Try a Simple Life

As I think ahead to some changes I would like to make in my life, I acknowledge the fact that I need to make space for these changes to happen. Asking yourself to add more and more to your life without taking something away is a recipe for burnout. I know that is the cause of some of the issues I have at work. Everyday more new things are added and nothing is taken away. Trying to keep up with the contacts, the projects, the routine and the new taxes your brain. This is true for your home life as well.  My husband and I are not big social people. We see a friend or two each month. We rarely seek out engagements, and therefore don’t really have to say “no” too often to other people, though we do when the invitation just doesn’t seem to fit right. However, there is another type of “no” we need to do better at, and that is saying “no” to ourselves, our ideas, our “want to do’s”. For the month of July, I said “no” to myself during my “No New Ideas” month. It was amazing. The ability ...

Gentle winds, blue sky, warm sun. Wherever you live, city or country, Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere, there is an instant appeal to being outside on a nice day. You don’t have to be a nature lover or outdoorsman to recognize the good feelings we get just by walking out the door. A city garden, the forest, a lake, nature appeals to us. There’s something about the vast openness of the sky that brings space and lifts your boundaries both mentally and physically. The sun makes everyone smile and bask in its glow. The colors of nature help soothe my mind. Interestingly enough, we try to replicate these colors inside our homes, but they just don’t have the same effect. Lately, I’ve noticed how being outside helps all the things in my mind just dissipate. It's almost like the wind, the sky, the trees and the grass help declutter my mind. I'm able to just empty my thoughts or let them float around but not dwell on them. The breeze is blowing around me. I can hear th...

One thing I have a really hard time with is sitting still and just being. My mind never seems to shut off, jumping from one topic to the next. What I find to happen most often is that whenever I sit down to rest, all these ideas start flowing through my brain. Should we tear up the carpet and put down wood flooring? What is a new meal I can make for dinner? Can I watch the news on demand? How can I make money from home? What should my next quilt be? Oh, my iPad is sitting right next to me, I should look up how to ..... And so it starts. Whether it is a quick fix, something to create, or just a new way of doing something, I am usually hooked. Researching ideas is also something I like to do. I am a student at heart, a life-long learner who enjoys learning about new things. Researching new ideas is actually fun for me. I'd be more than happy to fill a notebook with notes on different topics. In fact, I have taken three internet classes (fortunately all three) to collect the...

More is better, right? More food, more clothes, more room, more money. It seems our society is driven by the word “more”. Commercials tell us what “more” we need to have and the products that will help us get “more”. Even if it isn’t a product. Want more excitement in your life? Buy this. More friends? Buy that. More for your money? Use this service. More beautiful of a vacation? Go here. More luxury? We have it. More service? That’s us. Dissatisfied with your clothes/furniture/kitchen? You just need more things! Our grocery stores are packed with isles of more. New products come out each day and we need more. There are so many stores to purchase clothing from, with more are added each day. There are more stores period. When I compare the choice of stores we have today, including online shopping, to what was available when I was a child, it is staggering. Psychologically, we want more. We want more things, more options, more choices. Some people feel if they don’t have all t...

We are a beach family. Our vacations center around the beach - camping, renting a house on the beach etc. Whenever we have a chance, I like to go to the beach. It is so relaxing and enjoyable. However, I can’t get to the beach every day. And even though I could go in the winter, it isn’t quite the same. So what can I do? Close my eyes and imagine I’m there. This is a great relaxation tip. You know that feeling you get sitting on a beach? It's like the waves carry all our cares and worries out to sea. You are instantly relaxed. The blue, blue of the sky. The teal blue of the water, the sun, the white sand. The sand is warm and eases into your body. The seagulls squawk overhead.  The beach, so relaxing even if you aren't on vacation, you feel like you are. You can breathe in air, lots of air. Your eyes focus on the horizon which never ends. Your mind wanders, but doesn't settle on anything, it just wanders.  There is the blue, blue sky going on forever. White, ai...

My wellness a-game is to reduce stress. It has been like peeling an onion. I keep finding new layers within myself that I can change to help me reduce stress. As I peel some layers, I have found I do too many things at once. At home, at work, everywhere. And I don’t care what anyone says, when you do more than one thing at a time (currently called multi-tasking), you are not efficient. You are prone to mistakes. Dinner burns (yes, it does!) and your mind feels stressed in the process .  I really feel that when you're multitasking, you are really trying to race to do two things at once. This causes your mind to think that you have to get more things done faster. Two things happen. First whenever I go too fast with anything I make mistakes. I drop things, I type the wrong word, I do something wrong, you name it I've done it. Second, the “race” causes stress. Your body tenses in anticipation of the physical effort. Shoulders hunch. Mind squeezes into gear. Adrenaline start...

