Books - It's a Love Let Go Thing

Books were next on my list to purge.  Marie says to hold each book in your hands.   Use the same gauge you used for your clothes and shoes.  How does the book make you feel, regardless of whether you have read it or not?  

I have never been able to get rid of books before because I love books!  I love to learn.  I love to travel to faraway places by immersing myself in a book.  Books are wonderful.  However, I found as I held each book, I had a feeling when I held it.  This was getting easier for me.  Good feeling – keep.  Bad feeling – discard.  My bulging bookshelves were now much happier.  Each book now has space to breathe.  Each book has a place.  Ahhhhh.

Shoes and Spider Webs

What about my shoes?  There were those pumps gathering dust and spider webs in the back corner.  Did they bring me joy when I held them?  Nooooo.  Time to go!  When I held a few pair, I could see that their days of service were over.  They had stains and were cracked.  Poor shoes!  They had been tucked away in my closet waiting to go to their grave.  I felt good about releasing them so they could begin their next life as parts of the atmosphere, floating around, free and happy.

The cool thing about this process is the next time I am offered clothing or go shopping, I will know not to accept anything into my balanced, harmonic, happy closet that doesn’t bring me joy.  Just today I put on a skirt.  I like the way it feels and I like the color.  I do Not like the way it fits.  Out it goes!  There is so much freedom in that!

Let the Tidying Begin!

Everything we own makes us feel a certain way.  Some things make us happy. Some things don’t.  Some things we hold on to out of obligation.  Maybe we inherited it from a lost parent or it was a gift.  Regardless of how it came into our lives, our possessions make us feel something. 

I started this tidying process in my closet.  Marie recommends taking everything out.  You have to be able to hold each item in your hand and see how it makes you feel.  Happy and good?  That goes in the Keep Pile.  Sad or yucky or repulsed? That goes in the Trash Pile.  Very simple concept, right? 

What about the things you don’t like or haven’t ever worn that make you feel sort of guilty for getting rid of them?  Clothes, shoes, possessions feel good only if they are used.  They are sad if they just hang or sit day after day and never get to see the light of day.  If you hold something and you have no love for it, but you feel a little guilty for letting it go – thank it for its service to you and tell it you are releasing it.  Ahhhh.  That felt good.  Those blue jean jumpers in the back of my closet – gone!  They were released to be of service to someone else.  That suit coat I got and never wore – gone – off to be of service to someone else.  My bulging closet already felt better!

After you have sorted into your Keep and Trash piles, the next thing to do is put all your clothes away.  The author says to stand everything up on end.  Our clothes don’t like to be stacked because they are all squished, can’t breathe, and the likelihood of being chosen to be worn when on the bottom of the stack is slim.  I like this, too.  My socks and workout clothes are much happier now because I can easily see each item and choose what I’m going to wear.  It makes me happy to know my clothes are happy.

My Journey Into Tidying

I was born to organize.  It’s one of the things I do.  I love it.  Making order out of chaos feeds my soul. 

My dad was very neat and tidy.  Everything had a place.  My mom would say, “A place for everything and everything in its place.”  As with most of my parents’ wisdom, I pshawed it as old-fashioned.  If I wanted to have messes, it was ok.  This was my house.  I was an adult.  However, something didn’t feel right.  I had a bulging clothes closet, an overflowing work area in the office, and it was beginning to scream at me. 

Enter The Life-changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo.  I had to get this book.  My sister was taking a health coach course and it was required reading.  She told me that after starting the book, she tidied her closet!  I had to read this book and see why it had nudged Ruth into letting go of long unused or non-joy bringing items.  I was excited because I knew this would help me. 

After I read the book, I was sharing my excitement about what I had learned with my business coach and he challenged me to write about it.  What he suggested resounded with me.  I decided to take his advice.  Now here I am! 

This will be a 7 week series.  I believe you will find value in it and I trust you will share with me how you have been impacted by this “tidying” concept as well.  I would love to hear from you!  Shall we get started?

Mindful Eating

I have been challenged on two different occasions by a very fit member of Young Living Essential Oils, Lindsey Elmore, to begin "mindful eating."  It is a simple concept, really.  Fix your food, whatever it is, and then sit down at the table to eat it.  The trick is that you must not be accompanied by your phone, a book, the television, or any other distraction such as this.  It's just you and your meal or your snack.  Concentrate on every bite.  Does it taste good to you?  If not, why are you eating it?  Are you full?  If so, stop eating.  Simple, right?  Easy peezy.

I have put this into practice for the past two days.  Wow!  I actually put food back last night!  Yes!  I didn't clean my plate!  I enjoyed what I was eating for a bit and then it didn't taste good anymore so I put what was left back in the frig.  I also enjoyed sitting and gazing out my dining room window.  It's been a long time since I've done that!

Maybe we should try it together?

Everything happens for a reason

Have you looked into the eyes of a man whose heart has been broken, ripped out?  I have.  Twice now.  The first time was December of 2013.  My husband of 21 years was told he had to go home from a job he had been looking forward to for several months.  Why was he "put out of service"?  He had been shot.  Yep.  September 11 he was shot by trespassers on private property as he was performing his duties as a railroad track supervisor.  Two days later he was accused of shooting himself.  The lunacy of that accusation still baffles me to this day.  The only thing that kept him going, that kept him working hard in recovery and then physical therapy, was the knowledge that he would get to go back to work.  He had been working for the railroad for 12 years.  He provided amply for our family so that I could stay home with our two children.  His desire was to continue to do that.  That desire was not granted.  He was fired January 7.  I saw that look in his eyes then.

