Monthly Archives: March 2014

simple living lifestyle challenge 21 being thankful

simple livingThe challenge: to be thankful

I believe we should be thankful each and everyday of our lives not just at Thanksgiving time.  We should be daily thanking our Savior for all that we do have.

But what if you say Amy, I can’t really think of much I am thankful for this year.  Maybe it was a bad year, maybe you lost a loved one,  maybe you are just in a deep depressive state and can’t think of anything to be thankful for, or maybe you are in a state of self pity.  Whatever the reasons, you need to remember these words:

“in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18

That verse means that we give thanks in the good times and in the bad times.  It is really easy to give God the glory and praise when things are going good.  Its great to say, “Look what the Lord has done.”  But try saying that when you are going through a big struggle in your life.  Maybe its a relationship problem, maybe its personal addictions, maybe it is something even you or I cannot fathom.  What about those times?  In the midst of troubled times we need to still give God the glory.

Why make the change:

What is something we gain from going through hard times??

STRENGTH

Have you ever heard the saying, “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.”  That is so true.  God does test us.  Job was tested by God.  He remained faithful and steadfast always thanking God.  In the end, Job was doubly rewarded. In the same way, we, too, will grow stronger, and receive a great reward from God if we hold true to him, and are thankful for the hard times.

One of the greatest rewards is being identified with Jesus Christ, and when we suffer, all the while being thankful, we are taking Christ’s attitude, and people will see it! Later, we will be able to help others because of the strength that God gave us because of the hard struggles.

Isn’t that so true?  Isn’t it great to come across another mother who has gone through the same struggles as you are currently going through?  Or maybe you can come across a blog that fits your circumstances in your life.  There are blogs for everything, we are encouraging one another on a HUGE level.  I am so thankful for the technology that we do have to be able to share and to be encouraged by other woman.

  • Did you know that if you can afford to buy a premium cup of coffee everyday you are living better than nearly half of the worlds population???

  • Did you know that if you can purchase a cheeseburger from Mcdonalds everyday than you are living better than 1/4 of the worlds population?

  • If you wake up at night and are able to flip on your light switch to see in your home you are better than 1/4 of the world who does not live with electricity.

  • 80% of the worlds population lives on less than $10 a day.

  • If you are able to have a glass of clean drinking water today, there are 1 billion people that do not have that privilege.

  • If you can read my blog, or others, you are doing better than the billion, Yes BILLION people who entered the 20 the century who were unable to read or sign their names.

  • Did you know that less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was enough to put every child into school by the year 2000. Sadly, it remained simply as an initiative.

How to make the change:

When times are tough, start stating things you are thankful for.  I am sure that most of us can use any number of the above references I posted.  There is ALWAYS something we can be thankful for.  It is a choice, one that will decide what type of day you will have, what type of person you will become, what type if influence you will make on the world.

What is your choice?

What are you thankful for?

 

cheeseburger casserole recipe

DSCN5293This recipe tastes just like a cheeseburger without the bun.  Definitely a staple on our monthly rotation menu.

You will need the following:

  • 2 boxes rotini noodles, cooked
  • 1 large onion, minced
  • 2 T minced garlic
  • 2 lb cooked ground beef
  • 1 t salt and pepper
  • 1 small can of tomato sauce
  • 2-28 oz cans of diced tomatoes
  • 4 T mustard
  • 4 c cheddar cheese
  • pickles served on the side

This is real simple, one of those 1 pot dishes.  Mix everything together in a skillet.  Heat till warm and serve.  Delicious.

 

simple living lifestyle challenge 20 choosing to be happy

simple livingSimple living lifestyle challenge: choosing to be happy

Just sitting here pondering why would people not choose to be happy??  It is a question that baffles me frequently.  I know many people that are just generally unhappy.  They feel distressed with the worries of life, joyless in their daily interactions, and just feel like they got stuck with the “short end of the stick.”  Why would someone choose that wretched path of life??

If you were to ask someone what they most want out of life??  I would suspect that majority of people would give answers like, “to be successful,” “to make a lot of money,” and “to be happy.”  So why when given the notion they choose unhappiness?? By being happy, you can make more money, find a better job and be better motivated to reach those goals that will make you successful in your life.

Why make the change:

So why aren’t people happy??  If you look around  there are loads of books about happiness, the sermons at church are about being feel good and happy, you find magazine articles about the art of happiness.  Even in our US Constitution it says “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” So why is it so hard to make that decision to be happy?

