Simplifying Life

ceridwen

Hi Jellicat

Well...I'm glad what we've had to say has been of use in this respect.

All the best with your "simplifying".

mary43

Jellicat - first off, sorry to hear how you're feeling and I do sympathise as I've felt much like that in the not too distant past. This thread has helped me such a lot and I started to get rid of loads of stuff that was really pulling me down though I hadn''t realised it.
Now, if I do buy a little something (bit of a weakness of mine to fall into the local charity shop) I make sure I get rid of something, sometimes more than one item, and that way I don't get myself back where I started.
Make sure you set yourself achievable goals with all this. I tried to do so much all at once and got in a bigger muddle than ever. We all have our own methods I know but I found doing one room at a time a lot easier.
I still have a long way to go but now I can actually see what I've got and appreciate it as well as having a clearer head and see things from a whole new angle.
Good luck

Ellidee

:T Great post Mary. Jellicat this is a fab thread and I'm so glad that it has helped you, it helps and inspires me loads. Can I point you in the direction of two other fab threads ? Enough is Enough, The Great Declutter and The Good Enough Club. Can't do linky things so hope you find them.

moneypooh

We spent the day sorting the garden. The rains have made everything overgrown so major pruning needed. There is something simple and relaxing about pottering in the garden - even with the children!:D

mary43

moneypooh - you;re so right. Somehow messing about with plants somehow helps to put things into perspective. Kids can get a bit dirty if they like (and most do) and its a way of teaching them about nature and how important it is to our very survival.

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
Yes sorry it's been a while again hasn't it....just life getting in the way and catching up from the holiday etc etc. However, pleased to report I'm just about there now and am beginning to find slots to put in some of the bits I enjoy doing at home aswell as all the domestic bits. I spent the weekend enjoying the sunshine, making elderflower cordial and coconut ice [courtesy of the current Waitrose recipe card] for my Dad for Father's Day although the small person and I decided that it should be coloured blue rather than pink!! Jolly nice too though I say it myself as I have forced myself to sample the batch we've got here on several occasions just to check:D:D
My friend Alastair gave me this poem yesterday and I am very taken with it [it may be familiar to many of you but I hadn't seen it before] particularly the last two lines. Hope you enjoy it.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Aril

ceridwen

Hi Aril

Thanks for that. Wondered how you were getting on.

Indeed "master of my soul" is a phrase for us to remember.

Was thinking today re whether to continue with doing what I can to "futureproof" my life (ie prepare for the way I see Society changing at present) or "eat, drink and be merry because...." and came down again on the side of futureproofing my life. Some things we see happening in the world at large at present are undoubtedly very worrying - what a bundle of stuff is going on at present: global warming, overpopulation, the bees appear to be dying out en masse (and would appear vital to OUR survival), the U.S. is still threatening yet more wars to try and grab a bit more oil for itself and some more little-known factors (thinking of another article I read over the weekend about this vast machine that has been constructed under the Swiss Alps - particle accelerator is it called? to simulate the initial Big Bang scientists believe was the The Start of It All and which they are going to switch on next month (WHAT?????:eek: :eek: :eek: !) - I was only thinking today we need to send some seriously strong "good vibes" in that particular direction ....such casual "Playing God" by scientists is appalling. Link if you're wondering what?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9433495

He is quoted as saying "scientists have all sorts of ideas for what may materialise"!!!!!

What a bundle of stuff at present - whew! The world is a very scary place to be. But - through it all - I believe the human spirit must remain triumphant and indeed remember the sentiments in that poem.

So - thanks for reminding us - and I expect you have a Summer Solstice celebration lined up - so have a good one Aril.

2cats1kid

I shouldn't worry about the particle accelerator - it has been adopted by journos who don't know much about physics seeing big numbers and thinking there is a headline there. Particle accelerators have been chugging away underground for the last 50-odd years and doing pretty similar things. This one is mainly notable in that the particle energy is a bit more than previously (but not excessively so) and it can run 6 separate experiments in the one accelerator. As an ex-physicist, I am 99.999% sure there will NOT be a big black hole where Switzerland used to be any time soon.

mary43

aril - good to see you again and love the poem...........means a lot to me at the minute with all my little 'hiccups' at the moment.

ceridwen - hi there..................tis very worrying this world we're living in at the moment and it makes me wonder what next can there be ? Hadn't heard about this accelorator thing............thanks 2cats for that bit of re-assurance.
There's far too much meddling with nature and playing 'God' .......can't be doing any good as far as I can see.
Thats without the cost of everything rising to the point that its almost unaffordable to live in a comfortable way. OH managed to get enough petrol to get us to MILs and back - at a price !! Good job its not a journey we make often. I'm dreading to think what fuel bills will be later this year (if they go up yet again as it seems they might).
But on a light note we had a brilliant time in Liverpool soaking up a bit of the 'culture' there. Visited the two cathedrals.............beautiful they were and in the Liverpool Cathedral there was a children's service..........sounded like little angels and ...........yes.........I have to admit to blubbing a bit while trying to hide in the gift shop ! Spending kept to absolute minimum........few postcards as mementos and couple of things from a charity shop I couldn't resist at £1 each............MIL gave us six paper back books that will end up at our charity shop here along with the six dinner plates she insisted we had and don't need ! Easier to bring them home with us than offend her by saying 'no' but we were grateful to the loaf of bread, quiche, 4 tins of bakes beans and tins of tomatos..................lol
Nice to have a few days away but even nicer to come home..........till I get a message from the builder (hasn;t been near for over 3 weeks) wanting to come and finish off what he actually hasn't started yet. Roof is done and all the outside important stuff. The rest, to be honest, we could do ourselves but having given him the job in the first place what choice have we but to let him carry on
Also message from soc.services asking me to phone them...........they must know I'm on leave...........I've booked it and it should be on their system somewhere !! Happens every time..........:mad: So thats a call I shan't be returning till Monday.

Well, unpacking to do -once OH comes back from having a well earned pint or two and takes the suitcase upstairs - sort out any washing.........post off some Beatles leaflets I got to send to eldest son and a coaster recycled from an old CD (got it from a shop called 'shared earth') for youngest son.

Then, maybe, some sort of normality will return........(felt very strange walking into a house that wasn't 'beige'...........lol MIL has 'beige' everything................lol)

ceridwen

Well....beige everywhere...I guess its simplifying!

I was only thinking earlier today..."Now...if I'd just used magnolia paint for absolutely everything in this house (like builders do!;) ) then I wouldnt have to wonder which particular shade of white I have painted this/that/the other when some darn workman chips my paintwork...yet again!"