You may wonder why life balance is an issue when you’re organizing. Very simply, organizing your life or taking on even a single organizing project will have an influence on how your time gets allocated. Thoughts about and engagement in the organizing project can become time consuming, which can result in feeling out of balance. In addition, some organizing projects are highly emotional, like when you’re sorting through objects to which you have strong sentimental attachments. This can throw your balance off even further. Finding anchors along the way can help improve your sense of balance.

Over the recent weeks, I’ve been sharing with you my journey about clearing, organizing and getting our childhood home of 56+ years ready for sale. After several months of work, it will go on the market this week. In previous posts, I’ve shared that this journey has been highly emotional. I’ve reviewed, discovered and let go of a lot of stuff. There have been tears and laughter. There have been found treasures that have lifted my sprits and stabilized me along the way.

This week I’m focusing on connections and how threads from the past helped me understand and find gratitude in the present. These gifts from another time appeared just when I needed them most.

Balance in Continuity

The day I was sorting and organizing my Mom’s dresser, I discovered the round, plastic box shown in this photo. Inside was a man’s watch along with a note written by my mother over 30 years ago. She wrote,

“Papa Moishe’s watch in Nana Stell’s powder box – She kept this in her top vanity drawer after he died. I took it with me when I packed up her house to close it when she died.”

I read that note and burst into tears. The watch was my grandfathers and the vanity that my mom referred to was my grandmother’s, which I have in my bedroom. I helped my mom close up my grandparent’s house. Now decades later, I am doing this for my parents. Finding this treasure helped me that day. In the intensity of the project, this discovery was a message of connection to the past and encouragement of the present. It felt like my mom and grandparents were right there with me providing love, support, and some momentary balance.

Balance in Change

This is one of my Dad’s sketches. It’s the “green monster,” a cabinet that he built in 1950, the year my parents got married. Next to the sketch are some notes written by my mom about the cabinet’s history. It was a simply built plywood piece that kept morphing and changing as the family grew. The cabinet was painted many times. Details like curtains, hooks, and cushions were added and subtracted even more times. The family always called it the green monster because it was originally painted green. My first memory of it was as a baby when it was my pink changing table. In addition to what my mom documented on the note, the green monster was also used as an orange stereo cabinet in my first apartment in Boston and moved with me after college when I lived in Manhattan. When I got married, it moved to our loft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. That was it’s last home before as mom said, it went “out to pasture.” Remembering the green monster, its journey, and final departure helped me process my feelings about the family home. Like the green monster, our childhood home has been a character in our lives that we have to let go of. Our memories of the wonderful, loving times shared there will remain. The green monster sketch and notes were all about change. I found comfort in that. Things aren’t meant to remain the same. Somewhere in that message, I felt some balance being restored.

Balance in Love

I adored my grandmother, Nana Stell. I was lucky to have her in my life up until I was a young adult. We were close. What I hadn’t remembered was that we were always close. This was one of the lovely treasures I found during one of the memorabilia organizing days. I came across this photo of 13-months old me, sitting at a table while drinking a bottle. My hand rests gently on someone’s arm. I turned over the photo and saw my grandmother’s writing, which said,

“Linda suddenly decided her ‘Nana’ was quite OK and constantly begged to stay in my arms. Here, having her breakfast, she suddenly realizes I’m near and reaches over to touch me. What a precious interchange of trust and love.”

I was so grateful that my grandmother took the time to appreciate and write about that moment. In discovering it, I was able to do the same, feeling our connection even though my Nana was long gone. It felt like I was reaching through time to feel her love and support at a time when I needed it most.

When you think about tumultuous points in the organizing process or at any time in life, what anchors help you to restore your balance? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join our conversation!

My heart is full and continues to grow with positive emotions. During the holidays you often suspend regular activities. You have more time with family and friends. You have more time for sleeping late or visiting places that you don’t normally get to go. In the past few days I’ve had a wonderful infusion of fabulous meals and conversations shared with loved ones. And it’s not over yet. It’s just beginning.

Over the past weeks, I’ve enjoyed sharing with you my journey of organizing our childhood home of 56+ years and preparing it for sale. While organizing my family home, I discovered many treasures. I’ve been sharing them with you. This week’s shares are about humor. There were many emotional moments while sorting through the family “stuff.” However, in between the tears, some of the treasures I found helped me to laugh. They also reminded me that humor was ingrained in our family culture. To this day there’s nothing I enjoy more than laughing so hard that happy tears stream down my face.

