Hoarding on A & E / My Collaborative Team

There is a new show on A & E called "Hoarding." It is a reality show that shows the challenging side of hoarding. There have been three episodes so far, and the first one where there was an intervention by a professional organizer and a therapist, alongside the hoarder made the most sense for the helpfulness of the process, when it comes to working in a collaborative setting. '

Many of my hoarding clients are calling me up with excitement about the "Hoarders" show. They are so happy to see other people on T.V. that are also going through similar struggles. They seem to think this series is not as sensational as others they have seen on T.V.

With the experience that I have had as a professional organizer working with hoarders, I prefer to work collaboratively with as many people on my clients team as we can get. Currently, I am working with a hoarding client that lives alone in a four bedroom home that is almost filled to capacity. This client suffers from bipolar disorder, ADD, depression and COPD. She doesn't have family that lives close by, but does have a neighbor that checks in on her often. The woman's therapist contacted me. I went and assessed the client's situation while the therapist was there, and decided with the client where we would start the process . We agreed that we would all work collaboratively, the therapist, the client and a social worker that is also involved in this case. The woman's daughter is also involved in the process from a distance.

I feel good about our working arrangement of having a team to discuss the work with. They are here to offer my client and I support for the work that we'll be doing in the house. I will be reporting the process and progress in the house to the mental health team. The mental health team will also be working with the hoarder in their offices, continuing to discuss and support the on going therapy that is in place, along with conversations about strategies and systems that my client and I will be creating in the home. My client is excited about the process and looking forward to moving ahead. I am excited by her motivation and drive.

Here is the link to check out the new show on A & E: http://www.aetv.com

Happy Marriage

I'm celebrating my 17th wedding anniversary today with my darling husband George. He is one of the dearest men I have ever known. He is the kind of man that one feels really safe with and loved by. He has never been fake, he is a truly "real" person.

He travels a lot for business, and when he is gone, I miss him dearly. I am very proud of all of his accomplishments, as he is proud of all of mine. He is the kind of person that you can truly be yourself around. I am blessed to be taking this life's journey with him. We are walking hand-in-hand down the road of life, one step at a time. This is a great moment in my life and I will always remember its specialness.

Trusting and Strengthening Your Intuition

Whether you call your intuition a hunch, sense, notion or instinct, do you trust it? When you are in a situation where you must either listen to your intuition or not, which choice do you make? How did you know what choice to make? Here are some simple ideas to help you strengthen your intuitive mind.

We all have an intuitive mind and a logical mind. We more often use our logical mind without taking advantage of our intuitive abilities. One of the reasons might be that our hectic, cluttered or overwhelming life stops us from our ability to connect with our intuitive mind. Trusting and strengthening your intuition starts by trusting yourself and taking the time to listen to your inner wisdom.

To do this, its most helpful to find a quiet place where you can relax, control your breathing and slowly clear your mind of thought. Once you are in a state of peacefulness, as yourself any question that you have been struggling with in your logical mind. Stay quiet and let the answer to the question come to you instinctively, from within. Trust that intuitive voice by taking action. Once you've taken action, you can start an "intuition log" to monitor the outcome, to see how your intuition served you.

Another way to strengthen your intuition is to tune into your internal energy and the energy that surrounds you. Are you a positive or negative person? The power of positive thinking creates positive energy. This energy helps you to feel strong, loving and encouraging. Negative energy depletes your spirit and can make you mean. Your intuition can only blossom and grow around your positive energy. Are the people in your life positive or negative? Don't you feel so much better when you surround yourself with positive, happy people who honor your relationship and add to your happy spirit? I bet you said "yes" to this question. Let your intuition be your guide to help you weed through and decide who adds to your positive energy and who doesn't.

These two suggestions are beginning ideas to strengthen your intuition. What suggestions do you have for trusting and strengthening your intuition? How has your intuition helped you?

Keeping the Faith

When we get on a plane we have the FAITH that it is going to fly!

When we go to bed we have FAITH that we will awake in the morning. When we leave our house we have FAITH that it will be there when we return.

The majority of our daily activities are solely based on our faith and belief. If we had no faith, we wouldn't even be able to get out of bed in the morning.

Faith fuels our very being. Our faith is tested when things get hard, when we are afraid, and when our perfectly laid plans aren't so perfect. True faith is continued belief in the face of adversity. True faith is when you have every single reason in the world to have NO faith.

So, here is how you hold on and keep your faith:

1. Be clear about what you want. Faith wavers when it is uncertain what to claim. Claim what you want.

2. Stop looking for the results. This is not your job. Your job is to keep the faith, keep the action going and keep repeating these steps.

