Lent has started and I’m a week behind already. I’ve got 2 of the 3 Lenten basics covered, but it’s discouraging to be behind before I start. Prayer – In addition to my regular prayer time I’ve joined a contemplative prayer group at our parish. These twice-a-week online gatherings have been meaningful since they prompt […]
Living Lightly
Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantlyBrowsing Posts in Paper-Less-Lent
Our daughter was home for Mother’s Day. Yay! Now that she lives back in the States, I encourage her to take her stuff that’s been stored at our home to her home – a much delayed goal. In the process Heidi identified 6 books that she said were obsolete and should be pitched. The Best […]
It was a normal morning and I was about to walk inside after checking the garden. Then it happened. I slipped on our rain soaked deck. Result: great pain, ER, x-rays, broken arm at elbow, surgery, hospitalization, continued pain. 12 days later; I’m now recovering. I’ve had plenty of down time to ponder what I’ve […]
Now that one office file cabinet is pretty much pruned and reorganized, I decided to tackle my two bookcases which hold work related books. I had a happy conundrum. Friends who were moving out of town offered me one of their bookcases. It matched my main bookcase in size and style so I was happy […]
I’m in a time warp. Easter was over 2 weeks ago but I’m still finishing up my Lenten resolve to prune my file cabinets. By Easter I had pruned 2 drawers of my first cabinet. (See here ) Once started, I was motivated to keep going. I have now finished the final 2 drawers of […]
Lent is over but my Lenten resolve is not. I had 2 goals: TO CLEAR MY MIND OF THE POLITICAL FUNK that was crowding my spirit by trying to better understand those who have different political beliefs than mine and voted for Trump. I spent a lot of time during most of Lent conversing with […]
I’ve spent almost 4 weeks now listening to people with whom I disagree. That might sound like a depressing Lent, but my intention was to better understand people who have a different political stance than mine. This meant I had to find and talk with Trump voters. Since I, like many people, primarily associate with […]
I had a good two part plan for Lent this year: *Clean out my work files and shelves *Clear my mind of the political funk that was crowding my spirit The process seemed logical: Step 1: Clear off the ping-pong table, aka my extended desk of papers that were “in process.” Step 2: File papers […]
Lent has begun! As long time readers of this blog know, in the past this has been a jump-start time for me to look at what needs to be transformed in my life like Letting go of unneeded possessions and self-centeredness Increasing my solidarity with the poor by eating on a Food Stamp budget Living […]
A success I couldn’t fit anything more into the file cabinet drawer assigned to NACFLM, my professional family life association. At this same time, a NACFLM committee I was on decided to archive former newsletters. For many years I had been the newsletter editor. Hmmm. I decided to bite the bullet and go through all […]
OK, technically, I did finish cleaning my desk up by Easter, BUT I conveniently omitted the fact that the file cabinet next to my desk had a lot of paper clutter and odds and ends on top of it too. I had intended that to be part of my Lenten clean up but just didn’t […]
My Lent 2016 resolve was twofold: Paper Reduction. Starting with my desk and including my “desk extensions” (3 file cabinets and the Ping Pong table), my goal was to reduce the paper. The connection to my spiritual life was that I figured clearing the extraneous paper that crowded my life would make me more productive […]
Another weekend, another excuse. This past weekend out of town travel kept me from continuing to clean out my desk. After returning home and doing the obligatory catch up from the meeting and addressing the coming week’s priorities, I decided to attack the low hanging fruit – stuff on top of my roll-top desk. This […]
I’ve been saving pruning my desk files for a weekend – when I have more time. Unfortunately/Fortunately this past weekend was Pig Town Fling – an annual weekend contradance which “required” my full presence and hosting 5 people. My nod to giving stuff away took the form of donating 2 contra dresses to the dress […]
This past week I was away at a meeting so I didn’t have time to go through my remaining desk drawers. I figured I’d focus on my companion Lenten resolution – to listen more mindfully. On the last leg of my flight to Louisiana my ears popped. You know, that uncomfortable feeling that you sometimes […]
I finally made the time to work on my Lenten commitment to clean out the paper clutter in my life, especially around my desk. It took me 2 ½ weeks to start because I knew cleaning off my desk would be a big project and I had other priorities. This weekend, however, provided some free time. […]
We’re one week into Lent and I haven’t even started. Oh sure, I’ve not eaten sweets (except on Sunday 🙂 ), but I haven’t started what I planned to do – clean up my paper clutter. My excuse? I’ve been preparing for work travel, traveling, and catching up from travel. All necessary things but still, Lent […]
