{Life Well Lived} Getting to a happy, relaxing place

Half way through the week and I've {so far ...} forgotten about a class we were finishing before church on Sunday, lost someone else's check {although a stranger later found it and returned it}, lost a key {still looking ...} to a door we had installed at the lake house last week, driven to the lake house to take care of some things but left some of the things at home, forgotten to run a fairly important errand, and ... well ... probably forgotten something else.

And, really, all of it just irks me. Seriously. I like being an organized person with a to-do list who helps people without complication. And this week that's just not happening.

I think my mind is on vacation. And I hope it returns from relaxing on the beach soon. So, really, I had to chuckle when I saw this blog prompt in my inbox this week: What are your favorite relaxation techniques? And what benefits do you see from practicing them?

Clearly, I need to return to some of my relaxation techniques. It's summer around here -- both with preschool being out and my daughter anticipating her August start to kindergarten and with the heat that makes me want to swim. After a few busy weeks, my mind must have decided it needed a break. In hopes of reigning it back to reality, I'm going to return to a place that is more relaxing than the scattered one I'm currently in.

• Reading something encouraging toward the beginning of the day. I subscribe to Proverbs 31 devotions, often visit (in)courage, and have a Google Reader full of other stuff by Shaun Groves, Lysa TerKeurst, Kristen Welch, Jessica Turner, Jill Savage, and others.
• Keep an on-going to-do list. This helps me run errands with less frustrating, remember what I need to do, move things from the front of my brain if they don't need to be immediately addressed, and provides an outlet for the satisfaction that comes with crossing those items off when they're finished.
• Text and call and write and email friends. Really, these days there is no reason not to be connected. Use technology to help you live in community in real life.
• Spend time with said friends. Spend time with their kids too. It may not be relaxing in the literal sense, but that's life. And life lived together is the best kind.
• Mommas with small kids, have rest time. My 5-year-old girl doesn't actually nap most days, but to have a couple hours of quiet while she plays quietly with dolls, puzzles, books or Leapster and my 2-year-old boy naps is good for my soul as well as their attitudes. 
• Date your spouse. Life is busy. Schedule time for a relaxing dinner away from the house where you can regroup as a team. 
• Turn the TV off. The kids have been on a TV break at our house. They don't watch all that much anyway. It helps them come up with ways to interact with each other, appreciate the times they do get to watch something, and enjoy the outside. And it's so peaceful not to have the TV on.
• Eat dinner together around the table. Again, with small kids this may not scream relaxation, but being together as a family is important to us and this is one way my life flows in a more peaceful rhythm. 
• Fold clothes while watching TV. I do like to watch TV when there is a show or movie I actually want to watch. And it's a great way for me to make myself sit down long enough to fold piles of clothes. Plus it's nice to mentally escape life for awhile.
• Plan not to have plans. I love making plans. But sometimes I need to leave openings on my calendar just because. Those mornings without commitments or evenings that leave us wondering what we should do between dinner and bedtime are precious. 
• Make at least some time for a hobby. I like to read. I like to write. And I like to scrapbook. When I leave some dirty dishes in the sink or don't mop the kitchen floor the second I notice it needs it and choose to pick up a fiction suspense novel, sit down to blog, or organize some pictures with cute accessories in an album, I feel refreshed.
• Swim. You know, it's summer, and, really, when you live in a place that has already experienced 90-degree days before Memorial Day, having plans that involve water is a good way to relax. My kids love to be around the water. Our favorite life jacket caters to my boy's fearlessness. So we're ready. And keeping a close on two little ones in a pool is relaxing in the sense that we cool off, have fun, and they use lots of energy. 

I'm not in an overly relaxing season of life, but I find myself most at peace when I'm connected to God, my family, and my friends. Peace comes for me when life flows with a balance of productivity, fun activities and down time. For whatever reason, that flow was interrupted this week. Being out of sync is certainly not relaxing, but I'm confident I'll return. My first step is to tackle some small mountains of laundry while catching up on "Army Wives."

How do you relax in the season of life you're in? You can read more about relaxation techniques on Blogher. There is even a sweepstakes you can enter.


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{Life Well Lived} So long, Clutter!

I do not like clutter. Piles of paper on the kitchen counter drive me nuts. I don't understand why people won't carry their belonging up the stairs if I put them on the bottom step for them. And I like my email inbox to stay cleaned out.


I do like shelves, closets, filing cabinets, digital folders, the paper recycling bin, and scrapbooks.

So when I saw the prompt: How do you organize paperwork both online and off? Share your tip(s) to managing physical and digital clutter! in my inbox, I had no trouble thinking of a few tips to share. Your counters will thank me.

• Touch the papers once. Papers may mean the mail, the kids' papers from their backpacks, or anything your husband brings through the door and right to the counter. If it's trash, toss it in the recycling bin. If it needs to go to the office, take it to the desk. If it needs to be signed and returned somewhere, put it by your purse. You get the point. Look at it. Decide where it needs to go. And put it there.
• Don't try to save every piece of artwork your child brings home. My daughter is only in preschool. And yet saving every ABC practice sheet, counting worksheet, and cute stick people drawing she brings home isn't going to happen. Some pieces of art work make it onto the fridge and then end up in a binder full of 8 1/2-by-11 page protectors that I plan to keep for her. Others just go to the recycling bin. 
• Recycle. I keep a plastic tub in my laundry room, which is right off the kitchen, that allows easy access for the junk mail and other unnecessary pieces of paper that clutter my counters and my life.
• Create a photo/documents filing system on your computer. It took me some trial and error to figure out what I liked best, but I file my photos {and I take many photos ...} by month. If I take several photos of one event, I'll create a photo for that event within the monthly folder. All the monthly folders are stored in a folder labeled by year. This entire system is backed up on the external hard drive and also burned onto DVD at the end of the year. I also have a folder called "To Print" where I save copies of any photos I want to print. Then they're all together when I see a good deal from Snapfish or Shutterfly. Likewise, in "My Documents" I have folders for areas of my life that will produce multiple documents. Other documents are saved loose in "My Documents." And when I'm done with them and don't expect to reopen them {say, my daughter's party invitation that has been printed and handed out to friends} I move them to a "USED" folder. 
• Buy a filing cabinet. Yes, it's a tad nerdy, but it's so practical. You can have folders in there for insurance, medical information, and whatever other papers you may need to locate at some point in the future. My husband has a mostly paperless filing system at his office, thanks to a speedy scanner. Truthfully, I'd like for that to happen at home at some point.
• Use labels on your emails. I love Gmail. The label system in there works great for me to keep my inbox from being cluttered with emails I may not need. But it's so easy to store them, so why would I want to delete them all? I also like the priority inbox feature that organizes my messages into unread, starred, and then everything else. It's visually organized and practical. Go, Gmail!

Visit Blogher.com for more tips on how to rid your life of clutter. You can even enter a sweepstakes while you're there.
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