"It's always the simple..."

“It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.”  Amelia Barr

That quote opens the first posting I read on my first visit to Anna Newell Jones' acclaimed (but I'd never heard of) blog, AndThenWeSaved.com.  

My spending LOOKS like it's gotten out of hand.  Only apparently.  (Okay, it's true about eating out, where I've definitely fallen down mightily because of poor at-home meal planning.)  There is A LOT that beckons to be done & the purchases made have been in support of just that.  

By purchases, I mean books.  A lot of books.  Am pleased to say that the last thing I did before making a purchase & mercilessly cut out any item that didn't really & truly say I CAN HELP YOU!, then the first thing I did when the shipment came in was to hold each book & ask myself, "Was this REALLY a wise purchase?"

Okay, the books I purchased to as Saturday morning give-aways at The Cupcake Lady turned out to be not as wise as I'd thought, but only because PA Health Dept rules & regs seem to have bounced us out of cupcaking at  this season's Bryn Athyn Bounty Farm Market.  But offering a weekly give-away was a wise premise, at least for me.

See, I'm not anyone's mother or BFF, my nieces & nephews are too distant to be a treasured aunt, am not a teacher or in any sort of position to seriously touch anyone's life - with a loving nod to the great & glorious exception, my John.  Sharing favorite books as part of a give-away would have filled a currently empty space.  And my present self is heart & soul about filling spaces instead of bemoaning them!

The books & classroom treats I get for the 3rd grade & the current 5th grade aren't splurges - they are life lines.  Again, am no one's mother or grandmother or doting aunt.  Doing things every year for the 3rd grade - picked for completely capricious reasons - and the class that is currently in 5th (also a choice of whimsy) - gladdens my heart, uplifts my spirit, gives me a thrill that goes way beyond the purchases.  

       

All that said, I was concerned that an unusual spurt of spending on things that actually did matter, that truly did move me farther down the path to fulfilling what shouts into my heart & soul, MIGHT lead to a binge of less appropriate expenditures.  For over a week, have been brooding on a longing to become as savvy a saver as I am an accomplished spender.

Knew all that, had been turning it all over in my mind, spear-headed with the question, "When will I know it's time to STOP acquiring & DIG into my purchases?"  Good question.  And, the Universe being the generous thoughtful active care partner that it is, stepped up to the plate & hit it out of the ballpark.  Way to go!
 
Was it mere coincidence that less than two weeks ago - April 26, 2016 - The Spender's Guide to Debt-Free Living was published??  I think NOT!  Over those two weeks, my heart & brain steeped in thoughts about saving over spending.   Waiting for me to discover the book that seems to fit me to a TEA.  Thanks, Universe - you rock!

Was also introduced to Anna's blog, AndThenWeSaved.com, with its spot-on opening quote - It's always the simple that produces the marvelous.  Which got me thinking that it's simple to save more - spend less.  

There are big things that clamor - and rightly so - to be purchased;  a second car, the July conference in Dallas, October's workshop at Rowe are all on track for taking me from what I dream to what I offer.  But little things that add up need whacking back - the little, unbudgeted, spur-of-the-moment  things that seriously eat away at our savings.  Especially meals out because I didn't think ahead to have a veggie compote available in the fridge or a mushroom lasagne with kale-laden marinara ready to pop into the oven.. (We don't spend a lot eating out, sticking to egg salad sandwiches, a garden melt or dinner-sized bowls of minestrone, but it adds up VERY quickly.) 

Mind you, simple doesn't mean easy.  Chanel's designs embodied simplicity, but cost a fortune because it took a lot of talent & effort to make the pared-down look seem effortless.  The dress with the simplest lines demands the most skilled designer & seamstress - plus a well-toned body because it reveals all. Simple looks easy, is often hard & totally worth it.

My thanks to Marie Kondo for kicking me into simplifying my life by paring down my possessions.  Started last year, still a challenge but working on it.  Learned that just knowing what works better doesn't mean it automatically comes naturally to me.  Good beginning training for what comes next.


It's always the simple that produces the marvelous. It's simply marvelous to realize that my aha awareness of the need to be financially savvy & the publication of Anna's new book turned out to be a one-two punch in knocking out the possibility of spinning into fiscal foolishness.  My thanks to Anna, to Harper Collins & to a great & glorious Universe for all that has been, all that is.  "All it will be" is up to me!

CRUSHED!

