Selling your home? Downsizing? Decluttering? Minimalism is a great idea, but it’s hard to accomplish with a family, pets, jobs and busy lives. Learn tips and tricks to help you plan your project. Karen’s stories bring the process into your living room and make it real.

ComplexThis part of the workshop is complicated and extremely useful. These concepts apply to all of life. If you understand yourself, you will have an easier time navigating all of life’s lessons and challenges. We all make assumptions about ourselves, our abilities and how we compare to others.

Those assumptions build the stories we tell ourselves. These stories shape our realities, in terms of our homes, jobs, and relationships (with ourselves and others).

People tell me that when they start working this part of the clearing process, they mold and shape their lives.

Read more ...

How“The Foundation” is my workshop’s first component. Throughout the years, I have seen a variety of circumstances and situations. The details vary, but I noticed conflict patterns, emotions, behavior and attempts to fix problems.

People don’t like conflict, whether it is with themselves, their stuff, their homes, structures, other people or workspaces.

Some people are impatient and want a finished overall appearance first. They don’t want to talk about anything and just want to go out, buy storage totes and fill them. Organizing efforts fail, as organizing anything, whether it be another person, places (meeting place or an event of some sort), spaces (work, studios, barns, houses) and stuff, fails unless the roots of the situation and the pieces of the conflict are addressed first.

Read more ...

LifeworkThis workshop came to me over many decades.  As a child, I accompanied my mother when she went into people’s homes to help them in times of significant life events.

My mother immigrated to the US from Scandinavia, where it is cold and dark for many months. During the dark months, people banded together to celebrate good fortune and handle challenges. These people are hardy, strong and resourceful. And committed to helping others.

My mom never fit in to the fast pace of life the US. She liked to sit and drink coffee with friends at 4 pm every day, as she did back home. Her accent, which I thought was beautiful and musical, identified her as a foreigner, and she interpreted that as being an outcast.

Read more ...

Clearing Out HomesTypical life can seem mundane. However, things you take for granted: getting up in the morning (or evening if you work at night) and going to work, having meals and interacting with loved ones after work, running errands on the weekends and family outings, can change in an instant.

 A significant life event is deeply personal. An event that is significant to one person may not be significant to another. Overall, it is difficult and at times, feels impossible.  The flow of your life stops the moment of an event or a medical diagnosis (yourself or a loved one).

Read more ...