Today I saw that heart-broken look again.  I looked into the eyes of my Crossfit coach.  He is leaving.  That's all I know.  I can only surmise that it is not because he has chosen to leave.

I know, without a doubt, that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is sovereign, omnipotent, omnipresent, absolute justice, and love.  Everything that happens in our lives happens for a reason.  Everything.  It is for our good, for our growth, for teaching us to depend utterly and completely on the God of the universe.

 In retrospect, I can look back over the last year and a half and see changes in our lives because of hubby's temporary job change.  I know those changes wouldn't have happened if he had continued on the same road he was traveling down.  His health has improved, and our relationship has grown.  He has been able to attend life-changing events in our children't lives.  It has been good.

Part 2 of May 2008

What I learned at that class made sense to me.  It was, I felt, the answer that I had been searching for.  I decided I would become a wholesale member or distributor because a discount of 24% is a discount of 24%.  Why would I want to pay more when I could save some money?  I wasn't interested in the business side.  I just wanted the discount.  At that time you didn't get a diffuser with the purchase of your essential oils.  You just got a voucher for $ off the price.  You also just got a box of oils without the white samples box that we get today.  Wow!  Young Living has come a long way and just keeps getting better!

Little did I know that this little box of oils was about to launch me on a journey I couldn't even foresee........

Weary

Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

I am feeling a big weary today.  Thankfully, my Lord Jesus Christ never grows tired and never sleeps.  I am so thankful for that!

May 2008 happened......

May 2008 happened..........

I was invited to a Natural Health class.  I walked in with an ancillary issue of being plagued by a flea. I whined about my bites and they said, "There's an oil for that!"  The oil was Purification.  I put some on my itchy, red welts and settled back to listen to the very informative presentation.  Did you know that your toothpaste and household cleaners are the two most toxic things in your home?  Whoa. That was news to me!  After the presentation was complete, I looked at my leg.  Hmmmmm.  The redness and itchiness had subsided.  Maybe there was something to this.  Maybe this was an option to explore.

To be continued

Marianne Williamson

A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkess that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you NOT to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

The beginning

May 2008 was the culmination of a seeking............
My daughter got sick every year with a cold.  It settled in her chest and a cough would ensue that she could not get rid of.  In desperation we would go to the doctor and he would always prescribe antibiotics.  Antibiotics would knock it out, but there were always those unpleasant side effects.  Also, I questioned the fact that when we went to the doc, the visit was an in and out thing.  Go in, tell what specific issue you were having, get antibiotics or a pill of some sort and get out.  I just knew there had to be a better way.  Why couldn't we get out of the vicious cycle?  What could we do differently so that my daughter would not get sick every year?  Why didn't the doc ask what else was going on in her life such as what she was eating, how much sleep she was getting, what her stress level were?  ???  These were things I would ponder.  I can remember being at a stop light and saying something like, "Lord, I know there is a better way.  I know there is.  Please help!"  

Then May 2008 happened.  I was invited to a class...........

To Be Continued

Remember Me?

Remember Me?
 

My name is Gossip.
I have no respect for justice.
I maim without killing.  I break hearts and ruin lives.
I am cunning, malicious and gather strength with age.
The more I am quoted, the more I am believed.
I flourish at every level of society.
My victims are helpless.  They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no name and no face.
To track me down is impossible.  The harder you try, the more elusive I become.
I am nobody's friend.
Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same.
I topple governments and wreck marriages.  I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights, heartaches and indigestion.  I spawn suspicion and generate grief.  I make innocent people cry in their pillows.  Even my name hisses.
I am called GOSSIP.  Office gossip--Shop gossip--Party gossip--Telephone gossip.  I make headlines and headaches.  REMEMBER, before you repeat a story, ask yourself:  is  it true?  Is it fair?  Is it necessary??  If not, do not repeat it.  KEEP QUIET.
GREAT minds discuss ideas....Average minds discuss events....Shallow minds discuss people....Which are you?

Ann Landers
Submitted by Amanda Kurlan

Robin Williams

It's a wonderful feeling when your father becomes not a god but a man to you--when he comes down from the mountain and you see he's this man with weaknesses.  And you love him as this whole being, not as a figurehead.

It's been awhile

Yes, it has been awhile.  I haven't felt very creative because I was trying to hold it together as my daughter was getting ready to leave for Marine boot camp.  And then she did leave.  Last Tuesday.  It wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be because she is getting to do something she has wanted to for a looooong time.  I have faith and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ.  I know that He will watch over her and hear my every prayer on her behalf.  He wakes me up at night sometimes and she pops into my head.  So I pray.  Right then.  I have been writing to her every day.  The things that I would tell her if she were here.  I did the same thing when my son left for Air Force boot camp November 2013.  Wrote him every day.  For 9 weeks!  My baby girl will be gone for 13 weeks.  That's a long time.  !!!  Anyway, I just thought I should touch base and let you know that I am still alive.  I did get her address from her recruiter yesterday so I feel better because she will actually start getting our letters now.  Yay!!

Oola!!

Since January 20, I have been thinking about Oola.  Oola is a state of awesomeness.  It is what happens when you are balanced and growing in the seven areas of life -- Fitness, Finance, Faith, Fun, Friends, Family, and Field.  

We went to see the Oola Guys January 20.  It was great hearing Dr. Dave and Dr. Troy speaking about their journeys in those seven areas.  They inspired me to find balance in all of the seven F's.  

 Look at your seven F's.  Rate yourself from 1 (really struggling) to 10 (perfect).  How do you measure up?  The cool thing is that that is just a place to start.  Every day we can be better.  Every day we can grow.

How are you moving towards a place of Oola??  

Jim Rohn

What's easy to do is also easy NOT to do. ~Jim Rohn