It’s easy to move quickly through our day and not stop to allow in joy or humor. Or we might allow them in, but not stop to fully appreciate and be thankful for them. These particular finds that I’m sharing with you, helped me to find laughter and gratitude in these darker moments. Be on the lookout. What discoveries are waiting for you?

Humor in Cartoons

My Dad loved to draw cartoons. All of the cards and letters he wrote to me were signed, “Love, Dad.” However, instead of actually writing out the word, “Dad,” he always drew a funny caricature of himself. The cartoons related to where he was traveling or how he was feeling like Daddy with Mickey Mouse ears when he was in Disneyland or Daddy with a red nose if he had a cold. I loved his funny “Daddy cartoons.” While going through our childhood home, I was constantly looking inside books at his inscriptions, or in letters to my Mom, or in his note pads for undiscovered cartoons. This sketch of him on a trip to Bali was one of the things I found. Gratitude and laughter flooded my being.

Humor in Attitudes

Going through the family photos was quite the project. There were thousands of photos from my parents and their parents. We were a well-documented family. Some of the material was organized and some was not. So particularly when I was organizing the memorabilia, I kept finding photos mixed in with those boxes. This photo I found is of goofy-looking me at nine months old. There are photos of my sister and brother from the same time period. They look so normal. Then there’s me with my wide-eyed, curious expression. It’s hard not to laugh at that face. My family often told me that I was the one that made everyone laugh. And with a face like that, I can see why. I realized that humor was something that was in me early on. So while there was plenty to be sad about, it was my sense of humor that always helped me through. I’m grateful to my family for encouraging this part of me and for giving me many occasions to embrace the humorous side of life.

Humor in Play

On this one particular day during the organizing process, I was having a rough time. Things were moving slowly, the rollercoaster of emotions and lack of sleep were wearing on me, and I was just feeling raw. I was preparing for one of the eight pick-ups from the junk removal company and clearing out a corner of my Dad’s office. There were a lot of old computer disks and manuals under his desk that had to go. After I cleared out the piles, I noticed a small dark thing on the floor. When I bent down to pick it up, I was surprised to discover one of my Dad’s little toys. It gave me a great and much needed laugh and a welcome diversion from the sadness I had been feeling at that moment. My Dad had many toys in his office, as do I. This was a lovely reminder that humor is always at our fingertips. This is the short video clip I took that day to share with my family, which I’m now sharing with you.

We come from many different family cultures. Humor was a big part of mine. I’m so grateful for it and how it helped me when I was growing up and even now as an adult. It takes a moment to pause and be thankful. There are many ways to notice and appreciate these moments of gratitude. It’s part of our human experience. What have you noticed? What are you feeling thankful for?  I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation!

Thanksgiving is this week. Did it sneak up on anyone else, or was it just with me? Several people I’ve spoken with are still undecided about their turkey day plans. My husband, Steve, and I are looking forward to hosting the family and spending time together. Grocery shopping has begun, and cooking will begin soon. With my attention these past few months on organizing our family home of 56+ years and preparing it for sale, I wasn’t sure if I’d have the mental bandwidth to host 22 people this year. However, it’s one of our family traditions, and I didn’t want to skip it. Instead of getting overwhelmed by my to-do list, I’ve shifted my focus to gratitude. After all, isn’t that what this season is all about? Celebrating milestones, having family traditions, and finding time to be with loved ones are very important to me. This is something my family instilled in me.

While organizing my childhood home, I discovered some treasures that made me feel especially grateful. This week’s shares are about celebration and gratitude. Digging deep into the “stuff” found in our family home was at times an emotionally challenging process. Discovering treasures along the way helped me to better navigate the tumultuous journey. After I let go of a lot, what remained was a deep sense of gratitude.

Celebrating Milestones

One of the things that my parents believed in was celebrating. That included birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and any moment that marked a shift or important change- life’s milestones. My folks were masters at making us feel special. One of the ways my Dad did that was by making big posters to mark the occasions. With his great cartoons and bold lettering adorning large poster boards, he’d turn a normal day into something special. In this photo, we’re celebrating my brother’s 10th birthday with a poster, balloons, and me (age four) with sunglasses. I’m feeling grateful that my parents taught us to honor and celebrate life’s moments.

