Finding Time

You will never "find" time....Do you ever find yourself saying if I could find the time I would…insert what you’ve been longing to do?

I’ve been finding myself doing that quite often lately. And you know, the time is always there. It’s up to you to make the time for it.

If you want to go to the pool for an afternoon, go to the lake and spend the day, visit your mom or your grandma, or sit by the bonfire, go do it! Make the time for it.

Whatever else it is that you think you have to do, can wait.

Or prioritize your day/evening so you can make both things happen. It’s totally doable!

“You will never “find” time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”- Charles Bruxton

My family and I found the time to relax and sit by the bonfire. It was much needed and brought us all together. It’s important to make time for moments like this.

Warmly,

Gretchen

You’re writing the story of your life…

You're Writing the Story of Your Life....Do you ever feel that life is passing you by in the blink of an eye?

I seem to notice it more and more as my kiddos keep getting bigger and bigger. I saw where someone posted on Facebook how you only have 18 summers with your kids. That really put things into perspective for me.

Our kids decided that they wanted to camp out on our farm this past weekend.

Here’s a picture of them helping prepare breakfast over the fire. These are the memories we cherish most and they’ll never forget.

Kids by the fire.

It made me think about this quote and how fitting it is since we are the ones who are writing the stories of our lives.

“You’re writing the story of your life one moment at a time.” -Doc Childre and Howard Martin

I invite you to take the time to reflect on the things that matter most in life and make time for them.

Warmly,

Gretchen

Need More? 3 Ways to Get It

Need More? 3 Ways to Get ItHave you found yourself thinking about how you need more, even if you’re not sure what more means?

You know, that little nagging feeling that you don’t have enough? It’s easy to think about it being that you need more money but truly money is only one part of that unsettling feeling of lack.

When you dig into those feelings, a lot of the ‘need for more’ is really a need to be fulfilled and that life has more meaning.

Here are three ways to help you feel rich beyond how much is in your bank account:

Get Excited for Other People’s Abundance!

When you see something good happen to someone else, notice if you feel a little envious of them. If you notice that green-eyed-jealousy monster peeking in, say hello to it then tell it you’re moving on to feeling really happy for that person to be doing well.

Think about why it’s wonderful that this good thing just happened for the other person. It might be that they got a great promotion which means they can spend more time with their family and have a shorter commute.

Or that they just got a new car which means they now can do their long commute in a reliable vehicle with heating and air conditioning that works vs. showing up to work sweaty from summer heat every day.

When you start to flip your reactions about others having great things coming into their lives, it means that you can also start to see and fully appreciate when those same good things happen in your life.

Fill Someone’s Abundance Bucket!

Take it a step further and help fill someone else’s abundance bucket. What does this mean?

It means that you say or do a positive thing for another person. This might be something as simple as smiling or saying hello to a stranger, inviting someone to go somewhere with you, sending a few cheerful words to someone or being a good listener to someone who needs to be heard.

Maybe you can generously and genuinely congratulate someone else on their success.

Bigger ways to fill an abundance bucket are to volunteer for a project or organization, organize a charitable event, or help an older neighbor with chores they may struggle to complete. .

What do you have that you can give to someone else? What encouragement, complement or support can you pass along?

When you find opportunities to do small, kind actions you not only help someone else, you also help fill your own bucket. You get two great results from each act of kindness. I promise you that.

Fill Your Own Bucket!

Create more positive experienced-based things in your life. These are things that don’t require a lot of money and are activities that make you feel good.

An example of this is to visit an old friend for coffee or lunch. If they live too far away, text them a hello and spend a few minutes asking them how they’re doing and what they’ve been up to lately.

If you love to ride horses,  go take one from a nearby stable. If you love reading but haven’t done it in a while, make the time to do it.

Or hey, what about creating your own craft night, book club or scheduling a weekly walk around the park with your friends?

As we move through life it can be easy to lose track of doing the things we really enjoy and that fill our abundance bucket. So we need to make sure we schedule those activities into our lives because we know how happy they make us.

Got an idea in mind? Go add it to your calendar right now even if you don’t have the details worked out yet. You’re more likely to make it happen by scheduling it in. 😉

More

No matter how much money you make, when using any of these three approaches, you’ll invite more abundance and richness into your life. You’ll give more meaning to every day and as a result you’ll feel happier.

You’ll understand what ‘more’ really is.

Take Action

Which one of the approaches from above can you try today? Did it make you feel like you have a little more than you did before trying out one of the above techniques? I’d love to hear how it made you feel.

With much love and gratitude,

Gretchen