Slow isn’t an action word in my recent life. I always seem to do everything fast. Or I should say I try to rush through everything I'm trying to get done so I can get the next thing done. Whether it's my to do list at work, or making dinner or going for a walk, I just can't help but to rush through it. Seriously what am I going to do next? Rush through the next item. Do you know what if feels like to rush through things? It feels stressful. When I rush, I feel crunched for time. I feel pressure to get it done faster. My chest and shoulders tighten. My mind whirls. Most of the time, this is all stress I put on myself. In analyzing how to reduce stress in my life, I made a really cool mind map . As I was creating it, I realized I need to try and slow down in a few areas of my life. Well, maybe a lot of areas of my life lol! This week I am working on slowing down. It’s hard, darn hard. If I don’t make a conscious effort, I’m back to rushing through things. My stress is linke...

Wellness. What does that word mean to you? Does it mean being healthy? And what does healthy mean? Prior to a last month, I really hadn’t thought about the word wellness or what it meant to me. Healthy, sure that I thought about, but not wellness. Then I was introduced (virtually of course) to @redladybird.wellness on Instagram and her #agame for wellness. From the first moment I read about it, I was intrigued. Yes, wellness! That is what I need to learn more about, think more about, apply to my life. Lately I have been going through a pretty stressful period at work. Previously this stress would come and go, but it has been more prevalent since the first of the year. Wellness is a way I can work on reducing that stress. There are so many health and wellness ideas out in the world today. The Internet has created an incredible treasure trove of information to help you be healthy - from diet to exercise and everything in between. But you know what? It can quickly turn int...

When I hike, I can really let my mind go. That is such a hard thing to do otherwise. If I am not trying to solve a problem at work or answer someone’s question, I am thinking of things I need to remember to do, planning out my next sewing project, reading a book or scrolling through my phone. Hiking allows me to let it all go. I have to concentrate on where to put my foot so I don’t fall. I work on deep breathing to help me get up the hill.   One morning’s hike was a “simple” 1.3 mile hike straight up Mt. Husag in Wildcat Mountain State Park. We took this hike two years ago, thinking, oh, 1.3 miles is nothing. Nothing that is until you realize the first half is all uphill. While I remembered that, it was still a tough climb made more precarious by a seemingly inability to keep my equilibrium in tact. My balance was not there - possibly because we don’t usually hike in the morning, I’m not sure. As we headed up the steep staircase made of logs, and through the first narrow p...

This is my view as I sat here just about at the end of a week’s vacation. My work has become increasingly demanding to the point where taking a half day off still feels like work. Even a day off gets lost in the business of the rest of the week. Las fall I realized the need to take an entire week off to rest, reset, and just get away. So for every quarter of this year, I planned a week off. My original intent for this week off was to fly to Phoenix to visit my brother and see the Grand Canyon. My husband wanted to see Hoover Dam since we didn’t get there on our last trip to Vegas, and then drive back to Phoenix to fly home. All in a week’s time. All crammed in between two weeks of work. Flight delays due to bad weather, car rentals, finding hotels, the cost of hotels and meals, all seemed like an insurmountable amount of energy and stress added to my daily work. Instead, I chose to spend a week outdoors at our hunting land. Well, almost a week - Monday to Friday. Thus,...

It’s crowded in here today, very crowded. So crowded, I can’t think straight. That place? My mind. There is so much going on in my head that it literally can’t breathe. So much is flying at me, my mind is being reactionary and not methodical.  Work has been a big part of this crowd. Constant emails with things to do, projects not finished because of said emails. Meetings after meetings. Longer work hours. Getting home later. The constant knowledge that I have too much to do. I get brief reprieves when I leave work and head home. Thankfully, our home life, while active, is not as crowded. We have a fairly empty calendar by choice. We prefer to do things as a family and not much with others. We like to set our own pace, blaze our own trail so to speak without the permission of others. We like to go with our own flow. Yes, we socialize about twice per month and that fits just perfectly. Fortunately, my husband and I enjoy each other’s company and like to do the same types o...

