What's Simple?Written by Angie Dixon
If you walk up to a stranger in grocery store and ask them to define “simple,” as in “simple life,” they’ll probably say something like “having less stuff.” Or they might hit you with a frozen turkey. But probably they’ll associate simple with stuff.The thing is that simple is not about how much or how little you have. You can have all stuff you want and have a simple life. That’s key, though—the stuff you want. Simple is about having more of what you want and less of things that get in your way and trip you up. If you continue questioning guy with turkey, he may hit you with it again, or he may spit out some more associations with word “simple.” Those words might include “nature,” “inexpensive,” “boring,” “organized,” “miserly.” Those are words we think of when we think of simple living, but none of them has to be associated with simplicity—certainly not boring and miserly. Sure, if you want to live your simple life with nature, you can. If you want to get rid of most of your life and live on a shoestring, you can.
| | What Balance Looks Like for YouWritten by Angie Dixon
Recently, in an online group, we talked about “balance” and an article one member had read decrying demise of balance altogether. We all had different ideas about what balance is and how to reach it, and I realized, after a number of posts, that we were all right.I believe it is possible to “achieve balance in our lives.” What I don’t believe is that way you create balance is going to match way I create balance. I don’t believe that dividing my time 50/50 or 25/25/25/25 is right for me, though it may be for you. How do YOU create balance? Easy. Find times when you feel like things are going exactly as they should, that everything in your life is perfectly in alignment, and that you’re doing what you need to do, when you need to do it. That’s balance. Then “creating” balance becomes RE-creating it. Once you know what to do, you can do it again. And again. When you’re struggling to find what’s next out of middle of a dozen or more things, when everyone feels downhearted and discouraged because they’re not getting enough of your time even though you’re running between chores and family as fast as you can, you’re not in balance.
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