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Category: Creating Simple Living

Trouble with organizing or getting organized? General organization? How can we create a simple life? Sure, declutter first, but how is minimalism applied to deeper areas of the life? Lets talk about how some of these ideals and how to apply them to our simple living.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Published Monday, 27 January 2014

white globe - Loving Simple LivingI’ve been thinking and learning a bunch about this idea over the last few weeks. …and working on this post for a few weeks… sorry for the delay.

Currently we are doing some training for living and working in a cross-cultural setting. The training is in Thailand because it is much cheaper than in America (and the weather is definitely a perk).

The training isn’t specifically about ‘respect’ but it is the idea that keeps popping out at me and what I keep thinking about.

Respect is something I have always valued but I haven’t seen how much my ideas about life weren’t in line with this value.

I think it is easy to loose respect for others when they are different from me.

I have been processing and thinking about how my culture, my country and my religion often seem to be disrespectful of others.

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Dealing With Stress – Working in the Now

Published Monday, 20 January 2014

Image: posterize FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The last 3 months have been probably some of the hardest months in my life.  (not including the months after the kids were born… those months I don’t really remember I was so sleep deprived so they were probably worse).

The last 3 months has included an incredible amount of change, un-known, and risk.  And it isn’t over.  We still have a lot of change coming ahead and I don’t know what our lives will look like in another 2-3 months.

A few weeks ago I wrote about a bunch of this change and a huge online campaign I was involved with.  The work we put into making that happen (while going through so many other changes) was more than we could emotionally handle.

To be honest with you (cause bearing my soul to a bunch of strangers is a perk of blogging), now that most of the work on that project is done, I have been on the verge of tears for a week just trying to release some of that boiled up stress.

However, I have learned a lot through the past few months.  I have learned about commitment, determination, big ideas, overcoming fear, and team work.  But probably what helped the most was learning how to deal with stress by working in the ‘now’.

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What’s Your Word For This Year?

Published Monday, 13 January 2014

Image: David Castillo Dominici FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A few weeks ago we went to a church service where the speaker was talking about the New Year.  I loved what he was sharing and it really helped me as I looked into this coming year.

Usually this is the time of year when people start resolutions. I’m not against resolutions, but it is busy time of the year and most people’s immediate focus right after Christmas is diet and finance.  Health and money are important parts of life, but often these resolutions are focused on the negative and the craziness of the holidays paired with trying to get back into schedules make these hard to keep.

I think any day of the year is a good day to make a change in your life for the better.  Many times changes don’t happen as easily or as quickly as planned, this is just life.  The idea is to keep moving in the right direction.

But the speaker wasn’t talking about resolutions.

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Thankfulness

Thankfulness

Published Monday, 25 November 2013

Image: Simon Howden FreeDigitalPhotos.net

November on Facebook is big for two reasons:

  1. Facial Hair
  2. Thankfulness

Though I get a kick out of the facial hair pics, I really love seeing all the thankful posts on my friends walls.

Thankfulness and Thanksgiving are awesome all through the year.  We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving last month and we are excited about celebrating it again this month.  No matter where you are in the world, being reminded to be thankful makes a big difference in your day, your week, and your month 🙂

Sometimes it is easy to get busy and forget the power of being thankful. Sometimes it seems there are bigger and more important things to focus on.

But thankfulness is a beautiful gift.

Being thankful gives new perspective, hope, healing, and renewed energy for the tasks ahead.

Here are 10 things I am thankful for this week:

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Grabbing The Guts To Jump

Published Monday, 18 November 2013

Image: digitalart FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When do you know it is the right time for change?

When can you turn a dream change into an action?

How much do you need to plan?  Rethink? Save?

Now, simple living can start anytime and can be a quick or slow process.  But what about big changes, like moving, changing jobs, starting a new business?

Many people simplify their lives so they can make other big changes like these in their life… but when is the right time to take that jump?

The short answer is there is never going to be a right time.  Being comfortable with change, in my experience at least, happens during and after the change and not before it.  Real change is scary.

But, just saying there is never a right time and to ‘just jump’ is probably not great advice either.  Here are 4 tangible ways to determine if you are ready.  If all these areas are ready, and you still haven’t jumped, than you just need to find the guts and go 🙂

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