.....simplicity.........

The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go....

The word for this week is SIMPLICITY.....  can I tell how much I LOVE this word!!!!  I actually "adopted" this word for 2011!!!  My goal for this year and basically the rest of my life is to live a simple life!!!  As I grow older, it is becoming painfully clear to my what I value most in my life and that is TIME!!!  And with that discovery I have also realized that it is all of the STUFF that I thought I just HAD TO HAVE....  that steals away most of my time....  The "American Dream" is really just a consumer trap!!!!  Every day we are made to believe....  through commercials, advertisements and those "keeping up with the Jones" people that surround us,,,,  that we NEED a 5 bedroom house, a giant gas guzzling SUV and that white picket fence!!!  THAT will surely make us HAPPY!!!???  But we never really find happiness in any of those things.....  as a matter of fact, we are miserable because of all that STUFF!!!  We drag ourselves to work every day....  spend more of our TIME with strangers than with the people that we really love and care about and then end up spending what time we do have off either cleaning that 5 bedroom house or running our kids all over town keeping up with those "Jones"!!!  And for what???  In the end we will all want for MORE TIME....  and even the "Jones" can't buy more of that!!!  So with that thought in my head I decided that the only way I could escape the choke hold of the "American Dream" was to just LET GO!!!  Yep.....  keep it simple!!!  From the top to the bottom of my life....  SIMPLIFY!!!  Now don't get me wrong....  this is not an overnight thing for me....  it is a process....  I have started by getting rid of the things that clutter my life....  those things that I have held on tight to forever but haven't needed or even looked at for years!!!  You know what I'm talking about....  the things that you find in the bottom of a box and say out loud... "OH!!  I forgot I had this!!"  If ya didn't even remember that you had it....  guess what.... ya probably don't NEED it!!!  So just go on ahead a put up that YARD SALE sign!!  :)  And as much as I love my awesome house....  it is way too big for the two of us....  and there is always some very time consuming "project" to be done!!!  I have realized that a simple little place (near the beach!!) just big enough for me, my guy, our puppies and the occasional overnight guest....  is all that I really need!!!  Just letting go of the clutter in my life has been liberating!!  And motivating!!!  I have begun to adopt the idea of simplicity in all corners of my life...  I'm growing a little box garden out back....  Never in a million years would I have dreamed that a box garden could bring me sooo much joy!!!  Not only am I growing and consuming simple organic veggies, I am also appreciating the simple beauty that God blesses us with every day....  but we often are too busy to notice!!   I have always appreciated the breath taking beauty of a sunset...  but I can't tell ya how often that I have only had just enough time to glance at that beauty and say "oh... that's so pretty" and get right back to the nonsense that was consuming my life at that moment!!  NO MORE!!!  I have vowed to STOP....  savor the moment.... notice the little things.... the breathtaking SIMPLE things!!!  The dew drops on my roses that sparkle like diamonds....  the birds that sing to me from the trees out back....  the ever so gentle jasmine filled breeze that blows through my window....  the excitement of my sweet puppies when I walk through the door!!!!  The things that you can't buy!!!    Yep.... getting back to the basics....  seeing beauty in the simplicity of this life.... grateful for the realization that there are very few THINGS that I really NEED....  and humbled by the simplicity of the things I have discovered that I WANT in my life!!!  Be sure to head over and check out Nicole's shot this week too!!!  :)