Welcome to The Simplifier, brought to you by…

Contents:

1. A Note From Shawn
2. Our Featured Quote
3. Article: Getting Together With Your Essential Self
4. Your Simplification Tip
5. In the News
6. Featured at ProjectSimplify.com
7. Keep Smiling

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1. A Note From Shawn

Whether working under deadline or taking care of necessary tasks, whether washing your car or pulling weeds, whether on vacation or grocery shopping, you continue to breathe. No question about it. It seems so simple, breathe in breathe out, without a thought. However, it’s amazing how much conscious deep breathing can soothe your sympathetic nervous system. As this is affected by stress levels and is the seat of the fight-or-flight syndrome, it could be argued quite easily that soothing the nervous system soothes your whole being.

I mention this as a reminder of how subtle actions can affect your experience. This hints at a secret about my intentions with this newsletter and my entire business for that matter. It’s all about you and your essential self. Yes, we’ll keep organizing and simplifying your life. But the most important thing to take away is whatever helps you tap into that deepest part of yourself and bring a little more of that into your worldly life. One experience at a time, one breath at a time.

Enjoy,

Shawn Tuttle

Head Simplifier
Project Simplify
Co-editor, The Simplifier

 

 

 

2. Our Featured Quote

“It seems essential, in relationships and all tasks, that we concentrate only on what is most significant and important.”

-Soren Kierkegaard

3. Article: Getting Together with Your Essential Self

By Shawn Tuttle

Completing the series on the 5 Core Concepts, we’ve arrived at the last one. To recap, the Concepts radiate out from your heartfelt goals:

Visualizing begins to make it real,
Clearing makes the necessary space,
Planning lays out what to do to get there,
Doing is how you are getting there,
YES! is about nurturing Your Essential Self 

YES! is an acronym for Your Essential Self. By this I mean your self in times of strength, compassion, and wisdom. That’s your best self, your essential self. The place inside yourself where you know, without shadow of a doubt, just what you stand for and what is worth fighting for.

The trouble is that in our analytical, information-overload world, we forget about this deep part of ourselves. So we forge on like a steamship, blindly plowing through anything in our way. But the cost of approaching life in this way is high. People we love get hurt or neglected, we give up our dreams, we lose years of our life with little of meaning to show for it. We then must begin again. 

The very fact that you are reading this newsletter indicates that your basic survival needs are met. You have obtained a certain level of security that allows you to turn from merely surviving to gracefully thriving. You have the option of exploring heart-based possibilities and fulfilling your obligations. Unfortunately, most of us weren’t taught the tools to navigate these (often contradictory) currents. 

As a unique person, you get to figure out what your wants are and how important they are to you. How much time and creativity are you willing to invest in pursuing them? How many of your wants and needs will you weave together? 

In any situation you have countless options; some will serve you better than others. How do you choose? You can take the path of least resistance, or you can try to fill expectations of others, or…you can present the question to your essential self to see which harmonizes the best. 

In order to do this, you need to be able to communicate with your essential self. This doesn’t necessarily mean taking off on month long retreats (though it can), or making major lifestyle changes (though it may). What it does mean is simply being able to get in touch with your essential self as a resource for making decisions. 

I believe that each of us have ways to get in touch with our best self as frequently as we want. For example, my ways include: 

• journal writing, connecting with my intuition to identify solutions
• being in nature, letting birds, trees, breeze and bodies of water wash away frantic energy
• yoga, clearing energy blocks and tightness in my body
• meditation, taking time for stillness and silence
• cultivating gratitude, acknowledging all people and experiences that have contributed to where I am in this moment

You may have noticed these don’t involve interacting with other people. I’m a bit of an introvert and replenish myself in solitude. Your centering activities may involve social situations or more external stimulation.

Take some quiet time to identify the types of situations or activities that help you reconnect with your essential self. Write them down and keep this list visible until they are well integrated into your life. If you’ve been entering info on the 5 Core Concept worksheet, you can record them in the section labeled “YES!”

The more you act from your essential self… the easier it is to make big decisions… the richer and simpler your life feels… the more clear the right course of action becomes. Being more in tune with your essential self makes the rest of the 5 Core Concepts easier. Visualizing becomes more frequent and detailed; the obstacles ready for clearing are more obvious; planning is more streamlined; doing is more effective. Inevitably, the distance between setting and achieving your goals diminishes.

We’ve now touched on the basics of each of the 5 Core Concepts. Together, they form a model to refer to when chaos reigns. For quick reference, here’s the image of the 5 Concepts radiating out from the goal that you can download. Several people have told me that they put this in view from their desk and whenever they feel like they are getting caught up in confusion, they figure out where they need to be in the model, and proceed from there.

