A Well Crafted Legacy

Simplifying Life is Personal and Enjoyable

Simplifying Life is Personal and Enjoyable

Personal Simplification To simplify scares many turns off many, and intrigues many. I went through all three of those feelings from the time I was introduced to the concept of simplicity, about four years ago. My first exposure was with Megan Starbuck and her blog Living Tiny, Dreaming Big. Her writing about tiny living came right about the time I was getting excited about tiny homes (which I hope to have someday). In her blog, she addressed various ways, reasons, and outcomes of embracing simplicity, no matter the size of your home, family, or life. Through reading her blog, she took me from being turned off and scared to intrigued because Megan made it very clear that living a life of simplicity is total, 100% personal. What a relief! So many before Megan, made me feel I had to do…

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Exposure to Foundational to Beneficial

Exposure to Foundational to Beneficial

EXPOSURE Exposure is powerful.Exposure is hard to forget.Exposure causes a reaction.Exposure demands a response. Exposure can be the start or foundation of something or the capstone or finishing off of something. Exposure can cause a reaction. Exposure demands a response. The root word to exposure is "expose", which comes from Latin word exponere or expound, and was influenced by the Latin word expositus or to "set out" and the Old French word poser or "to place". It is important to know the history of a word because it gives clarity and understanding. Expose is to reveal, set out, and to place. When we are exposed to something, it is going to cause a reaction and demand a response. The reaction is emotional, the response being foundational of what we do with what we have been exposed to. Twenty years ago…

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Acceptance for the Organized Soul

Acceptance for the Organized Soul

IS THIS ORGANIZED? IS THIS ORGANIZED? OR, IS THIS ORGANIZED The word organized comes from the Latin word "organum" meaning instrument or tool. And the basis of the word tool was originally used for "prepare". This background reveals the true essence of organized. It is the tool or thing we use to prepare to do something. Organized is not about how it looks, it is all about functionality. Don't get me wrong, I love to organize and step back to see everything neat, tidy, and pleasing to the eye, but if I sacrifice functionality, then the tool is broke. Can functionality look amazing? Yes! Functionality can be pleasing to the eye and even more so it is beneficial to being productive and reducing daily stress. Before I understood that the true purpose of being organized, was to improve function, I…

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Problem Solving is Natural

Problem Solving is Natural

I Don't want to talk about the P-Word "Problem" No one really wants to talk about problems, until they have to, but we need to understand and appreciate our natural ability to solve them. Let's look at what a problem is. Definitions bring clarity. Clarity reveals applicability. Problem Defined A problem is a noun because it is tangible and meant to be owned by someone or a group of people. It is a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome and possibly damaging with a need to be dealt with and overcome or solved. The problem requires action, and if it does not receive the necessary action, it will increase in possible pending doom the longer the action is withheld. Right after reading the definition our mind goes to those nagging problems we have ignored. Maybe a door lock that needs…

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The Practice of Taking a Stand

The Practice of Taking a Stand

What we practice, we perfect, and what we perfect, results in wisdom I confess to you today, I’m a people watcher. I love to watch people.  Years ago my husband and I would get popcorn, grab a bench and watch people. Through these inexpensive days of entertainment, we learned how different people walked, interacted, and behaved with each other and the message they sent to onlookers. Very interesting and entertaining.  Chuck and I would share our observations and in this process, we learned about people and about each other. Quite often he would see something I didn't see and vise versa. Some of those differences were due to his male view of the behavior. But the more interesting and thought-provoking perspectives were because of our different backgrounds, encounters, and people that influenced our lives. I still look back and smile about those…

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Tend, Guard and Keep as it Becometh You.

Tend, Guard and Keep as it Becometh You.

Tend, Guard and Keeping We experience these character traits and skills from people that have loved us deeply and have been there for us in our journey of life's ups and downs. For me, it was my Mom! She was full of love and the bravery to tend, guard and keep her family no matter what. Who has been that for you? Who has set the example of being strong enough to speak the truth as tending you at pivotal times, have guarded you and or kept you with unconditional love? There will be a time that each of us will need to rise and be a life-changing agent by tending, guarding or keeping someone or something. We Rise to Tend Tending Requires a single focus for a season Tending is reaching out and overlooking differences Tending is having a…

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Jane’s Journey “Reflection”

Jane’s Journey “Reflection”

Jane's Journey "Reflection" Jane's Journey is about my transition into an adventure within my "hereafter" or my "from now on" of this big, new and unknown space and a place called retirement. I am sharing my experiences to give wisdom and help when it is your time and also hear from you if you have already found your place and space in your hereafter of retirement. Retirement - The realizing and engaging of times, ideas and realms of possibility that your heart looks for and your mind images but never tasted of, until now on. As I entered the second quarter of "Hereafter", I am reflecting on the journey of my first three months. REFLECTION Reflection comes from the root word "reflex" or "to bend back". A time to pause and bend or look back is so healthy for our…

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Divided Disciplines and It Is Working

Divided Disciplines and It Is Working

My disciplines changed as I journeyed into my "hereafter" season. It is now divided, and it is working. Discipline is defined as a sense of "mortification by scourging oneself" from Middle English. Or via Latin "action based on instruction or knowledge". For most of us, we desire to have a level of discipline in various areas of life such as stopping bad habits like smoking or drinking or implementing good habits like walking or eating more vegetables daily. We do not have to be organized by nature to desire discipline, because discipline is a practice or behavior versus organized being a character trait. And like many behaviors or practices we develop in life, they will change as your life changes seasons. Change always comes, we can not stop it, but we can benefit from it if we embrace the change with…

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Soft Places in Hard Times

Soft Places in Hard Times

I first heard these two words "Soft Places" tucked together in "Savor" a devotional by Shauna Niequist and I have never forgotten them. As I read these words, they formed a picture in my mind that touched my heart with warmth and a sense of safety that I had experienced in different hard times in my life; and it made me pause, reflect and give thanks for my "soft places". We all have had hard times, and when we do we often look for those soft places, even if just for a few hours. Soft Places Active Listening can be done anywhere Sitting in a Peaceful Place No Questions or Judgement That soft place can be a place to rest, enjoy a beverage with a listening ear or maybe just be silent. But that place needs to be free from the pricks…

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Struggling to Unlearn

Struggling to Unlearn

Learning is a powerfully stimulating process that we all are drawn and influenced to do throughout life. We are created to learn, so as a child we are voracious learners. Then family takes over the learning process and we are like sponges around them, learning both good and bad behaviors and mindsets. Maybe we learn to walk, tie our shoes, dress, brush our teeth and somewhere along with the way maybe some adult language or not eating breakfast. Whatever we learn in our forming years will only be a portion of what we carry with us through life. Then, we all reach the season where we THINK we know all that we need to know. You know what I mean, those great young adult years of "You don't tell me, I know what I need to do". This season of…

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