulness.

• Hope speaks to possibilities.

“While you might feel powerless to change the world, you can make your corner more joyous and hope-filled.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

31 Ways to Thrive and Feel Joyful During Chaotic Times

Having hope contributes to being able to thrive. Without it, we give up. Take an active role in cultivating hope. Nourish yourself and others, and create a solid base to grow from. During chaotic times, there are so many things that seem futile. Instead, focus on engaging in simple actions or observations in your control. Hope will grow from there. Consider:

• Watching the fall leaves gently float to the ground

• Taking a walk along the river with a good friend

• Getting a good night’s sleep

• Eating a nutritious and delicious meal

• Feeling the warm sun on your face

• Hugging your loved ones

• Reading or listening to uplifting books, articles, and podcasts

• Planning something you will look forward to doing

• Taking a road trip, even a local one

• Brewing and slowly sipping a hot cup of tea

• Curling up on the sofa, wrapped in your favorite soft, cozy blanket

• Learning something new

• Listening to your favorite music

• Practicing mindfulness meditation

• Organizing that one room that is ready to be tamed

• Helping something to grow

• Focusing on the inhale and exhale of your breath

• Making something with your hands

• Pausing in the middle of your day to regroup and reset

• Listening to the sounds of laughter

• Laughing

• Writing in your journal

• Smiling at a stranger

• Having a ‘do nothing’ day

• Checking in by phone, email, text, or in person on your loved ones

• Doing something outside of your comfort zone

• Helping a client set boundaries, establish priorities, and get unstuck

• Noting what you are grateful for

• Offering compassion and kindness to someone you do or don’t know

• Refusing to give up

• Listening to your intuition

Life is a mixture of joy, pain, and everything in between. As humans, we know this is true. Yet even so, it can be challenging to navigate the sadness when your life and the world feel so chaotic and unhinged. While you might feel powerless to change the world, you can make your corner more joyous and hope-filled. You never know how your actions or words will uplift someone else. Be gentle with yourself and others. Nourish your being to have the energy to extend more kindness and compassion to yourself and others.

What helps you thrive during challenging times? What brings you hope? How do you make your ‘corner’ better? I’d love to hear your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation.

Professional development and education are some of my top priorities. I continually invest in learning to understand, nourish my curiosity, grow, and better help people. This past week, I attended the Institute for Challenging Disorganization’s (ICD) conference, celebrating its 20th anniversary. I’m an ICD past president (2014-2016) and have been a member of this stellar educational association for 19 years.

Due to the pandemic, the conference was virtual. Using the Remo platform, people attended from eleven countries around the world. We had four days of workshops presented by leading experts with networking time with colleagues new and old. Possibilities, hope, compassion, and a zest for learning and sharing permeated the sessions and conversations.

In my effort to assimilate a small portion of what I discovered, I distilled ideas from 11 sessions and 20 plus pages of my notes to share with you. I couldn't include everything, so I focused on sharing incredibly inspiring concepts full of possibilities. 

Favorite New IDEAS to Empower Possibilities

1. Power of Reframing

Our first speaker was Dr. Edward (Ned) Hallowell, an expert on ADHD, founder of Hallowell ADHD Centers, podcast host, and author of 20 books, including his newest ADHD 2.0. His presentation was so uplifting and poignant. I became emotional several times. He focused on the gifts accompanying ADHD, such as being creative, intuitive, curious, entrepreneurial, intelligent, and original. Dr. Hallowell has ADHD and has devoted his life to helping people with ADHD “develop a vision of greatness.” He believes that everyone is capable of more than they think they are, can combat negative self-talk, and develop good self-care hygiene.

He reminded us “what matters is the striving, not the doing or accomplishing.” The “victory is loving the game.” He spoke about the importance of connection and having supportive people to protect and believe in you. 

Hallowell shared the three defining hallmarks of ADHD, which are distractibility, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. He prefers focusing on the positive flipside- seeing distractibility as curiosity, impulsivity as creativity, and hyperactivity as energy. At 71, he said he was “happy to have a turbo pack on his back.”

When it comes to organizing and reaching his goals, he strives for “well enough organized.”

If you reframe your perspective, what is possible?

2. Living Your Strengths

As humans, we seek to understand ourselves and others. Dr. Ryan Niemiec, Education Director at the VIA Institute on Character, author of 10 books, and award-winning psychologist, shared that understanding your character strengths is essential for building your well-being, managing adversity, and increasing happiness. What would be possible if you lived using your strengths and appreciated the strengths of those around you?

In 2003, the VIA Survey of Character Strengths was created. The extensively researched survey emerged from the field of positive psychology. It focuses on 24 universally valued (cross-cultural) character strengths such as hope, curiosity, and gratitude. It has been taken by 16 million people and continues to be taken every 10 seconds. Click here for your free VIA assessment (it takes about 10 minutes) and discover your top signature strengths.

Niemiec made several key points: no strength is better than another, all 24 strengths matter, and they are in all of us. Your top strengths represent the positive parts of your personality, which can change over time. Our strengths reflect our identity, produce positive outcomes for ourselves and others, and contribute to the collective good.

I’ve taken the survey three times over the past ten years, and I’ve seen some shifts in my top five strengths. With the most recent survey, my top strengths are love, gratitude, perspective, appreciation of beauty & excellence, and humor.

I’d love to know more about you. After taking the survey, please share your top five strengths in the comments below if you feel comfortable doing so.

“What matters is the striving, not the doing or accomplishing.”

