Let the Gluttony Begin. Or Not.

Our lives have been super busy lately between the wedding, traveling back and forth to Arizona, visiting with old friends, making new ones (hi Syria!!), returning home and preparing for company and holidays. I love every minute of it, don't get me wrong, but somewhere deep inside me is a desire for a simple uncomplicated life.

A life that does not require caffeine to be enjoyed.

I jest.

Sort of.

The American culture and society is consumed, and I need a stronger word here...maybe obsessed???...need something still stronger, with stuff. Gotta have more, do more, be more, get more, and do it now, immediately, yesterday. I think that somehow we as a culture measure our success and derive our identity from our stuff.

I did that for years. It wasn't something I thought about, but that drive to obtain stuff became a motivating factor for much of what I did and decisions I made.

Recently I have swung in the opposite direction. This is partly based in the fact that I'm tired of shlepping unopened boxes of cr*p around the world every time we move. For example, for how many years is my grandmother's china going to sit unopened, unused, and unloved in my succession of garages? I have memories of her and photographs that I cherish. Her china is not something I particularly like or would use, but I've kept it out of guilt. My change in thinking is mostly based in a desire to focus on what's truly important and not be distracted. I believe that the days until Jesus' return for His church are short and we simply don't have time to faff around with pursuits that take us nowhere as far as eternity is concerned. The important things boil down, as I see it, to two issues:

1. Our personal relationship with Jesus. Is He our Lord and Savior? Are we on our way to Heaven? Is He pleased with our lives? (I am lumping in with this everything that flows out of relationship with Him: maintaining a good marriage, quality parenting, committed friendships, etc...it all starts with Jesus!)

2. Our effectiveness in leading others to Jesus. Are we more concerned with the needs of others than with making sure our own needs are met? Are we telling others about Jesus and showing them how to be saved? Truly, salvation is the greatest need in any of our lives.

The two go hand in hand. Our relationship with Jesus is enhanced as we look outside ourselves to the needs, physical and spiritual, of others, and as we are evangelistic our personal relationship with Jesus grows.

With this in mind, I have been cutting out the unnecessary from my life. This is not a minimalist blog, and the unnecessary looks different for everyone, but my journey begins with getting rid of physical things that are of no use or value to me, including my grandmother's china and also about 50 pounds of excess body weight! --our body is a temple for the Holy Spirit and we are responsible for our stewardship over our bodies...more on that in another post.

With all of that as a backdrop, I turn my attention today to food. Halloween always seems to be the beginning of the "food season." As my dad would say, "Let the gluttony begin!" Food is obviously necessary for our life and health, and of course it's a nice and often needed addition to any get together, but do we really need to junk out? I think not. Today I had coffee (with sugar), oatmeal (with sugar), more coffee (with sugar), lunch followed by a couple of brownies (with sugar) and you know what? I feel terrible. I'm not used to eating so much sugar and I seriously feel like I've been poisoned. At this moment I have acorn squash ready to bake and well seasoned chicken breasts in the oven. I'll steam some broccoli and we'll have a very tasty and healthy dinner. In the morning I'll probably have an egg on whole grain toast and more chicken breast with probably quinoa and black beans and veg for lunch. I know for a fact that this time tomorrow I will feel fantastic. (I also hope to get in a jog, but let's not get TOO ambitious! LOL)

Over the next several months to a year I hope to pare down my life in such a way that I am healthy, my home is a place of refuge and relaxation without clutter everywhere making anyone uptight (about breaking something, spilling something, or feeling overwhelmed by too much stuff), and my outlook and disposition are peaceful.

So! On that note, I am thankful today for healthy food that nourishes my body, not just feeds my sweet tooth.

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Written on 11/18/11, edited on 11/19/11 to add: I'm also thankful for being able to sleep in today. It's not often that I get to sleep until I wake up, no alarm clock. Yay! Of course the cat decided it was time for me to get up, but whatever. By the way, why do they just sit and stare at you while you are sleeping? Cats are weird.

Without Complexity: Part One

Read my first post about focus here. 
When I wrote that post I didn't intend to make it into a series, but I feel inspired to do so with the following post and some others along the same lines that I have brewing. You can find links to all of the posts in this "Without Complexity" series at the side bar to the right. 

My thoughts lately have been about living an uncomplicated life; about learning how to be an uncomplicated person. Our lifestyles as Americans have become way too complex and stressful. If the trends in many of the blogs that I read are correct, I'm not alone in thinking along these lines. We so easily lose sight of our purpose in the busyness of life. 

I've been inspired lately to simplify the way I live. This includes everything from decluttering my physical surroundings to the way I think and process life. At the moment I am contemplating the issue of focus. This is the beginning. Are we able to focus on the important, or the task at hand and finish it without being bogged down and caught up in tangents?