Celebrating Travel

Aside from making special occasion posters for us, my Dad loved to sketch and doodle, especially when he was on vacation. He’d always bring a sketchpad with bottles of India ink, charcoal, or watercolors. I have fond memories of being by his side and drawing together. In going through the family home, I found some of his sketchbooks. This is a drawing he did of the Wellfleet home we rented one summer in Cape Cod when I was ten. I loved that house by the sea and the time we spent there together. They were such slow, leisurely, stress-free, happy days. I was so surprised to find this drawing. All those beautiful memories came flooding back: the family playing games together, making candles, walking along the beach, listening to my brother play the cello, and eating meals at the long picnic-style table. Our family loved being by the sea. I still love the sea and am grateful for the beautiful memories I have of time spent there with my family.

Celebrating Generations

Getting the families together was important to my parents and their parents. While I don’t recall what the occasion was, I can tell from my face and body language (I’m the little one smiling in the front row) that I am so happy to be surrounded by my siblings, grandparents, and mother. My parents often gathered the family together and knew how important that was to maintain strong family bonds. I have warm memories of time spent with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I’m grateful to my parents and their parents for instilling the sense of family in me.

For those of you who celebrate, I wish you a beautiful Thanksgiving. Has getting organized ever triggered feelings of gratitude? What are you remembering? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation!

Let’s face it. For some of us, there is nothing joyful about sorting, editing or organizing. Even for those of us that love to organize (guilty as charged,) there can be certain types of projects that can be challenging. As shared in some recent posts, I’ve been organizing our family home of 56+ years and preparing it for sale. It’s been an emotional journey mixed with challenging and joy-filled moments. On the positive side, connecting with the human side of organizing has helped me to more easily navigate the waters. I’ve done this by honoring the treasures instead of focusing on loss or pain. Along the way I made some wonderful discoveries, which I’ll share with you.

Last week in the post, What Treasures Will Be Discovered When You Are Organizing?, I wrote about the rich history of love that was part of my family. Today I’ll share a few more things I found from my childhood. I’m grateful that my Mom chose to keep these because they provided me with insight into where I came from and what was present early on.

This week’s shares are about humor, art and love. Finding them supported me as I sorted, edited, and let go. Their discovery, gave me some much needed laughter, smiles and warm feelings. By pausing to reflect, the treasures allowed me to embrace the joy experienced from the wonderfully human side of organizing.

Empathy and Humor

I wrote this pink-papered note to my Mom when I was eight or nine years old. “Ludwick” short for Ludwig Von Beethoven was one of our cats. It must have been bedtime and my Mom wanted me to turn out my lights. However, I had a different plan, as expressed in this note. Reading it 50 years later made me laugh, especially that last sentence, which reads almost like a punch line.

”Tonight is one of those nights.”

I liked seeing how I advocated for the cat and myself at this young age using an interesting mix of empathy and clarity.

Creativity and Art

What a surprise to find this drawing I made when I was eight! While I don’t remember creating this exact image, I do remember making these types of crayon and India ink scratchboards. I loved making them. On white cardboard, I colored crayons over the surface. Then I brushed black India ink to cover up the crayons. With a pencil or end of paper clip, I scratched out designs in the ink, allowing the colored crayon and white cardboard to show through. There is nothing special about the drawing. However, it brings back that happy feeling and intense focus I had while creating something. My parents gave me ample opportunity to make art, both informally and formally. To this day I love creating whether it’s through writing, baking, taking photos, setting the table, or making something with my hands.

Family and Love

Sitting on the couch in our family’s living room, there I am on grandmother’s lap surrounded by all four grandparents and my Mom. I’m sure that at age five, I didn’t fully appreciate the importance of having the love and attention of my family. Several years after this photo was taken, both of my grandfathers passed away. I am so grateful that my two grandmothers, Nana Stell and Nana Roe, lived into my young adulthood and that I have strong memories of my grandfathers. Discovering this photo, which I had never before seen, brought back warm feelings of unconditional love that my grandparents gave to me.

When you’ve organized, have you encountered that human side of organizing? I’d love to hear your stories or thoughts. Come join the conversation!