A Truly Simple Life

Before you read this post I want you to stop…. no like seriously stop flying through this and give yourself a minute to just breathe. Get the timer out if you have to, anything to make yourself stop! Good… now one last deep breath in…. exhale…

Isn’t it amazing how much slowing down for 60 simple seconds throughout your day can change your entire state of wellbeing.

 

The Next 5 Years

Now get out a pen and paper or make a mental list of 10 things you’d like to be, do, or have in the next 5 years. (Do it!)

For me I quickly listed that I want to be a bomb nurse without debt. I want a nice house that feels like a home (with a fat fluffy cat… obvi). I want a blog that touches the lives of many. I want a rockin bod and a clear face. Maybe be engaged or married. I want to learn how to accomplish more in less time. Master the piano and tennis and painting and photography.

The Important 3

Now think about the 3 most important things in your life right now. I swear… there is a point to all these lists!

My faith. My family. My health (mentally and physically). In that order of importance.

Before I wrote this post I, just like you, picked out 10 things I wanted to be/do/have. My list took almost seconds to complete. Then, I stopped and started to think about the 3 most important things in my life right now and I compared my lists together and I laughed. I laughed when I’m not sure this is funny at all.

Why is it that the 3 most important things in my life didn't have any affect over my next 5 years?

Right. Because I’m already perfectly walking in my faith with God… I go to church, read my Bible, say my prayers. In regards to my family, oh we’re fine! I send a few texts, calls here and there. We all see each other on holidays… some members once a year at least!

Oh. My. Gosh. I really hope you’re picking up my sarcasm here! Loves, this is a serious issue in my life! In the world!

Like I mentioned in my last blog post but I will mention again, we have grown up in a world that tells us we will be happy when we have that awesome job, great house, a life-long partner, a nice body and so on. In a culture that encourages us to buy, do, buy, buy, do more in effort to better ourselves, how do you learn to quiet the noise? To simplify your life and focus on what REALLY matters?

Present Over Perfect

Present over perfect is a book by Shauna Niequeist that I am reading through right now and I wrote down a few of my take-aways that go along perfectly with this subject that I’d like to share with you guys.

“You don’t have to damage your body and your soul and the people you love most in order to get done what you think you have to get done.”

“I know that the best thing I can offer to this world is not my force or energy, but a well-tended spirit, a wise and brave soul.”

“If you’re not like me-prone to frantic levels of activity, swirling chaos, fast-moving cycles of over-commitment and resentment-then you might suggest ‘Why don’t you just slow down’ … well the stillness feels sort of like walking on the ceiling-utterly foreign.” 

Almost Too Simple

Psalm 46:10 has been placed on my heart this entire week,

“Be Still and know that I am God.”

Be still…. Running, exercising, working, staying busy, that’s what I am good at but be still… definitely not one of my strengths.

However, that’s my verse this month and the rest of this semester. As a Christian we know that true happiness will not ever be found in “things” or the desires of this life but that’s still the constant battle.

So I’m not sure what your “BE STILL” looks like however some things I will be doing are listed below.

Journal // I tend to be a very distracted person so I like to write out my prayers to keep me focused. It’s also fun to look back over time and see the ways God moved in certain prayers.

Reading // Whether it’s my bible or just a Christian Living book.

Spending Time In Nature // Nature is definitely one of the ways I like to connect and see God, so since the weather is getting nicer I am going to try to make more attempts to go outside and BE STILL. (I have added a few of my favorites from these last two days below)

So, here’s to slowing down these next few months and taking every day captive. Learning to BE STILL and enjoy the little things in life God gave us that ACTUALLY make us happy.