Children are naturally creative. They play with toys, make up stories, and create artistic items with zeal and gusto. Something happens as we get older. Our inhibitions take over and we become critical of our work. Creativity seems to fall by the wayside. However, we are all still creative. It is in us somewhere. Whether we create delicious meals, fix cars, tend a garden, or actually paint, sing, write, or build. Creativity is an important part of who we are and adds an incredible dimension to our lives. Elizabeth Gilbert wrote an excellent book about this - Big Magic . I had to read parts of it twice because it really struck a chord with me; though maybe not the way it did with most people. Her book really encourages you to get out there and express your creativity - don't let fear control you, embrace your creative drive! Your children will benefit by watching you create. A good role model does instead of tells. You will benefit by being creative. Creating brings about...

“Mom! Are you listening?” When your children, spouse, friends, coworkers talk to you, are you really listening? In these days of constant access to screen time, we tend to have conversations while we simultaneously surf the web, check status updates, read email etc. and only half listen to the other person. You are physically right next to the person, but mentally in another place. Or maybe you set aside your phone/computer, but you formulate a response in your mind. You think about what you want to say as soon as the person stops talking. Again, your mind isn’t paying attention because your brain is only concerned with what you will say next. Too often I look at my phone during conversations with others. Or I cook, or finish a project, and don't look at the other person. I am trying hard to change mostly because I feel it is rude. Last month, our son walked in the door with a pair of boots in his hand. I put my phone down, and looked at him as he told me how he got the bo...

This is our son on his snowboard. He doesn’t just snowboard, he is a snowboarder. And a skateboarder, and a BMX-er, mountain biker, dirt biker and tech-ed kid. And all the labels that society puts on that group of kids. You know, that group of kids that skateboards down the side of the street and looks like a gang? Yes, them. He was never into group sports, so he didn’t fit in with the jocks, or the popular kids (who have to be in sports in our town), or the nerds, or the artsy ones. Wow, look at all those labels. Instead of labels, we need to get to know people and accept them for who they are, not the label we put on them.  He and his group of friends aren't perfect, but they have some unique traits. To do all the tricks they do, you need to understand AND apply physics. To build the ramps they build, you need to know geometry and have building skills. They practice and practice, and teach each other. They learned to modify and fix all their equipment. Our son is rout...

How often do you say thank you during the day? It’s easy to say thank you to someone when they do something obvious, such as help you when you ask, or do something major when you didn’t. However, I feel these are cursory thank you’s, given without much thought or meaning. Instead, what if we went deeper than that, and really thought about what you could thank them for? What is something they do every day that is significant when added together, but goes unnoticed in our daily hustle and bustle? What about just being faithful, diligent, hardworking, willing to get up with you in the morning when they don’t have to? Not getting into trouble, reliable, resourceful, doing something so you don’t have to? All of these things describe my husband and children, yet I don’t acknowledge them enough. The wood my husband spends hours cutting for our fireplace. Not very glamorous,  but so appreciated on a cold winter night! Today I listened to a podcast about the Gratitude Diaries:...

A different perspective created a more interesting picture.  Teaching middle school students provides you many, many interesting situations. The variety of comments my classes came up with never ceased to amaze me. Silly, snarky, insightful, naive; words and sentences blurted out with few filters. Our Social Studies conversations could be rich or veer off course in a second. Often, their comment was on track, but totally different than what I anticipated. A different life perspective created thoughts different than my own. I stopped, paused, thought, and agreed yes, that was another way to look at the situation. Similar situations happen all the time in our lives yet how often do we stop and take the time to acknowledge another's perspective? I’ve noticed I don’t always do this with other people in my life. I hear their thoughts and ideas, but I usually dismiss them because I have my own thoughts and ideas. This can happen at home, work, or when with a group of family. ...

This past week was a good week, simple, low key and almost effortless. Of course life isn't perfect, but I think (hope!) that we have finally settled into a routine with everyone living at home. There was nothing on the calendar this week except work, which in and of itself went well. With the great weather, I walked outside five days this week, plus exercised inside for four. We ate healthy dinners together as a family and every one had time to relax in the evenings. I felt like I had a good, simple week. Then I read this blog post, 9 Tips for Having a Great Day . The first line struck me: "Whenever I have a great day I like to take some time  and reflect on what made it great." It went on to say that sometimes its obvious to figure out what was great, but sometimes it is not. I'm sure I have read other posts with this theme, but for some reason, I started thinking that really, I had a great week! I just didn't notice it. It was then I realized it is ...