Don't lose your cool on Valentine's Day weekend!

O.K. I haven't become a restaurant critic, lord help me I'd weigh a million pounds if I was lucky enough to have that job! But, one thing I can say about living in Austin is that we have awesome restaurants in and around the city and they keep on growing. Especially in the area that I live in. Lots of new construction, wide open spaces (that are shrinking) and plenty of new joints opening up all over. But, buyer beware! The restaurant boom is great for us consumers, but not so great for the existing restaurant owners. They are having to come up with either better food, better prices, some kind of gimmick or unfortunately, they're closing up shop.

O.K. what does this have to do with the Valentine's Day weekend? Well everything. You want a great place to eat for the V-Day weekend, if you're going out.

What it you've made no plans for Valentine's Day? Well it's not too late. Call up a friend or friends, pick up the phone and make a reservation (NOW). I almost totally messed up on our party of four by thinking we could eat anywhere tonight. But alas, I lucked out and made reservations at a really great place that's been around for the past year or so. That might seem like a short amount of time for a restaurant, but not in this growing area. As already stated above "look out mediocre restaurants, there are many new sheriffs in town who want your job."

You could say that about some professional organizers, but that's for another blog day. This conversation is about having a good time on Valentine's Day whether you have a date or not.

So, make that call, get out some nice clothes and have a blast. Those of you with no date tonight, don't be discouraged, go out on your own. Be sure to bring some mace (you never know what maniac is out this weekend). My safety suggestion is that you go to a local place where you know or feel comfortable with the crowd and have a drink and a bite to eat. If any creeps give you a hard time gals, remember the mace;)

Happy pre-Valentine's Day!

Getting Started w/MacBook Pro

I've been waiting awhile to purchase a new MacBook Pro laptop. The time & opportunity presented themselves a few weeks ago. Since I've recently had a serious auto accident a few months ago, I've had to scale back just a bit on client work, to give my injuries time to heal. Now that I have additional injuries, I even have more time to devote to learning all about my new laptop.

Purchasing a new computer means that I had to update all software on my Mac OS X, desktop computer. This was a good & easy thing to do. I upgraded from Tiger 10.4.11 to Leopard 10.5.8. This is the highest upgrade for my G5, pre-Intel processor. Now I also have to change a number of my Word docs in my G5 to be compatible with my new laptops' Microsoft Office 2011. It's really cool to have updated into the new decade with a more powerful laptop. This laptop was a long time coming, but as I keep saying, I'm glad that I took my time with this important purchase.

My next mission is to create some new and very interesting PowerPoint presentations on working with hoarders & how the collaborative process works for long term clutter management.

Again, as I recover from my injuries, it's great to use this time to revitalize my research. I comfortably come back to knowing that I experience so much joy in the work I do with my clients. I'll incorporate my new laptop into all this joy! My next mission is to determine the most appropriate, ergonomically correct laptop stand. I'll check out http://www.laptopstand.org first to see what products make sense & go from there. http://www.amazon.com has some really cool computer laptop stands also. The research will continue tomorrow.

Safety Risks of Hoarding

have worked with hoarders for over 10 years now and have come to understand some of the intricacies of hoarding behavior. I wanted to share some of the health & safety issues associated with the accumulation of extreme amounts of random items such as rotting food, trash, papers, household items, furniture, books, etc.

Hoarders are generally unaware of the fact that their lifestyle is a problem or causing a safety hazard to themselves, family and their animals (if applicable). Low self-awareness is one of the many psychological impairments a hoarder is challenged with. This lack of insight into their living conditions and lack of desire to change contributes to the health and safety concerns that arise from living in a filthy, possible insect & rodent infested environment.

The questions that have to be answered upon inspection of such an environment are:

Is there an immediate health & safety threat to the person/s that living in such an environment?

What kind of structural damage is there?

Are exits blocked creating fire & safety hazards for the occupants of the home & the accessibility by emergency services?

Is there adequate housekeeping?

Are the accumulated items posing a risk for slipping or falling injuries?

