Harmony At Last, LLC

“Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.” Vaclav Havel

Julie Cubino, owner of Harmony At Last, will be presenting on the topic of “Organize Your Space and Time the C.A.L.M. Way” on Monday, April 30th at 7pm in Burlington, Vermont as part of the Fletcher Allen Community Education Series. This seminar is free and open to the public. To register, please contact, Community Health Improvement at Flecher Allen Health Care at 802-847-2278.

The seminar details are… If organization at home and/or at work is an on-going challenge in your life, this one-hour presentation and open discussion may provide the boost you need to reach your space-organizing and time management goals. Attendees will learn how to develp solutions to best meet their needs and complement their lifestyloe. Bring your questions and challenges for discussion.

Organizing and donating items can be a family affair and even the smallest children can participate in an age-appropriate way. The Berenstain Bears series has a book called “Think of Those in Need” by Stan & Jan Berenstain which provides a storyline around cleaning out excess/unused items and donating them to charities.

The whole Bear family gets to participate in the process of sorting and selecting items for donation, delivering the goods to charities, and interacting with the different people who they helped (the elderly, children in a hospital, a store who raises money for those in need).

This is a feel-good story about the value of donations written in a very kid-friendly way. It can be a helpful way for children to learn new skills and to encourage a parent/child dialogue around the thoughtfulness of giving to those in need.

Do you frequently wonder if the washer or dryer eats your socks? The random socks that don’t have a match after the laundry is complete typically end up in a bag or drawer awaiting their mate. Many times it seems that the sock mate doesn’t appear and the random socks are left lingering in the bag for years, turned into cleaning rags, or thrown away. There has to be a better way.

The nifty way to keep socks together is brought to us by SOCKpro. On this website you can order these great sock gadgets to keep all of your socks matched. You connect your dirty socks together using sockpro and then do you laundry as you normally would. (Sockpro can go in both the washer and the dryer.) They’re even available in different colors so each member of the family can have their own and eliminate the guesswork of whose socks they are.

A personal recommendation… my parents have been using these years and swear by them.

I have a lot of fun working with my clients. We have a lot of laughter and great conversation while helping them to reach their goals. During one recent session, a client’s comments really hit my silly bone and gave me a great chuckle. The one below was spoken by one of my clients while sorting some objects (shared with my client’s permission)…

“What is this?… I’m not sure…Maybe it’s a marble?…It could be a piece of hard candy…Well… If I’m not sure, I shouldn’t chew on it!”

A great quote from the the Auto Craftsmen newsletter…

All I Need To Know I’ve Learned from Trees

• It’s important to have roots.
• In today’s complex world, it pays to branch out.
• Don’t pine away over old flames
• If you really believe in something, don’t be afraid to go out on a limb.
• Be flexible so you don’t break when a harsh wind blows.
• Sometimes you have to shed your old bark in order to grow.
• It’s perfectly okay to be a late bloomer.
• Avoid people who would like to cut you down.

The debate continues… Are multitaskers more effective at getting things done? Is there a limit to multitasking at which point one’s work becomes more slow, inaccurate, or sloppy? When is multitasking beneficial and when should one completely focus their attention on only one task?

For example, I would really want a brain surgeon to only focus on the brain surgery and not get sidetracked on calling in a lunch order. And yet, playing with a child while folding laundry seems to be part of the standard routine in my household.

A recent article in The New York Times titled “Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic” discusses the limits of multitasking as highlighted in several research reports. One expert, David E. Meyer, was quoted, “Multitasking is going to slow you down, increasing the chances of mistakes.”

What do you think?

What do you do when work or life throws you a curve ball? Do you give up and complain? Do you begin some creative brainstorming to think of a way around the problem? Do you see it as a opportunity for a new adventure?

An incredible women I know encountered one such curve ball last week. How she handled it can be an inspiration to us all. An avid runner, she was recently injured and began treatment with a physical therapist (among other health professionals) to start the healing process. At the first session, the physical therapist advised her not to run for at least six months- she needed to give her injury time to heal. Furthermore, she couldn’t take on other activities such as bike riding, yoga, walking, etc (you get the idea) as those would impact her healing as well. The only physical activity that she would be able to do is swimming.

Such restrictions to an avid runner seemed overwhelming. Upon leaving the therapy session, a good cry provided some immediate relief of the frustration. Then, she picked herself off and went shopping for a bathing suit and goggles and signed up for a pool membership. “I’ve always thought about competing in a triathlon,” she says, “I guess now is the right time to develop my swimming ability. I’ve become a runner with goggles.”

Awesome.