You are in control of your life; you set the goals and employ the model to achieve them. Whether you choose to persist with the force of a steamship, the steadiness of an atomic clock, or the grace of a dolphin, you have the tools to create the life you desire. Visualize big! Clear out the cobwebs! Plan for success! Do it with ease! Celebrate YES! Just be persistent, and most of all, have fun! 

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.

4. Your Simplification Tip

Getting Into Shape

Being in shape provides wonderful benefits for the physical body. There are additional benefits. It helps you stay in good health, clear your mind, steady your emotions, smooth out mood swings, and can provide a positive environment for socializing. However, getting into shape isn’t always easy.

The initial response to the thought of working out:
“I’m too busy. I don’t have time. It won’t matter if I skip today.”

The voice of discipline reigns:
“Do it!”

The warm-up period:
“Ugh, this is painful! Why am I doing this? What’s the point?”

The endorphins kick in:
“Ooooh, I remember why I like doing this. This is good! I should do this all the time!”

The long road of perseverance:
“You mean I have to to it again today?!… OK, OK!”

Once you are in shape, your body lets you know when it wants to work out to maintain fitness. Somewhere along the way, it becomes a fun process that you receive ever-greater benefits from.

The same can be said for getting in touch with your essential self–and sometimes the struggle/process can be the same too. Persevere, it’s worth it!

 

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5. In the News

In the News is compiled by The Simplifier co-editor Lance Brown.

A simpler, happier life (The News Tribune - Tacoma, WA)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/ysf22m  
The Voluntary Simplicity movement is growing, threatening to take over the world with its outrageous notions of living more simply, affordably, and happily. Before you know it, it’s gonna get you too. An engagement ring with no diamond in it? What is the world coming to! ;-)

The spirituality of a little hard work (Ottawa Citizen)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/2yla7t                   
You may not need a month-long retreat to get in touch with Your Essential Self (see this issue’s article)…but if you do, then maybe working the fields and trying out a life of poverty and sparse living at the Madonna House near Ottawa, Canada could be the thing for you. You’d probably need to leave your iPod at home, though.

Teacher gets a lesson from her son (Orlando Sentinel)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/2h3uku
Sometimes our urge to teach others can get a little reachy, and even preachy, as this teacher of yoga (and many other things) learned from one of her wonderfully frank children.

If you know of something in the news that should be featured here, let us know!

 

6. Featured at ProjectSimplify.com

Three Blog Posts

Confession about Voluntary Simplicity
Shawn has not read one of the classic tomes of the simplification movement. For shame! (But it’s on order, she swears.)

The New Beetle drinks biodiesel
Shawn stays ahead of the curve in terms of fuel consumption…and meets some folks who are even more ahead than she is. (Photos included!)

Can there be too many apples on a tree?
Yes there can…so many that it will break its own branches, in fact. Case in point: the tree in Shawn’s front yard (first mentioned last year in “Grow Your Business Like a Tree”–as a counterexample to the trees you should grow your business like!).

 

 

7. Keep Smiling

Interactive Buddy

Sometimes you just need a little virtual bouncy guy that you can beat silly with anything from a slap to a tickle to a missile to, say, a medieval flail.

OK, maybe you don’t need one. But you may want one. And maybe he doesn’t need to be so cute and bouncy, and you don’t need to be able to raise or lower the gravity in his little box…and maybe you don’t need to waste the next half hour (or some other half hour, or hour) indulging in this silly sport. 

But maybe you do need it. Who’s to say? It could be just the right chuckle or stress relief exercise for you. It could be just the thing you need to get over the hump. “Interactive Buddy” could very well be your one lifeline to sanity in a world that has left you hung out to dry.

OK, so not that last one. ;-) But it is cute! And if you take a minute to familiarize yourself with the controls, it can be an amusing diversion. An old friend that you can rain baseballs (or bowling balls) down on when you need to. A helping hand through the hard times, a shoulder to cry on…

It’s just a silly little web toy. (That will solve all of your problems.) Enjoy!

URL:  http://www.addictinggames.com/interactivebuddy.html 

 

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Thanks for reading!

Publication Information
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The Simplifier is published by:
Project Simplify
P.O. Box 597
Nevada City, CA 95959
phone: 530.205.5775
web: www.projectsimplify.com
e-mail: (newsletter@projectsimplify.com) newsletter (at) projectsimplify (dot) com