As soon as I saw the ad for it in my just-arrived Live Happy magazine, was totally PSYCHED (no irony intended) to attend the Oct 6-7 2016 Changing the Odds ~ Compassion:  Brain Changer conference down in Dallas, TX.  There it is, prominently advertised in a May magazine, and yet it's already SOLD OUT!  My heart is crumpled.  

So, in spite of having NO longing to be in Dallas in the heart of summer, will screw my courage to the sticking point & instead head down to the July 18-20 Festival of Positive Education, even if I have to hitch hike down, pitch a tent & eat beans!   

Although it's deep in the heart of TX, the festival will be heavily imprinted by PA, with both Martin Seligman & Angela Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania's Positive Psychology Center.  

There is great power in generating energies.  Will go down for the inspiring July festival & maybe a path will open that gets me back down to the October conference, too.  It's amazing what the Universe can do when it knows what's truly wanted! 

Can't write more.  Heading down to Be Well Cafe to drown my sorrows in their Eggsparagus & biggest cafe au lait.  And ~ on an up note ~ wearing, for the first time evah, my "Hey! What's YOUR dream?" T-shirt!!!!

 

a new relationship with time

My guess is it will always give me deep chills when the Universe puts the just-right message in my path at a just-right moment.  

In the wee small hours of this morning, John & I had a serious falling apart over what felt like a genuinely important issue.  Went off to have lunch with an older friend - solo, at my request, rather than in the usual tandem, with my Keet.  It wasn't that I needed some time alone - I wanted to be as far away from him as possible;  if flying to the moon had been an option, would have done that. 

Got to the car, settled in, revved it up & just before backing out, turned on the radio to hear coming over the airwaves Marty Moss Coane's Radio Times.  Marty, with her guest, Daniel Shapiro, author of the new book, Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How to Resolve Your Most Emotionally Charged Conflicts.  

"Seriously?  I'm bent out of shape over something that feels fundamental, turn on the radio, and there is the just-right person talking with the just-right interviewer about the just-right topic for me to listen to on the 20 minute drive?"  Get outta here!"
 
Oh, the massively insightful things he shared as I drove down Buck Road, as I crept past Pine Run Elementary School, dipped DOWN Pine to Philmont, nipped past the Wawa, over the Pennypack Trail, turned into Rydal Park.  The only thing that freed me to go into meet my friend was knowing I'll listen to the entire interview tonight with John.  (Lovin' the Internet!) 

This happens to me all the time - for which I am profoundly greatly to All That Is.  They might look like happenstance, mere coincidence, but in my experience it goes way past coincidence, serendipity.  I am most grateful for the guidance & hope more of the same keeps pouring into my appreciative way!


Which leads me to Creative Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock & Reclaim Your Life. , a book by Marney K. Makridakis, a treasure discovered only because it was one of those "customers who bought this item also bought" selections.  It wasn't simply the book that was the just-right read to drop into my life at this just-right moment - - got the author, too!  (Like finding the just-right guy, then discovering he has a way-cool Mom, too!)

It struck me this afternoon, at page 14, that a MASSIVE current challenge being faced at 64 years old is changing my use of time.  Not better time management or organizational skills, but a whole - and I do stress the word, whole - new relationship.  What I'm getting from the book - so far - is to approach time like someone I was vaguely aware of back in my younger years, but never took the opportunity to really know; someone, it turns out, seems to be right up my alley.  

How spiff to finally connect & become friends!  

That's me with Time.  Am getting to recognize its characteristics & qualities, to see how we were destined to become pals, after all these years - or, maybe, because of them! 

It's happy-strange to experience what Marney writes about time.  My inner clocks seem to be working double-time compared to any other epoch in my previous life.  So many books being read, so many minutes being used for delightful & over surprising purposes, so much getting DONE.  
   
And now I have the delight of getting to know Marney, a woman after my own wild heart.  Come on - she pegs herself a  Jill of All Trades, Master of FUN. Do ya think she embodies the essence of play?  Exquisitely!

Thank you, Universe, for more unexpected awakenings & expanded life mentors.  My life is filled with heel-clicking, toe-tapping, dance-a-dance-of-joy energies & the hustle to make THINGS happen.  It starts with awareness, moves next to dreams, onto intention & action spiked with hustle, ends with new realities.  And a key component, a gotta-do before being able to truly make it so, is to develop a new, friendly partnership relationship with Time.  

All goosie pimply, wondering, "What's next?!" and "Bring it on!"  Oh, and always & forever - THANKS!

 

Credits:
innerself.innerself.com
artellaland.com
quantumartandpoetry.blogspot.com


whole30.com