Happiness is based on 50% of our genetics, 10% based on how much you earn from income, living conditions, and your job. The other 40% is based on intentional actions– what we choose to do to make us happy.

At about the time you hit the teenage age, your brain starts losing part of its chemical makeup that helps us be happy it is called dopamine.  Dopamine is what our brain makes when it is happy.  Depending upon circumstances and how you choose to react to situations, your brain either makes dopamine, or the cells slowly start to die off.  If you don’t use them by being happy, they will slowly start to whither away.  Research has shown that the cells do not regenerate. So it is a use it or lose it situation.

One way to help  use the cells and make dopamine is through physical activity.  Being on the move, exercising, doing things out of the “norm” to stimulate our brains in a positive way, are all good things to help dopamine growth.

People believe that if good things happen you will be happier, or if you have bad things happen your life will be bad forever.  But the reality is when you go through bad things people generally bounce back and do move on with their life in happiness.  Sometimes a bad thing needs to happen in order for us to learn from it and put things in perspective in our lives.

What made us happy before internet, television, cars,  etc?  Go back 80 years or go to remote village tribes who are void to all of our modernized world and their happiness is based on community.  Belonging to a “family”, helping each other out, being responsible for others in every aspect of their lives is what made and still makes people genuinely happier.

Compassion and love for one another is a lost art in our society.  Most of us, don’t even know our own neighbors.

 

How to make the change:

So what is the most effective in achieving happiness in life?  

Having gratitude, counting your blessings, and acts of kindness.  These are all great ways to achieving happiness. Things that help you look at something bigger than yourself so to say.  If you only seek your own happiness in life it is kind of selfish.  But once you worry about the well-being of the world your life grows.  You care about something bigger than yourself.  In a way you can transcend your life, your death by caring about these things that are bigger than yourself.

If each of us spent a smidgen of time each day practicing happiness or other virtuous qualities like compassion etc, our world would really be a better place.  We should really be looking at happiness as a skill. Like we want to learn to play piano, or to cook, we should really want to learn to be happier.

Formula for happiness is not the same for everyone.  But the things we do are the building blocks of our life.  Play, having new experiences, friends and family, doing things that are meaningful, and appreciating what we have, these are what makes us happy and they are free.  And with happiness the more we have the more everyone has.

So I ask you………Do you choose  happiness??

 

simple living lifestyle challenge 19 live paper/plastic free

simple livingThe challenge: to live paper and plastic free

I love being informed as a consumer and as a parent.  My husband and I quite often watch documentaries.  We love to think outside of what our government and society is programming us to believe.  Most of what we are taught  is untrue.  We as consumers need to start looking at things instead of just taking them as fact.

I  just finished watching a documentary on plastic called “Bag It” by Reel Thing Film.  Great video, I learned some things that I didn’t already know about plastic and things I should think more about that I don’t already.

Why make the change:

Plastic is made from fossil fuels, which is a non-renewable source.  Once they are gone there isn’t anymore of it.

In the United States we go through 1 million plastic bags per minute.

Many countries have banned ultra thin plastic bags.   In San Francisco, they decided to do that as well and charge for plastic bag use. But the American Chemistry Council, (who is a promoter for plastics), quietly pushed through a law not allowing businesses to access a fee for plastic bag use.  Because if given the choice to bring your own or be charged for each bag, most consumers would not pay for the bags.  Government knew a good way to stop that and they did!

So what is better paper or plastic?  If given a choice paper bags are 10 times more likely to get recycled than plastic bags.

They also talked about disposables.  Why are we making something like say a  disposable coffee cup, that we are going to use for maybe 20 minutes and then throw it away?  Especially when that item was made from a non-renewable source, and it took thousands of years to make. Plus if that coffee cup was made with styrofoam it is going to be around forever.

300 million disposable coffee cups per day are used.

1 million plastic cups used on airplane flights in 6 hours.

60,000 plastic bags consumed in the US every 5 seconds.

Recycling…something to look into, another big marketing scam from plastics companies.

That little continuous triangle that is put on all of our plastic containers, does not mean that they container is recyclable. Another good marketing trick for the consumers. The only ones that are recyclable have a #1 or #2 in them.  Most items giving to the recycling center gets thrown back into landfills because they can’t recycle them.

