18Sep 2014 by CJ

Living a simple life leads to the most happiness

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living, Love & Relationships
“A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with—that’s poverty—but how efficiently we can put first things first. . . . When you’re clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it’s clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar.” ― Victoria Moran, Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty It’s rare that we ever take the time to evaluate the material (and personal) clutter in our lives and ask ourselves, “how can I simplify my life – what could I truly live without and still be happy?” For me, a highly anal organizer, there’s no greater feeling than purging the unneeded “stuff” we seem to hoard. We’ve got closets, basements, garages, attics, sheds…
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17Sep 2014 by CJ

Failure provides you with another opportunity to succeed

Life & Living
I consider myself fairly handy and ingenuitive when it comes to home improvements – a skill set I no doubt acquired from my father and my grandfather during all the invaluable times we shared together. Even today, regardless of the household task at hand, I’m always reminded of the two of them. Sometimes I actually feel as though they’re still there guiding me and educating me on an easier way to strip electrical wires or how an ordinary bar of soap rubbed on the threads of a screw make it easier to drive into difficult substrates. But of all the lessons they taught me perhaps the most important is that there’s more than one way to do something. I not only use this piece of wisdom during any home improvement…
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14Sep 2014 by CJ

Seems happiness isn’t the ONLY purpose in life

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living, Love & Relationships
Famed writer Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” I find his rather candid statement to be somewhat contradictory. After all, thousands of self- help gurus have written countless books on the subject of personal happiness and now all of a sudden Mr. Emerson is saying that “the purpose of life is not to be happy”? I don’t get it! But in all seriousness folks, I do get it. When our lives come to an end, and they all will someday, the only thing that will matter is how much good you did for someone besides yourself – how…
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12Sep 2014 by CJ

Oftentimes it’s the little things that remind us of home

Life & Living, Love & Relationships
It’s six o’clock in the morning and I’m sitting here with a steaming hot cup of coffee writing this blog post. It’s still black as coal outside, with a light rain gently tapping against my bedroom window. I’m somewhat surprised I didn’t wake up to the first snowfall of the season, as temperatures in Colorado had dropped to 34 degrees overnight. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to the up and down climate here in my new state, but it does keep it exciting – never knowing what to expect from one day to the next when you walk out your front door. (taking a sip of my coffee) Up until now the only clothes we’ve needed to pull from storage tubs sitting in our oversized closet or from…
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11Sep 2014 by CJ
Courage is not the absence of fear, but the art of enduring

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the art of enduring

Life & Living, Youth
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” Mary Anne Radmacher People are often confused by the word “courage”. Many believe it’s about physical strength and the absence of fear in their heart and their mind. But as Radmacher says in the above quote, “courage doesn’t always roar”. It’s often not some impressive act of heroism or intense bravery in the face of adversity. No, many times courage is found during ordinary days and less than extraordinary circumstances. Sadly we often dismiss just how courageous we all are because of how insignificant it may appear in the eyes of those always searching for sensational headlines and grandiose displays. But I assure you, on any given day,…
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