I'm so happy with my life

 I'm really happy and seem to be able to live in this state of joy recently thanks to many daily practices. Mindfulness has contributed significantly to my well being and just letting things 'be' and they sort themselves out :).
Making a conscious effort to be positive, not gossip, say kind words has really improved how other's respond to me......much more cheerfully and positively.
Sharing stories of what went right on the weekend and not the things that didn't go quite right - in the end the mission was accomplished and I couldn't have wished for a better team to work with. Thank you Da, Phet, Pao, Na, Boula, Dr P, Bossy and all the girls, teachers, principal, village head and parents. You have enriched my life so much.

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This article has most of the daily practices that I feel I have incorporated into my life, especially over the last 12 months.
I'm not perfect but I find joy in small things, I smile a whole lot more than ever before, I am way more grateful
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/choose-happy/
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” —Abraham Lincoln
Happy people realize happiness is a choice. They are not held hostage by their circumstances and they do not seek happiness in people or possessions. They understand that when we stop chasing the world’s definition of happiness, we begin to see the decision to experience happiness has been right in front of us all along. Research in the field of positive psychology continues to reinforce this understanding.
But simply knowing that happiness is a choice is not enough. Fully experiencing it still requires a conscience decision to do so each day. How then might each of us begin to experience this joy?
Consider this list of 12 Intentional Actions to Choose Happiness Today. Embrace one new action item… practice all of them… or simply use them as inspiration to discover your own.
1. Count your blessings. Happy people choose to focus on the positive aspects of life rather than the negative. They set their minds on specific reasons to be grateful. They express it when possible. And they quickly discover there is always, always, something to be grateful for.
2. Carry a smile. A smile is a wonderful beautifier. But more than that, studies indicate that making an emotion-filled face carries influence over the feelings processed by the brain. Our facial expression can influence our brain in just the same way our brains influence our face. In other words, you can actually program yourself to experience happiness by choosing to smile. Not to mention, all the pretty smiles you’ll receive in return for flashing yours is also guaranteed to increase your happiness level.
3. Speak daily affirmation into your life. Affirmations are positive thoughts accompanied with affirmative beliefs and personal statements of truth. They are recited in the first person, present tense (“I am…”). Affirmations used daily can release stress, build confidence, and improve outlook. For maximum effectiveness, affirmations should be chosen carefully, be based in truth, and address current needs. Here is a list of 100 daily affirmations to help you get started.
4. Wake up on your terms. Most of us have alarm clocks programmed because of the expectations of others: a workplace, a school, or a waking child. That’s probably not going to change. But that doesn’t mean we have to lose control over our mornings in the process. Wake up just a little bit early and establish an empowering, meaningful, morning routine. Start each day on your terms. The next 23 hours will thank you for it.
5. Hold back a complaint. The next time you want to lash out in verbal complaint towards a person, a situation, or yourself, don’t. Instead, humbly keep it to yourself. You’ll likely diffuse an unhealthy, unhappy environment. But more than that, you’ll experience joy by choosing peace in a difficult situation.
6. Practice one life-improving discipline. There is happiness and fulfillment to be found in personal growth. To know that you have intentionally devoted time and energy to personal improvement is one of the most satisfying feelings you’ll ever experience. Embrace and practice at least one act of self-discipline each day. This could be exercise, budgeting, or guided-learning… whatever your life needs today to continue growing. Find it. Practice it. Celebrate it.
7. Use your strengths. Each of us have natural talents, strengths, and abilities. And when we use them effectively, we feel alive and comfortable in our skin. They help us find joy in our being and happiness in our design. So embrace your strengths and choose to operate within your giftedness each day. If you need to find this outlet outside your employment, by all means, find this outlet.
8. Accomplish one important task. Because happy people choose happiness, they take control over their lives. They don’t make decisions based on a need to pursue joy. Instead, they operate out of the satisfaction they have already chosen. They realize there are demands on their time, helpful pursuits to accomplish, and important contributions to make to the world around them. Choose one important task that you can accomplish each day. And find joy in your contribution.
9. Eat a healthy meal/snack. We are spiritual, emotional, and mental beings. We are also physical bodies. Our lives cannot be wholly separated into its parts. As a result, one aspect always influences the others. For example, our physical bodies will always have impact over our spiritual and emotional well-being. Therefore, caring for our physical well-being can have significant benefit for our emotional standing. One simple action to choose happiness today is to eat healthy foods. Your physical body will thank you… and so will your emotional well-being.
10. Treat others well. Everyone wants to be treated kindly. But more than that, deep down, we also want to treat others with the same respect that we would like given to us. Treat everyone you meet with kindness, patience, and grace. The Golden Rule is a powerful standard. It benefits the receiver. But also brings growing satisfaction in yourself as you seek to treat others as you would like to be treated.
11. Meditate. Find time alone in solitude. As our world increases in speed and noise, the ability to withdraw becomes even more essential. Studies confirm the importance and life-giving benefits of meditation. So take time to make time. And use meditation to search inward, connect spiritually, and improve your happiness today.
12. Search for benefit in your pain. This life can be difficult. Nobody escapes without pain. At some point—in some way—we all encounter it. When you do, remind yourself again that the trials may be difficult, but they will pass. And search deep to find meaning in the pain. Choose to look for the benefits that can be found in your trial. At the very least, perseverance is being built. And most likely, an ability to comfort others in their pain is also being developed.
Go today. Choose joy and be happy. That will make two of us.

