Harmony At Last, LLC

I don’t like to hand wash clothes. In fact, it’s such a boring task, it is easy for me to avoid. So there my dirty hand washables sit, in a corner, waiting for me to finally do something about them. And I procrastinate. And procrastinate some more. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think about them. In fact, they irritate me every time I see them. I think to myself, I really should get these done. Even with that frequent irritation, the clothes still sit there and I never seem to make time to do them. Something else always seems to be more important.

Until this past weekend. My small pile of hand washables had begun to grow and there were some shirts in the pile that I really wanted to wear again. Ahhh… I was motivated now. The time was ripe for me to get this task done.

As I resigned myself to an hour of hand washing at the kitchen sink, I had a brainstorm. How could I make this task easier? My thoughts drifted to our washer. (It’s a new one that I bought about 6 months ago when the old one broke.) Didn’t I recall seeing a “hand wash” cycle on it? I went to investigate this sudden brainstorm and I was right. Now was a perfect time to try it out and I didn’t need any convincing to choose the washer over the kitchen sink.

This torturous to-do took minimal time and effort to complete. I allowed the thought of doing the task to build up to such a big level that I avoided it for over a month, even though it irritated me every time I looked at the pile. What did I learn? The same thing that I observe with each of my clients… the thought of the task is usually much more overwhelming than the actual doing of the task. Making the choice just to start is the most powerful step in the journey.

So whether your task is one that has been lingering for years or just irritating you for a few days, make the choice to begin. It usually is not as bad as you thought it would be. It will feel so good to get it done and have that weight lifted off of your shoulders!

An incredible entrepreneur and wonderful friend of mine, Ann Zuccardy, owner of Vermont Shortbread Company, recently wrote a very insightful blog post titled “Slow and Steady: Business Lessons and Personal Growth“. In it, she describes what business growth means to her and how that isn’t always what marketing experts advise when they are touting explosive growth. As I read her thoughtful words, the first idea that came to me was “mindfulness”. Whatever you are doing at this moment, growing a business, caring for children, enjoying retirement, cleaning your home, or searching for your authentic self, your intuition is crucial to your success. It doesn’t matter what you should do, could do, or ought to do. It does matter what you want to do. Mindfulness first. It’s your journey and it has to be right for you.

We’ve had many titles to describe what we do and how we help people. Some of these titles we’ve utilized (such as Coach, Professional Organizer, or Consultant) while others have been created by our clients (Harmony Guru is one of our favorites). Seven Days writer, Cathy Resmer, coined another one this week… “the perky paper coach”!

Seven Days covered our Household Paper seminar on 1/18/07. There is a great article and photo from the event in this week’s newspaper and at Seven Days online. We really chuckled when we read the article and are glad that we were able to make the topic of paper seem more exciting. After all, how many of you would rather do anything than listen to someone talk about paper for more than five minutes?

It used to be that clutter was something that could be seen (on our counters, in our closets, in the basement) and now it has become a staple in our electronic equipment as well. We have all dealt with email inboxes bursting with unread messages, filing systems that make it hard to retrieve Word, Excel, & Powerpoint files, and maybe even a PDA that is filled with to-dos we can’t seem to find time to finish. Gannett News Service contributor John Kiesewetter points out in a recent article how this type of overflow is making it’s way into Digital Video Recorders (DVRs).

DVRs are a wonderful piece of technology that can help free up our time to watch our favorite programs on our own schedule (as well as skip through commercials). As the article discusses, we defeat the purpose of the DVR if we let it fill up with programs we will never get to. Even worse (if it needs to make room), it may start deleting programs that you haven’t gotten to yet. If we let it get to this point, what was intended to be a helpful device, has now become a burden to manage all the programs we save. To be mindful we want to make the decisions about how the DVR manages our shows. For instance are you recording only the programs you care for most? How many episodes should you keep? Do you really need to record the re-runs?

Technology, like a DVR, can help support our goals. If it becomes a burden take the time to reflect on how you’re using it. What piece of technology do you invest a lot of time dealing with? How can you simplify it such that it supports you rather than the other way around?

In honor of January being Get Organized month, Harmony At Last is conducting a seminar at the South Burlington Community Library tonight at 7pm. Questions? Call 802-660-4933. Details below…

Household Papers: Getting Ahead of the Game

Bills, invitations, advertisements, magazines, kid’s schoolwork, receipts… the incoming papers seem never-ending.

• Learn how to handle paper in a way that’s mindful to your lifestyle
• Gain useful tips that you can put into practice immediately

In this presentation and open discussion, participants are encouraged to bring specific questions about their paper organizing challenges.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Finding the right balance between work and the rest of our lives is a constant struggle. We find ourselves thinking about work when we are at home and thinking about home when we are at work; never fully in the moment as a result. Time to ourselves gets pushed to the back burner. In her book, Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach writes,

Harmony is the inner cadence of contentment we feel when the melody of life is in tune. When somehow we’re able to strike the right cord - to balance the expectations of our families and our responsibilities in the world on the one hand with our inner needs for spiritual growth and personal expression on the other.

How often do we set aside the time just to clear our minds and dream? The kind of dreams we had when we were kids and didn’t have preconceptions about what was and wasn’t possible. What can you do to make that time? Start with small steps. Perhaps it’s in the few minutes before sleep overtakes you at night or the time you have in the car on the way to work. Turn off the radio, don’t answer the cell phone, just dream and find a way to strike a chord.

Welcome! We are so excited to begin our journey with you. Our passion to is help you to overcome your challenges, achieve your goals, and live in harmony.

We’ll use this Harmony At Last blog as a forum to discuss insights and challenges related to transforming your work, home, and life from chaos to calm.
Much success to you!
Julie & Kevin