My son unknowingly taught me a lesson recently. He was helping me edit and process some of my photos. We were uploading some of my images to his computer and I mentioned that I had other pictures on my flash card that he hadn't yet seen but would be interested in. They didn't pertain to our project, but I knew he'd want to see them nonetheless. He went straight to the images he was after for our current project and didn't even have a quick glance through the others. I silently noted his single-mindedness. We finished our project quickly and efficiently and moved on from there to other things. We didn't get bogged down, sidetracked or distracted because he was focused on the project at hand.

I find that I can waste much time being distracted. The things that capture my attention aren't wrong but they are usually things that keep me from finishing a project in a timely manner, or sometimes even from finishing at all. I've been susceptible to distraction for most of my life. I tend to flit around from here to there and back again and spend a whole day accomplishing nothing of any value. Value, of course, is subjective, but I can fritter away a lot of time with nothing I value to show for it. And more importantly, I can fritter time away with nothing of eternal value (value in God's estimation) to show for it. I want the testimony of my life in general to be that I pleased God and was productive in the things that matter.

In the past, and especially as a child and teenager, I often didn't complete projects that I started. My tendency has been to find the easy way and discontinue pursuits that required me to learn something new or perfect a skill in order to excel. Not that I haven't excelled at certain pursuits...it's just that I tend to stick with what comes easily for me and avoid challenges. This is another subject altogether: challenges and the growth that comes from rising to meet them. I won't go there for now, instead I will focus (!) on the subject at hand!

Focus.

I lacked focus. And apparently I still do. (See above paragraph!)

I believe that a short attention span in adults is usually a result of lack of discipline of the mind. The causes for this are myriad and the purpose of this post is not an expose on those causes. I'll save that for another time. Maybe. (Again! Focus!)

So. My focus for the present is just that: focus. Single mindedness. How to obtain discipline of mind.

The Bible tells us that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). It also tells us in another portion of scripture that the people who know their God shall be strong and do exploits (Daniel 11:33b) (emphasis mine). This means that the first key to doing exploits, or productivity, as I perceive it, is to know God. When I am double minded and vacillate between this and that my productivity is minimal. Productivity isn't the be all and end all of life, but I believe it's a critical element in maintaining one's dignity as a human being. So the key here is knowing God. The bottom line in all of life, really, is knowing God.



Photo credit: http://www.c4rlh.com/iphone/free-wallpapers/

In Which I Enjoy Life Instead of Continuing My Endless High Speed Rush to...Where Exactly?

Some time ago I was privileged to post this on Carmen's blog but I wanted to post it here too in the interest of resurrecting this old blog! This version is updated and slightly edited.

Life is pretty complicated sometimes. Sometimes in this techno-fast-paced-gotta-set-higher-and-higher-goals-and-do-and-be-everything age I think we need to slow down and appreciate little things. Where, exactly, are we going so fast? And what are we missing on the way there? And when we get there will we be glad we're there? “Enjoying the journey,” is a phrase that I think is highly overused. After all, the destination IS important and goals are very useful things, but we do need to find balance; recharge periodically; assess priorities and enjoy life in general. Yes, the goal is important, but it's not ALL about the goal. Having said that, however, we do need to stop every now and then and realize that life is for living, not for rushing through until we collapse exhausted, just to get up the next day or week or month or year and start it all again. I've been thinking about simple pleasures...things we can do to make the load seem lighter for a moment while we continue on this journey called life. So here are thirty one simple pleasures, one for each day of the month. Little things...things that can be done with little or no expense. These ideas are easy and inexpensive. If we don't take time to smell the roses, pretty soon we'll forget what the roses smell like!

This list is in no way complete, nor is it in any order. Some of these ideas may appeal to you, others not so much. The point is, enjoy life! It's made for living!

1. Take a walk. Don't take your music with you. Just walk. Barefoot if possible, for half an hour. Breathe the fresh air and enjoy your surroundings.

2. Take a hot bath. With bubbles. And a book. And the door locked!

3. Sleep in. Take one day and just sleep until you wake up. No alarm clock, no nothing. If you have small children who are up early, this may be more difficult, but at least stay in bed until you feel like getting up. Maybe use the time to cuddle up under the covers with the littles and read a story. Or maybe cuddle up under the covers with someone not so little.... ;-)

4. Make a cup of hot chamomile and peppermint tea. Use two teabags, one of each, and leave the teabags in the cup. Or hot chocolate. Here's an awesome recipe!