Are there rodents or is there insect infestation in the home?

Is there an odor problem due to urine or feces, live garbage & a lack of housekeeping?

Are these odors wafting over to the neighbors houses?

Are the adult/s in the home caring for themselves adequately?

If there are children and/or animals in the house, are they being cared for properly?

The hard road ahead is having the person living in these conditions realize the many health & safety risks this lifestyle poses for them and be willing to make a lifestyle change. Where does that motivation to make changes for their health & wellness come from? with limited insight, it can take a life threatening incident for the hoarder to reach out for help.

All to often the hoarder is living in isolation. Because of the many mental health issues the hoarder faces, without the proper intervention of mental health workers and related professionals, the hoarder faces a future of continued acquiring and larger health & safety risks.

Hoarding behavior is a mental health issue and a public health problem. Usually, the behavior has been occurring for a long time and requires patience and understanding. Frequently, it requires the help of other people and agencies. Neglect or abuse issues associated with elders, children, or animals may require emergency interventions. Code violations resulting from neglect or collection of materials may require emergency actions.

After meeting with a lot of caring families and friends that want to help, I always suggest to them that they do not touch the hoarders possessions without full consent of the hoarder. As a professional organizer, I'm one of the team players on the related professions collaborative team. I team up with mental health provides, local agencies, social workers and of course the family.

There are state & local agencies that can help hoarders in need. So states have hoarding task forces setup that are extremely useful resources. Here is a site that offers additional resources for hoarders & their families: http://www.ocfoundation.org

The Science of Happiness

There are many researchers that are studying the new science of happiness. This is part of the fascinating science of "Positive Psychology." I want to share two people that share their insights and research into happiness.

The first one is cognitive researcher Nancy Etcoff, who looks at happiness and the ways we try to achieve and increase it. "The way it's untethered to our real circumstances, and its surprising effect on our bodies."

Here is the link to her presentation on TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_etcoff_on_happiness_and_why_we_want_it.html

The second presentation on the science of happiness comes from Shawn Achor, who’s’ presentation is called "The Science of Happiness and Potential." Shawn Achor is the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University, where he delivered lectures on positive psychology in the most popular class at Harvard.

Shawn's presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8DngXKtvEQ

At the last NSGCD conference in Austin, September 2010, we had a presenter by the name of Dr. Wanda L. Bethea. She gave a presentation called "Positive Psychology and Client Success." This presentation helped me to gain an understanding and working knowledge of the Positive Psychology theory.

A number of important points I learned from Dr. Bethea's presentation were:

Positive Psychology is the scientific study of: • What makes life worth living • What is right about/with people/organizations • People at their best • People living an engaged, meaningful and pleasant life • Positive experiences/emotions, positive traits/strengths and positive institutions

Positive Psychology is NOT: • A self-help movement • A re-packaging of "the power of positive thinking • "happy-ology" • A passing fad*

*(Robert Biswas Diener)

Holiday Grand Plan

You've decided: this is the year you'll celebrate the holiday season from a home that is clean, organized and ready for Christmas. You dream of holiday parties, overnight house guests, Christmas cookies, a decorated home and a calm and stress-free holiday season.

There's only one problem: right now, you're living in domestic chaos. Looking around your home, you don't know where to begin.

Cluttered counters, crammed closets and out-of-place possessions pile up everywhere. Dust bunnies and ceiling cobwebs announce that deep-cleaning is long over-due, and the guest room? Forget about it! It's home to moving boxes, unfinished crafts and last winter's stained jackets and unmatched mittens.

To have the holiday of your dreams, you need more than just a gift list and good intentions: you need the Holiday Grand Plan, a tried and tested roadmap to Christmas in a clean and organized home.

Written by Katie Leckey with contributions from the Prodigy Homelife Get O group in 1992-1993, the Holiday Grand Plan is the Web's oldest Christmas organizing plan.

By breaking down all the tasks needed to clean and organize the house and prepare for the holidays, and dividing them into weekly assignments, the Holiday Grand Plan will help you reach the season calm, centered and ready to celebrate from a clean and organized home.

