SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE - 5 TIPS TO FOCUS YOUR ENERGY

DO YOU KNOW HOW MOST OF US PACK TOO MUCH INTO THE DAY AND CLUTTER OUR LIVES WITH TOO MANY THINGS TO DO AND TOO MUCH IN OUR PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT? THIS CAUSES US TO FEEL EXHAUSTED WITH TOO MANY THINGS TO ACCOMPLISH. READ ON TO LEARN 5 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE THROUGH SIMPLIFICATION.

1. KEEP IT SIMPLE.
REMOVE UNNECCESSARY THINGS IN YOUR LIFE. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO TAKE ACTION TOWARD ELIMINATING CLUTTER FROM YOUR LIFE? WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO REMOVE FROM YOUR LIFE FOR EMBRACING A "LESS IS MORE ATTITUDE"?

2. ELIMINATE YOUR TO DO LIST AND A NEED FOR BUSY-NESS.
IF YOU STILL HAVE THE SAME TO DO LIST ON A LIST OF CHORES THAT YOU HAD A MONTH AGO, ELIMINATE THE LIST TO STOP THIS ENERGY DRAIN. YOU NEED TO STAY FOCUSED ON YOUR MOST IMPORTANT IDEA.

3. EXTEND BOUNDARIES.
THE PARAMETERS YOU SET SO PEOPLE KNOW HOW TO RELATE TO YOU ARE CALLED BOUNDARIES. THEY KEEP OTHERS INFORMED AS TO WHAT YOU WILL ALLOW. ONCE YOU HAVE SET ADEQUATE BOUNDARIES, YOU WILL FEEL RESPECTED AND YOUR INTEGRITY WILL BE IN PLACE. YOU WILL HAVE GAINED MORE PEACE BY SAYING NO TO ALL THE PEOPLE AND THINGS THAT YOU HAVE OUTGROWN. ONE BENEFIT OF SETTING BOUNDARIES IS THAT YOUR STRESS LEVEL WILL BE REDUCED AND YOU WILL ELIMINATE WHAT YOU DON'T WANT OR NEED. THIS WILL NATURALLY LEAD YOU TO MAKING CHOICES THAT HAVE HIGHER PRIORITIES FOR YOU.

4. CREATE YOUR VISION IN LINE WITH YOUR VALUE.
IN ORDER TO SET PRIORITIES FOR YOUR VISION ASK YOURSELF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS TO DECIDE WHY YOU WANT TO HAVE THIS IN YOUR LIFE NOW. WHAT VALUE OF YOURS DOES IT SERVE? HOW WILL THIS SERVE YOU AND WHAT WILL IT BRING TO YOU IN THE NEXT YEAR?

5. PROACTIVELY MAKE PLANS FOR FUN AND SIMPLICITY.
CREATE A SIMPLE PLAN WITH PROACTIVE STEPS THAT INCLUDE THINGS YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO ALLOW YOURSELF TO SLOW DOWN. YOU ARE MEANT TO HAVE PERIODS OF JUST BEING. WHEN YOU GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK YOU WILL NATURALLY THINK MORE CLEARLY. IF YOU FEEL FAMISHED FOR TIME, LOOK AT WAYS TO PRIORITIZE AND SCHEDULE FEWER ACTIVITIES AND CHANGE THE PACE BY PURPOSEFULLY ALLOWING SOME FUN TIME IN YOUR SCHEDULE TO REFLECT ON THE PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE.

THESE TOOLS MAY ASSIST YOU IN CREATING A MORE BALANCED AND SIMPLIFIED LIFE. YOUR GOAL IS TO SHAVE DOWN YOUR SCHEDULE SO YOU FEEL ENERGIZED BY YOUR PLANS AND ACTIVITIES VS. EXHAUSTED BY A HECTIC PACE THAT LACKS IN FULFILLMENT OF THE JOURNEY. I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS QUOTE BY SHAKTI GAWAIN: "PROSPERITY IS THE EXPERIENCE OF HAVING PLENTY OF WHAT WE TRUELY NEED AND WANT IN LIFE, MATERIAL AND OTHERWISE."