— Dr. Edward Hallowell

3. Designing Your Space

Andrea de Pavia, MA, architect, urban planner, author, professor, and founder of NeuroAU, shared her expertise and insights on NeuroArchitecture. This interdisciplinary field connects cognitive science, architecture, design, and urbanism, focusing on “the brain, behavior, and their interconnection with the physical environment.” De Pavia explained how our spaces affect our physiology, making changes in the brain and body. Her goal is to “make science-based choices to improve the environment” and not design solely based on creativity or aesthetics. 

With sensation transference, elements such as light and sound can affect how things taste, your perception of others, and your memories. Perceptual fluency relates to how easy or challenging it is to be in a particular space. In a “fluent space,” it will be easier to process and experience cognitive restoration. Our physical environment can affect stress levels and health. Lack of multisensory coherence can impair perception and attention, deplete mental resources, and impair decision-making. Imagine being in a cluttered space (whatever ‘cluttered’ means to you.) Notice how you feel. Are you calm, relaxed, anxious, or agitated? 

Our space can help or impair our cognitive restoration. De Pavia shared several ways to design and organize spaces to decrease stress and save mental resources, such as incorporating nature. Include pictures of nature, use natural light, add plants (real or not,) water features, and natural materials. This is known as biophilic design.

Don’t underestimate the importance of windows and natural light. Uncover the windows and position yourself closer or facing them. Seeing the sky (day or night) helps control our circadian rhythm, which affects our biological clock. It syncs our body with the environment and affects our energy during the day and quality of sleep at night. Natural light supports the production of serotonin, a hormone that stabilizes our mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness.

I often write about organizing homes and offices to support who you are and what you do. This science-backed research reinforces the importance of decluttering, creating calm spaces, and being in environments that allow us to restore, reset, and be productive. What would be possible for you as you imagine being in a cognitively supportive space?

Possibilities are all around as we look at ways to reframe our perspective, live using our top strengths, and create spaces that support our minds and bodies. So much is possible. Which ideas resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Recently, I enjoyed savoring a beautiful book, Forest Bathing Retreat – Find Wholeness in the Company of Trees by Hannah Fries. There are captivating images, poetry, and prompts that invite you to appreciate the forest’s gifts. As someone that often walks in the woods, the contents deeply resonated with me.

Three ideas captured my attention because they opened my thoughts to possibilities. I imagined some of these in an organizing context and how they could inspire a positive shift in thinking.

For many people, getting and staying organized is a challenge. It can be helpful to link a seemingly unrelated concept to that struggle. That connection can facilitate an “ah-ha” moment or possibility, which helps you get unstuck. I hope one of these ideas will be beneficial to you.

3 Little Lessons from the Forest That Inspire Organizing Possibilities

1. Mast Year

There have been many autumns where it seems as if our oak trees drop more acorns than usual. You can’t walk without stepping on them or hearing them ‘plunk’ as they hit the ground. At those times, I asked my husband if he noticed any difference. He assumed that we probably just didn’t remember how many acorns there were the previous fall and that it was “nuts as usual.”

As it turns out, once every two to five years, nut trees do produce massive amounts of nuts. These are called “mast years.” Fascinating that all the oaks, beeches, or hickories in a region have identical boom years. It’s a scientific mystery why mast years happen or why the trees in an area have the same cycle. There are plenty of nuts to feed the animals during a mast year, with enough remaining to grow new trees.

How does a mast year relate to organizing? Consider if this will be a mast year for you. Will you let go of the extraneous, as in the extra nuts? The abundance of nuts is like the stuff in your life. The trees share the nuts with animals and release the extras so they can thrive. Will you release the things you no longer need and donate or gift them to people who can use them? Is this your season to let go? Is this your time to create space for what matters so you can grow and thrive?

2. Phytoncides

Have you experienced the therapeutic effects of being in the woods? Studies have been done about shinrin-yoku or “forest bathing,” the Japanese tradition of spending time in the forest and experiencing it through your senses. This improves your immune system and a general sense of well-being.

The phenomenon is more than just psychological. There is a physical process where trees release phytoncides into the air, which are antimicrobial chemicals. They protect the trees against harmful insects and germs. The phytoncides are similar to essential oils or aromatherapy. Conjure up the wonderful scent of cedar, which is the result of a phytoncide. 

Breathing in phytoncides boosts your immune system by stimulating the white blood cells responsible for fighting off tumors and viruses.

How do phytoncides connect to organizing? Think about the restorative and immune-boosting properties of being in the woods. Now imagine your home. Is it a place that promotes calm? Do you feel supported and relaxed there? Or, are you stressed and overwhelmed by clutter or ineffective systems? What would it look and feel like if your home supported your well-being, like a forest does, phytoncides and all? You deserve to live in a healing, supportive, and clutter-free environment.

Do you need assistance? Learn more here about how I support my virtual organizing clients find the calm they deserve. I’m here to help.

“Create space for what matters and you will thrive.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

3. Frondescence

Say that one three times fast. This word was new to me. Hannah defines frondescence as “the time at which a plant or tree unfurls its leaves.” I love that there is a word for this unfolding and blossoming. This natural process is more often observed in spring and summer, although I’ve noticed unfurling in fall too. Have you ever watched a tight bud open slowly to reveal its magnificently colored blooms? Or, have you observed a tree that transforms its bare branches to leafy new growth? 

How does frondescence pertain to organizing? Think of frondescence as that awake, aware, and fully alive state of being. You feel fresh with wonder and possibilities. When we focus on what’s important, have systems that support us (including people and processes), and have cleared the unnecessary from our lives, we are free to unfurl. We become open, aware, and engaged.

Clutter can hold us back. It can deplete our mental and physical energy and erode our self-esteem. What do you need to unfurl, open up, and get organized? Possibilities are available to you.

When we shift our perspective, possibilities come into view. Which forest lessons resonate with you? Do any apply to an organizing challenge you or someone you know is experiencing? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.