5. If your coffee maker doesn't have a timer, get an inexpensive one used for lighting when you go out of town and set your coffee pot to start brewing fifteen minutes before you are going to wake up. Nothing like the luxury of getting up to freshly made coffee just waiting for you!

6. Stay up late into the night with a good book. (Don't do this right before you have to be up early for something, though!

7. Go to a local bakery and purchase 2 super duper exquisite indulgent cupcakes. One for you and one for a friend. Or make some. Chocolate lover's recipe here.

8. Color. Like when you were a kid. Get some crayons or colored pencils and a cheap coloring book and color. Don't worry about staying in the lines!

9. Spend 30 minutes in silence. Turn off your phone. Turn off your TV. Turn off your ipod. Turn it all off and enjoy 30 minutes of absolute total silence.

10. Have some old fashioned chicken noodle soup. Not just any old canned soup, either. Get a really good quality one. Or make some.

11. Put a couple of tablespoons of yummy flavored syrup in your coffee or hot chocolate. Hazelnut is amazing in chocolate, by the way! Make a cup for your spouse or friend or son or daughter or work colleague too. (Make your own syrup:http://catfeetstudio.blogspot.com/2010/04/some-calorie-laden-recipes.html

12. Call an old friend or relative you love but haven't talked to in a while and catch up.

13. Laugh. A lot. I read this somewhere (if anyone knows where it came from please let me know and I'll credit the source!), “Children laugh over 300 times a day whereas adults laugh only 15 times. This is because children laugh unconditionally while adults do so only if there is a cause.” Laugh as loudly and as often as you can. For no reason. Who cares if they think you are crazy!

14. Write a letter. A real one. On real paper. With a real pen! Add some doodles and little drawings and personalize it. Tuck in a tea bag or a couple of photos (yes, real ones! Printed on real paper!).  Put it in a real envelope with a real stamp and put in in a real mailbox to send to a real person. I'm a huge user of email and I think technology is great, but there's just something about an old fashioned letter in the mailbox...and you never know...you just might get one in return!

15. Take your sheets and blankets off the bed and launder them in nice smelling soap and softener. Before you put them back on put something soft like an old comforter on the mattress under the fitted sheet. Then put the sheets back on and count the hours until you can snuggle down in your sweet smelling homemade feather bed.

16. Use a towel fresh, warm and fluffy, straight from the dryer when you get out of the shower.

17. Hold hands with someone. A child, a spouse, a friend, a grandparent. Human contact and touch go a long way in the well-being department!

18. Do a small random act of kindness for a stranger. Look around you as you are out and about. There are opportunities for this all around us all the time. Anonymously pay for the coffee for the person behind you. Help a harassed mother with a stroller to put her groceries in the car. Let someone go in front of you in line at the checkout.

19. Have fresh berries for breakfast.

20. Turn off the news in the car and listen to music you love. Don't listen to the news for a full day. The world will still function even if you aren't up to the minute. The news doesn't usually change from day to day anyway. If there is a major catastrophe someone will tell you.

21. Go outside at night and look at the stars.

22. Lie on your back outside in the afternoon and watch the clouds change shape.

23. Do something you've been putting off and check it off your list. Complete that pesky task and get it out of your hair!

24. Clear all the extra junk, stuff, trash, and knick knacks off your desk. File papers. Throw away spent pens and stubby pencils. Keep only what you need to use regularly on your desk. Put everything else within reach, but neatly away, out of sight. A clear workspace contributes to a clear and productive mind. (More on this in a later post!)

25. Make popcorn. Extra butter. You won't be able to eat it alone, because the smell of popcorn will attract people from miles around, so make a lot!

26. Leave the house ten minutes early in the morning so you won't be so rushed and stressed on the way to where ever you have to go.

27. Smile at a stranger. You never know what kind of day that person is having and a smile will brighten even the darkest moment. For you and for them!

28. Grow something. Mint or basil if you like herbs. Flowers in a pot. Plant a strawberry plant. Get a cactus or succulent if you have brown thumb (like me!) Anything. Inside or out. But plant something.

29. Get a pedicure. Pick a beautiful polish, even in cold weather when you wear closed toed shoes. When you take off your shoes at the end of the day your feet will look and feel gorgeous. Even if no one else sees them, you do!

30. Put your pj's on early in the evening, lounge around and be comfy.

31. Pick up a cheap bottle of bubbles and blow bubbles in a public place. Try to do it where no one can see you but let the bubbles float out where people are. Something about bubbles makes everyone happy.

32. And a bonus! Work out. Hard. Really really hard. (Obviously this will take longer than the ten minutes I mentioned at the beginning of this post!) Then take a long hot shower and let the water pound the muscles you've just used. Finish with a quick burst of cool water and you'll get out of the shower refreshed and raring to go!

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