ASK YOURSELF HOW YOU CAN STACK THE DECK IN YOUR FAVOR OF ACHIEVING A HIGHER QUALITY OF LIFE THIS MONTH.

FIJIAN FEAST

On June 7th I ate at a Fijian feast at the Methodist Church that I attend. I walked there about 8 miles that day. It is on Montgomery St. where I had attended a Mom's group when my son was about 2. The food was prepared in honor of the Baptism of a one year old Fijian baby. Their traditional food too many starches and few vegetables. They do not even know about organic foods.

I will one day teach them about that and visit Fiji someday with my 2 sisters who I have known for about 1 year now. They serve a lot of fish from Hawaii, beef mixed with some peppers and carrot strips, a tapioca type of bread, taro root bread, curry beef, watermelon and plenty of cakes. About 80 people were there and I was one of the few Caucasians. I am part Hawaiian and many Figians have skin as dark as mine. There were many children running around as well as babies.

It is interesting that the women have very large feet like I do...

COYOTE TAILS

I hiked over to Spring Lake Park about 8 miles around the Rincon Valley area. I spied a very thin coyote which was evasive. He reminded me of several coyotes that I have seen at Sears Point rock art site that are inscribed and etched in stone.

I have seen very healthy and friendly wolves that are attracted to people in Yellowstone and in California wildernesses. They are very unlike the coyote as they are friendly.

Native American people consider the coyote to be a superstitious creature - they do not eat them. Coyotes are known to cause bad luck and they are also known to inflict disease upon people. Similar to Kokopelli - they have been mythological characters for over 50,000 years.

When my family went to Albuquerque one hot summer we saw coyotes inscribed at Petroglyph National Monument. We also saw a cute cat petroglyph and took a photo of it.

My son loves cats and I also prefer the calmness of cats..

CELTIC FESTIVAL

Last weekend I attended the Celtic Fest at St. Michael's school, an old restored house and quarters in Roseland. It was wonderful to hear the music and watch the various dancers doing old Irish jigs and dancing. Many types of instruments were played in the bands including harmonicas, accordians, small guitars, fifes, flutes, and drums.

The gathering was underneath some redwoods and fig trees, and there was a lovely garden too. The dancers were dressed in 19th century costumes. I enjoyed being present with this ethnic entertainment. It reminded me of being in Williamsburg back East.

A SPRING DAY AT SPRING LAKE

One Saturday I visited Spring Lake Park to hike around the lake and back through Howarth Park. There is a peacefulness about the park. I helped the park planners with the concept of the visitor center in the 80's, and I helped the crew conceive of the storyteller's cavern which is made of basalt. The basalt was mined at Annadel State Park by Italians in order to pave streets in Petaluma and in San Francisco.

There are many geese that visit the park throughout the winter and spring. The baby goslings are very cute as they follow each other around in the lake and play and flap their tiny wings.

I also noted a white egret atop some trees. The small swimming lagoon is still not open yet. The lagoon and the lake is fed by an underground spring located toward the east of the lagoon.

SANTA ROSA PARADE OF ROSES

May 10th I walked downtown to view the parade of roses and I saw some nice looking rose floats which reminded me of the Pasadena parade of roses. The parade participants were themed in various decades, and there were many people lining the sidewalks. Some people even came from San Francisco. There was a group of people throwing pizza pies as they strolled from Mary's Pizza shack. Others were clowns, and of course shriners dressed like Arabian knights. Several horse groups were groomed with rose flowers. The horses pranced and danced. I walked about 8 miles down to the southern part of town. There were some acrobats and bikers with dogs in carts lined with various roses. All in all it was a fun and sunny day.

CINCO DE MAYO

May 5th I went to the Cinco de Mayo festivities at Roseland. It felt like I was visiting Old Mexico again. When I had finished my BA degree I decided to travel throughout Mexico and participated in an archaeological field school near Cuatla.

I overheard conversations in booths about how the French over took the Spanish to control Mexico during the 1800's. There were so many people dressed up and dancing with the Mariacho bands. There music was very loud and everyone was enjoying the summer night. I walked down Sebastopol Road which was my old stomping grounds when we lived in that neighborhood many moons ago.

The communal food, happy families, and giggly girls reminded me of how different our American community is from that of Mexico's.