No idea who wrote this......not me.....it's about love

Remember why you wanted to be a minimalist....

+ R E M E M B E R   W H Y   Y O U   W A N T E D   T O   B E   A   M I N I M A L I S T   I N   
T H E   F I R S T   P L A C E
Going back to the beginning when you decided that this was what you wanted is actually very inspiring. You can re-evaluate what it is that you want from this journey and remind you of why you started.

+ C O N T I N U E   T O   E D I T   Y O U R   P O S S E S S I O N S 
Sometimes I find myself going to things that I have already decluttered and finding things that I no longer need, so keep of editing your possessions until you only have what makes you happy

(http://www.thetomorrowatdawn.com/2016/01/maintaining-minimalism-tips-to-keep.html)

Why do I want to become a minimalist? I just feel that I own too many things and if I can physically own less then it will create more freedom.
Freedom to do whatever I want - to travel, to move to another country, to spend more time on experiences that are of greater value to me than my possessions. I don't want my possessions to own me. I want to own what I need, not excess stuff.
If decluttering is just the first step in the minimalism journey that is fine by me.
I have already done my bedroom, now when I walk in - the physical space just brings me more joy - the joy of being in a room that is neat, tidy and orderly - containing joyful items. That makes me happy.

I am also focusing on less screen time in particularly less facebook, so I have limited myself to 3 mins on FB each time on log on and then close FB. Overall it's going well and now I don't have this constant urge to 'check' FB. Honestly no information of any importance will actually come to me via FB - it's just other people's stuff. I find most people use it as a 'brag book' to post aspects of their 'wonderful' life or only aspects of their life that are 'wonderful'. I resist the urge to post and now will really limit my social media time.

Pics from cycling trip to Sri Lanka in Dec 2010/Jan 2011.

On the other hand, the act of removing possessions from our home accomplishes many of those purposes. It is not a temporary solution that must be repeated. It is an action of permanence—once an item has been removed, it is removed completely. Whether we re-sell our possessions, donate them to charity, or give them to a friend, they are immediately put to use by those who need them.

Removing possessions begins to turn back our desire for more as we find freedom, happiness, and abundance in owning less. And removing ourselves from the all-consuming desire to own more creates opportunity for significant life change to take place.

As you seek to get your home (and life) organized, challenge yourself to remove the unneeded things in your home. Rid yourself of the extra weight in a permanent manner. Carry a trash bag from room-to-room. See how big of a donation pile you can make. Or help eliminate debt by selling them. It doesn’t matter so much how you remove them, as long as you do. For it is far better to de-own than declutter.

Joshua Becker

http://www.becomingminimalist.com/dont-just-declutter-de-own/

""The three c's of life; choice, chance and change. You have to make the
choice, to take the chance, if you want anything to change" A. Allen
Antoine Allen

 http://www.antoinespeaks.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/most-people-wont-share-this-because.html?m=1

career: position, package, place

View work as a contribution to others - this is the reward.....