3. Know that our faith will be constantly tested. You pass the test when you continue to believe.

No meaningful life was ever built on uncertainty and no leader appeared out of doubt. Believe in yourself, your faith and your abilities. Good will come from this.

Your Buried Treasure

You have experienced successful, fulfilling events in your life that brought you great joy and strengthened your self-confidence. You know these experiences exist, but you have not visited them for a long time. Unfortunately, they are buried in the depths of your subconscious memory.

Unbeknownst to you, these buried knowings are your personal treasure. They can provide you with a powerful reference, knowledge and experience you can recreate. Knowing that there is a source of success, available to you, will provide you with a stronger sense of confidence and encourage you to take action when entering unknown territory.

Once you have discovered your successful knowings and can excavate them out of the depths of your subconscious, you will find an empowering resource that reveals your strengths, successful systems and strategies that can be incorporated in your life. Your knowings also include the values that motivated you to pursue important objectives. How many experiences do you know of that can give you the confidence to take action and ignite the special sparks in your heart? Discovering and revisiting your buried treasure will empower you to act on important goals that will reveal precious clues aligned with your passion.

Your knowings remind you past success can be recreated; maybe even with better results. What good will your buried knowings do if they remain hidden and concealed?

The following questions can support you in the process of discovering your buried treasure of "knowings":

What experiences in your personal, academic, family, professional or business life have:

• Made you feel good;

• Given you a strong sense of accomplishment;

• Been fulfilling;

• Brought you instant joy

What is the first step you can take to look for your buried treasure?

When is the last time you paid attention to these knowings?

What would happen if you paid more attention to your knowings of success?

Once you discover your inner knowings, you need to identify reminders you can use: a visual, a quote, a word, a song, to remember to focus on your own treasure of knowings.

If you don't pay attention to your buried treasure, it will remain concealed and become your biggest barrier to success. Don't deny yourself your own inner treasure! You have the antidote to stagnation and procrastination, sitting in your mind waiting to be rediscovered and set free!

Managing Emails

My clients are always asking me for strategies on managing emails. This info is from a new article in ADDITUDE magazine and is a simple guideline:

Limit Messages

The fewer email messages that come in, the fewer you have to deal with.

• Set e-mail software filters for messages you want to receive, but don’t need to read right away. They will automatically be archived or moved to a folder you designate. To set up a filter in Outlook, choose “Rules and Alerts” from the Tools menu; in Gmail, click “settings” (at the upper right of your screen), then the “filters” tab.

• Mark unwanted e-mails as spam. Future messages from the sender will go to your junk-mail folder.

• Use an e-mail-filtering program to limit access to your inbox. These programs, such as ChoiceMail, automatically approve e-mails from only the senders you know and trust. Unapproved senders will be blocked.

Manage The Messages You Receive

• Resist opening e-mails first thing in the morning.

• Don’t allow others to set your agenda. Set a schedule to attend to e-mail -- a half-hour before lunch and a half-hour before you leave for the day.

• Turn off the e-mail notification function. Having attention called to each new message is a distraction that ADD adults don’t need.

• Limit follow-up e-mails. Create a subject line that lets the recipient know exactly what your message is about.

• Respond to any e-mail that requires a brief response as soon as you open it. Don't put it off to re-read later.

• Mark e-mails that require an action. You’ll be able to quickly find the action items later on.

• Empty your inbox every day. Old e-mails that require no immediate action distract you from more important e-mails that require your attention.

A Clock That Sticks Anywhere–To Keep You on Track

This is a helpful idea–a clock with a suction cup that you can stick anywhere a suction cup sticks to, especially on your shower door. The Bath Clock is one way to improve your morning routine by supporting your need to keep track of time.

Once you add a new item like a clock to your environment, it's important to create the habit of looking at that clock to help you gauge how long each segment of a task is taking you.

Regularly checking your time as you work through your morning routine will help you manage your time more effectively. It is important to know how much time is needed for each task you do before walking out the door. Let's look at how your morning routine breaks down into measurable segments:

A. What time do you wake up? B. How long to shower and fix your hair? C. How long to get dressed? D. If you are a woman, how long does it take to apply your makeup? E. How long does it take for you to eat breakfast? F. Are there any other people in the house that you are responsible for getting up and out the door in the morning? If so, how long does that process take? Break those steps down too and add up the needed time.

What often gets us off track is our inability to manage our time better–5 minutes in the shower can often turn into 15 minutes or more. With the Bath Clock stuck to your shower wall, you'll stay on track so that you no longer get stuck in the shower, lost in your own thoughts. Here is where you can buy it: http://www.stacksandstacks.com/bath-clock-suction