Holiday Grand Plan 2010 begins on Sunday, August 29, and continues throughout the holiday season. Based on Katie's companion Spring Cleaning Grand Plan, the Holiday Grand Plan combines holiday prep, home organizing and cleaning components.

Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding and Compulsive Acquiring

Your parents or your child or your sister or your brother or your best friend has a home that is stuffed to the gills with stuff. The dining room table is covered in piles, the kitchen is full of dirty dishes and garbage, even the sofa is piled so high with junk that nobody can sit. Perhaps some of the exits are blocked, and if there are stairs, chances are that there are even little piles of junk there. Maybe the paths through these rooms are narrowed down to "goat trails." Perhaps the furnace is broken or the plumbing is leaking or the appliances need servicing because nobody can come do the necessary work because of the clutter.

You worry about what will happen if someone gets sick or injured in the hoard, or BECAUSE OF THE HOARD. How will the paramedics get in? What if there is a fire, how would people escape when

the junk goes up like a tinderbox? Maybe there are kids who are forced to live in the mess and you need to figure out how to help them.

You want to do something to help, but what do you do?

The sad fact of hoarding is that so many people who hoard are extremely resistant to help and change. We, the family and friends, are either shut out from helping entirely or we jump into the EXHAUSTING process of dehoarding a house, only to watch the situation return to the way it was and even get worse, in

what seems like the blink of an eye.

We feel impossibly torn – we hold ourselves responsible for our loved one's wellbeing and safety and yet it seems like we are powerless to change the problem.

To make matters worse, until recently, there wasn't a lot of guidance on how to help someone with a serious hoarding problem.

But now, there's a book that speaks directly to us, the family and friends of people with SERIOUS hoarding problems:

Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding and Compulsive Acquiring, Book Link: http://amzn.to/gFA9PI

In the words of the publisher "Many people who hoard understand the extent of their problem and are open to help. This book is not for them. Digging Out is for the concerned and frustrated friends and family members of people who do not fully accept the magnitude of their hoarding problem and refuse help from others. If you have a friend or loved one with a hoarding problem and are seeking a way to guide him or her to a healthier, safer way of life, this book is for you."

Digging Out gives specific harm reduction strategies to help anyone with a hoarding problem to live safely and comfortably in their home or apartment. This is not a book that promises to magically make the hoarding go away. Instead, it offers direct, specific strategies to:

• Manage health and safety hazards

• Avoid eviction

• Manage child protection issues

• Motivate your friend or relative to make longer-term lifestyle

changes

Learn how to:

• Handle a spouse or roommate with a hoarding problem

• Work through special problems faced by frail and elderly hoarders

• Heal strained relationships between people who hoard and their friends and family

If I could recommend just one resource for people who are living with the anxiety, shame and frustration of their loved one's hoarding issue, it would be Digging Out.

You can purchase Digging Out from Amazon: http://amzn.to/gFA9PI

Discomfort With Silence

We as a human race are very uncomfortable with silence. Just check it out for yourself. 

Sit in a quiet room, with a clock or watch that has a second hand. Of course the clock must be clearly in view, with no distractions. 

Don’t say anything for thirty seconds. Just listen and be present with the silence permeating your presence. Notice how long that small duration of time feels when there is total silence.

How did it make you feel? What did you notice? Where did your mind and thoughts go?

What would happen if you extended it to one minute of silence? People who regularly meditate often do it for thirty minutes to one hour a day. They claim it clears the fog in their mind and creates renewed energy. After doing this exercise, I think it will be come increasingly clear to you that it takes discipline to sit still in silence. I think the benefits to people with ADHD can be significant but learning to sit still with a physically and/or cognitively hyperactive mind is quite challenging. You might want to start with learning to feel comfortable with silence.

Click here to watch this video. Afterwards, ask yourself the following question? How will I begin to integrate silence into my life?

(Written by David Giwerc, ADDCA)