keep it simple – Holistic Living

A Simple Wish For You This Christmas

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.Agnes M Pharo For as long as I can remember, Christmas has been a time of beautiful sights, sounds, smells, a time that feels vibrant yet peaceful. My parents never seemed to turn themselves inside out in order to cultivate the sense of magic I felt, yet it was there all the same. It was in the adventure of walking back into the trees on our farm to find our Christmas tree - always more Charlie Brown than full and spectacular. My father used this as an opportunity to care for…

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Values, The Commons, + Our Garden

be the change, community, environment, live with intention

So, I’m going to try and weave together a few concepts that I think are important and that I want to explore and share; Part 01 Personal ValuesPart 02 The CommonsPart 03 Our Garden Plan It comes down to this; I don't think the world is going to be better for our kids than it was for us. I think we've hit a tipping point where it's going to get worse before it gets better. I've read something recently, or someone mentioned, that, in fact, things in the world are better now than they ever have been but doesn't seem that way due to how much we clearly see the bad shit is going on for most of the global majority due to the pervasive access we all have to…

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Distracted or Tuned In?

be the change, community, family, live with intention

On a scale of 1 - 10, how distracted do you feel? Have you given any thought to how you spend your time? Like…really thought about it? Are you going about your minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years consciously? Intentionally? Or are you just…going with the flow of the life we end up living, prescribed by expectation and/or default? It’s worth spending a few minutes really reflecting on where your time actually goes. I feel like time is flying faster than I really want it to. My kid is growing so fast. It’s happening right before my eyes, + the moments are so fleeting it’s hard to capture them fully. I try to be present, mindful, aware, savour it all, + yet the clock tick tick ticks on…and now they’re…

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Screen Free Freedom

keep it simple, live with intention, Personal

REFLECTIONS ON THE GIFTS OF RECOVERING FROM A CONCUSSION + OTHER INJURIES So I'm recovering from a concussion. Yeah... Aaro + I were wrestling, August 15th I believe, + he clocked me on the bridge of my nose/forehead with his heel. He was lying on his stomach, I was pretending to flop down on him, + he used the full force of his backward kick to protect himself. As if I would actually fall on him + crush his little self. *rolls eyes dramatically* At first I just thought my nose was broken, because it hurt like hell + my nose felt...crunchy. But. No blood. No bruising. I looked friggin fine. Because of course I did. Nothing to see here. It wasn’t until later that evening that I knew something…

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Create A Ritual That Feels Good

essential oils, grow heal love, live with intention

rit·u·al : the established form for a ceremony Merriam-Webster As much as we associate ‘ritual’ with more complex things like religious ceremony, it can be as simple as being intentionally present + mindful when brewing your morning coffee, taking a quiet moment for the deliberate deep breath + savouring of your first sip of coffee. Ritual is a practice we use to bring significance + intentionality to an experience. Ways you might be practising ritual already : Journaling when you wake or before bedtime Taking a bath with bath salts or bubbles + a warm drink Inhaling the aroma of an essential oil before heading out for the day A bedtime routine for your or your kiddo that includes prayer, a special song, massage. In my mind, our values are…

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TIME FOR REST

grow heal love, live with intention

One year ago, roughly, the world changed. The immensity of seeing something impact people across the globe was, + is, almost incomprehensible. A collective trauma. Stripping bare so many inequities that have always been there, but which have been so easy to not see or pay attention to. The human heart has a way of making itself large again even after it's been broken into a million pieces.Robert James Waller Social media can be so toxic. But I've seen more posts in the past year than ever before that are able to articulate feelings + thoughts that are rattling around + feel hard to give shape to…about body positivity, racism + white supremacy, privilege…+ specific to this lil' email, about the processing of all the experiences + feelings of this…

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Gratitude is Necessary for your Self-Care

gratitude, keep it simple, live with intention

Once upon a time...as far back as yesterday...I've struggled with the ebbs + flows, nay the tsunami peaks + valleys, of emotions. Sometimes, they are intense. + persistent. Man, they can be big to process. It's literally been a life journey, + will continue to be. I want to share things that have helped, because I know I'm not the only one who's been tasked with these life lessons. I'm so hopeful for the youth of today, who I think, I hope, will have a better tools, + understanding, + acceptance to support their inner workings. It's hard when you're learning + accepting some of these lessons into your 30s [+ beyond...]. It's never too late to learn something new, to adapt the way you think + process. Evolution, friend.…

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values + priorities

be the change, keep it simple, live with intention

Not to sound repetitive...but I keep coming back to this... What do you plan to do with your one wild + precious life? Here's why it's a motto of sorts for me; it helps to narrow down + distill the things that are the most important things in life. Values. Priorities. Which help keep me on track for what I want to have filled my life with when I get to the end + look back. I've briefly touched on this subject before, right here, but this month I want to dive into it a little deeper. So what is important to you? How do you make decisions for what goes on in your days? We're deciding on our future, our experiences, + even our memories whether we're intentional about…

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THIS TIME IN WHICH WE FIND OURSELVES

be the change, community, family, grow heal love, home, keep it simple, live with intention

Parents. We're stressed about the choices we have to make. Back to school? Stay at home? Have to work? Tough choices. But let me try to relieve one part of this burden from your shoulders. Your children's future will not be messed up because of this year or two of un"normal" school. I say this as a parent of a kiddo going into grade 2, having registered him to return to class, watching local Covid numbers daily to see how they're trending, + also putting plans in to place to home school while also working from home. I say this with the perspective of having experienced the public school system, home schooling, starting at new schools three or four times, including starting at a new high school for my last…

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EASY, GREEN, CLEAN

environment, essential oils, home, keep it simple

I have to tell you, I'm actually a little surprised this isn't something I've written about before, because easy green DIY cleaning is something we've been doing for a good long while in our home. It's been on my mind more these days as I think about how we're looking to dive even deeper into the realm of simplicity + self-sufficiency. + as I learn, I will share with you. GREEN CLEANING! Why green cleaning, you ask? It lowers your exposure to toxic synthetic chemicals. In most cases [or all, as I've found], it's cheaper.+, most importantly, IMHO, it's easy. Why is this important right now? Well, friends, we're housebound. Job security might not be so secure. Our earth is calling us to do a better job of how we…

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