“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.”
The statistics concerning work in America tell an interesting story. On one hand, we hate work. On the other hand, we can’t seem to get enough of it.
For the most part, Americans are dissatisfied with their jobs:

• 70% of employed Americans are disengaged from their work.
• 18% of workers are actively disengaged—meaning they aren’t just unhappy; they are busy acting out their unhappiness.
• 74% of employed workers would consider a new job opportunity if one was presented.
• The 4-Hour Workweek has spent 7 years on The New York Times bestseller list.
• Americans count down the years to retirement at age 65 and CNN defines early retirement as the ultimate “American Dream.”

Americans are not happy with their work and do not enjoy it. But we refuse to slow down and take any break from it:

• Compared with other industrialized nations, U.S. workers rank 1st in hours worked (1,800 hours annually).
• The typical American middle-income family works an average of 11 more hours a week in 2006 than it did in 1979.
• 53% of adults check work messages at least once a day over the weekend.
• Americans leave a half billion vacation days unused each year.
• We struggle to find even one day of rest each week.

These statistics paint an interesting picture of our love/hate relationship with work: We don’t like our jobs; but refuse to spend less time at them. Why is this the case?
Most likely there are a number of reasons. Sometimes, our legitimate financial needs require us to work long hours. Sometimes, our jobs require us to be on-call and available at a moment’s notice. Other times, our employers simply do not provide us that type of flexibility.
But I think there is something deeper going on here. After all, all of this is happening in one of the most productive and wealthiest nations in the history of the world. Why then, given our vast supply of opportunity, do we work such long hours in jobs we hate?

If we could discover the deeper reason for this discontent, we could find relief in both areas: both a greater appreciation for our work and more space for rest.

The real reason we have such a love/hate relationship with work in our society is because our motivation for it is all wrong. We do our work for the wrong reward.

Typically, we do our jobs simply for the purpose of earning a paycheck at the end of the day. Work is that thing we do through which we make money so we can do all the other things we really want to do.

But money as a means to fulfillment will always fall short. It will never fully satisfy the longings of our heart—in their own right, power and reputation and fame never satisfy either.
When money is the reward, we can never earn enough. We are always left desiring just a little bit more.

This is a problem with our modern understanding of work. If we are only doing it for the sake of the paycheck every two weeks, it will never be enough. We will always be left searching for more—putting in just a few more hours, skipping another day of vacation, heading back to the office on another Saturday morning.

Do we work because we love our jobs and find fulfillment in them? No. We do it because we believe the paycheck makes it all worthwhile—or at least, a little bit bigger paycheck will make it all worthwhile.
But it never does.
We were designed to work for something greater than money and possessions and property. (tweet that)

Instead, view work as contribution to others—this is the reward. Our work contributes to the good of society. It moves us forward. It makes us better as people. It enriches our lives.

Whether we are bagging groceries, delivering mail, sweeping streets, or managing others, we can view our work as an act of love to the people we serve.
And when we change our motivation, we discover work is not something to be avoided—it is meaningful.

Please don’t view your work as something to be endured or avoided. Don’t view it merely as a means to a paycheck. Change your focus. Develop a deeper appreciation for the contribution you are making (or find a job that will).
This will always result in a new love/love relationship.


You are absolutely right about that. Consumerism holds us hostage to many desperate acts.

Don't play it safe..........resist the seductions of our society.....mid life crisis

And most of all, don't play it safe. Resist the seductions of the cowardly values our society has come to prize so highly: comfort, convenience, security, predictability, control. These, too, are nets. Above all, resist the fear of failure. Yes, you will make mistakes. But they will be your mistakes, not someone else's. And you will survive them, and you will know yourself better for having made them, and you will be a fuller and a stronger person.