There is more plastic produced from 2000-2010 then the entire 1900′s.

Most all of the plastic eventually goes from landfills and gets into our water system which ultimately ends up in our oceans.

Do a google search on North Pacific gyre.  It is one of many huge garbage patches out in the middle of the ocean.  It isn’t so much big chunks of plastic that can be cleaned up, it is plastic that has been broken down into smaller chunks and it is just floating in masses out in the water.

There are many beaches that are just covered in tiny bits of plastic from all of the garbage that gets washed ashore.  Hawaii is one of them.  Do some searching on your own, it is there just not readily available.

The damage it is doing to our wildlife is dangerous as well.  Most of the dead animals that they do autopsies on having numerous plastic items inside their stomachs.  It would be like us having our bowl of cereal for breakfast plus a handful of styrofoam peanuts.  Yuck!

There are many dangers to plastic as well.   BPA and phylates have been in the media lately and thankfully some have been removed from items.  But not completely.  Chemical use in products in America is innocent until proven guilty that they are dangerous to humans.  In other countries it is the opposite, they have the consumers interest in mind verse their paychecks.

How to make the change:

So what can we do as consumers?

  • Cut way back on single item purchases, like snack sized items.
  • Don’t drink bottled water.
  • Buy things with less packaging.
  • Buy things used.
  • Bring your own containers.
  • Buy less stuff.
  • Simplify your life.

Sometimes the best things to do are to rethink the way you do things.  Our grandparents never had plastics and they did just fine in life.  We just need to get creative in the way that we do things.  Think plain and simplify.

Are you up for the challenge this week?  Try and go all week without using a disposable plastic or paper product.  If you are going to be reusing them like a plastic bag that you will wash out, then that is okay.  But try and not use any that will be put in the trash for waste.  It will be hard.  But a little bit of cutting back is much better than none at all.

 

simple living lifestyle challenge 18 play

simple living

The challenge:  to play more

This challenge might seem like one that you would just skip over, but I encourage you to view this with an open mind.  I like the verse in 1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

I firmly believe that there are many “immature” adults out there that just need to learn to grow up.  But I also firmly believe that there are many adults out there that need to “loosen up” a bit.

Where do you lie??????

Why make the change:

This challenge came to me this week as I was invited to attend a ladies day away.  Now I am not one to go out, EVER.  I firmly believe that I don’t have to “get away” for my sanity.  I should be able to find that in my home life.  But I was invited and my daughter insisted she would watch the children and thought it would be fun to go with my good friend.

This event, which was a ladies night out at a church, was one of fun, let down you hair and just have a good time.  We played some silly games, had fellowship, and all had a bunch of hearty good laughs.

So was that wrong??????

Was it wrong to go out and just have a time of relaxation and laughs?

No, I don’t believe it was.  I took care of my duties at home, made sure that my children were properly taken care of and that my husband approved and then I went.

Would I do it every weekend?  No…….Once a month?  Maybe……Once every few months……Most definitely.

How to make the change:

Is this easy for everyone?  No probably not, especially if you are a mother of many little ones.  I will admit that I have NEVER gotten away by myself in the last 8 years of having babies.  I know might be sad, but I was either pregnant or nursing a baby and there wasn’t time to go out.  My free time was spent going to bed early to catch up on sleep.

But now just this year has been the first time that my husband and I have gone out to dinner ALONE, I have gotten to take my children out on Mom and child date nights, and I have been able to attend a few things by myself.  But this is all a first.   It is just a new chapter in my life.

So what about for the mom who has many little ones that cannot get away?I encourage you to take this simple lifestyle challenge and do what it says.  PLAY with your children.  Don’t just change diapers, clean up, wipe them up, and get dinner ready.  Take the time to get on the floor and play with them 1 on 1.  Take the time to get out the blocks and make a tower, 50 times while they knock it over again and again.

Just get down on their level and take the time out of your day and sit and enjoy playing with them.  If you can get out, take them to the park and go down the slides with them, run around and chase them.  Play games.  Don’t just sit on the bench and look at your phone.  Engage and interact with your children.

You will be refreshed as well as your child enjoying some  Mommy time.

Take the time to either find some “play” time with your children, or see if there is an event at your local church for a Mom’s night out.  Grab a girlfriend and have a great time of fellowship.    It is good to be able to refresh your soul with a much needed break from the demands of being a wife and mother.  

Are you up for this challenge?