It means not just going with the flow. It means not just "getting into" whatever school or program comes next. It means figuring out what you want for yourself, not what your parents want, or your peers want, or your school wants, or your society wants. Originating your own values. Thinking your way toward your own definition of success. Not simply accepting the life that you've been handed. Not simply accepting the choices you've been handed. When you walk into Starbucks, you're offered a choice among a latte and a macchiato and an espresso and a few other things, but you can also make another choice. You can turn around and walk out. When you walk into college, you are offered a choice among law and medicine and investment banking and consulting and a few other things, but again, you can also do something else, something that no one has thought of before.

But either way, either because you went with the flow or because you set your course very early, you wake up one day, maybe 20 years later, and you wonder what happened: how you got there, what it all means. Not what it means in the "big picture," whatever that is, but what it means to you. Why you're doing it, what it's all for. It sounds like a cliché, this "waking up one day," but it's called having a midlife crisis, and it happens to people all the time.

http://chronicle.com/article/What-Are-You-Going-to-Do-With/124651/

How is this serving the child?

How is this serving the child?

http://www.littleearth.school.nz/blog/how-is-this-serving 

By

Tessa

on 20 Apr 2016

Our young children are constantly asking questions.  They do this for information, to clarify, to connect, to fill silence - for a huge host of reasons.  Somewhere down the track we lose that tendency and as adults we don't seem to question things nearly enough. 
When we genuinely and deeply care about children, however, we need to be questioning what it is they are experiencing and exposed to, or alternatively, are missing out on.   Alfie Kohn speaks the very core in us when he says "too many educators seem to have lost their capacity to be outraged by outrageous things".  Our sector has gotten off course in many areas and it's important not to just follow suit or accept the 'norm' as being acceptable. 
Justifications can be made for a lot of things, and it is easy to get swept up in the current and go with what we see happening all around us.  OR we can be brave and ask our own questions.  We can ask what is in our power to change? What is truly best for children? Which 'experts' are actually credible and also fit with our gut instincts?  What is it like for the children in our care?  How would we like this experience? 
Maybe what we need to accompany our questions is a good solid answer, one that acts as a yardstick for measuring our uncertainties against.  If we look at what Dr Montessori espoused, our role is to serve children.  Not lead them, ‘prepare’ them or isolate them from the real and natural world, but to SERVE them. 
Service comes from looking at the needs of the other, not of ourselves.  Knowing this, we can create the question, ‘how is this serving the child’? whenever we come across new ideas, doubts, or the ‘norm’ that doesn’t necessarily sit well with us. We also need to know it is about serving the child right now, not asking how it will serve them in years to come.  We want to focus on today, knowing that tomorrow will take care of itself.  Too often, a justification for some of the less heart-centred practices can be about creating independence in the child, or resiliency for later years, when at this age love and kindness have to be at the fore.
Our question then, has to be ‘how is this serving the child?’ whenever we come across new ideas, doubts, or the ‘norm’ that doesn’t necessarily sit well with us. 
We can look at what we are currently doing and say, yes it may be different from what else we see but it feels right, and for the children and families we serve it is preferable. 
This takes a certain courage, and willingness to step outside the norm, but in keeping with service to the child, there is no other way.  Once we start to question, our only way is forward, to forge on a path based on what we believe and with the ‘tribe‘ of like minded educators we connect with when we share our views respectfully.  We can follow our hearts and know that change for children can start small. 
We cannot change the whole system but we can certainly make the best choices possible for those we do serve.  In doing so, we can hope to send out ripples of heart centred, kind practice which others may just be looking to be swept up in. 

Decluttering progress!!

A note on my decluttering!!!
Since I let the bike go I feel an incredible mind shift has occurred. I am now able to go through my other possessions with greater clarity and determine which items are to be kept, which to try and sell and which to donate or toss out. It's weird that I should have this clarity and ease now, but it's here and I am happy to embrace it.

This weekend my goods will be for sale and I'm hopeful that at least some of them will go. Those that don't get sold....uuummmm..... I hope to find a place to donate them. The challenge the shoes and dresses is that I need to find a person just the same size as me, and who is willing to buy them. The shoes won't just fit anyone, nor will the dresses.

Lots of other Bric-a-brac for sale - jewellery, TRX, yoga mat, children's books, teaching resources, bike parts, tubes, bike stand, ornaments, scarves, etc.