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1. A Note From Shawn

Last month we began an interview series here in The Simplifier. We received very positive responses to that issue which tells me that: 1) it was a good idea, 2) it was time for a change, or 3) all of the above. Whatever it was, it certainly was encouraging. Below you’ll find my interview with a delightful woman who has achieved success staying true to her heart—which she has done with remarkable grace.

As someone who is still exploring that grace, I sometimes feel as though I get wound up like a little toy top spinning wildly across the table. I get so excited working on fun projects that I’m blind to the approaching table edge. The trick is to catch myself when I’m falling into a pattern that will leave me feeling spun out and pull back the reins…“Whoa, Nelly! Where do you think you’re going so fast?” 

Having gotten all wound up on Monday, Tuesday was a wonderful reprieve. I had my first swim of the season at the river. Boulder-hopping, sunshine, and wickedly refreshing (read: cold) water do wonders for slowing down to a healthy pace. So here’s the moral of the story for myself (hopefully it’s a helpful reminder for you, too): Stay focused on what’s important and have fun doing it!

Enjoy,

Shawn Tuttle
Head Simplifier, Project Simplify
Co-editor, The Simplifier

“A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.”

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

3. Interview: Suzie Daggett – publisher, Insight Directory

By Shawn Tuttle

One of the good things about having a slogan is that you read it all the time. I love being reminded to lighten up by our slogan, “let it be easy”. Suzie Daggett was one of the first business people I met when new to the area in 2004. One of the many things I’ve admired about her is that she seems to live the “let it be easy” mantra naturally, no reminder necessary. Suzie publishes the Insight Directory, a free guide to healing and energy workers in our greater Sierra Nevada Foothills area. Her promotion of alternative healing has also included a weekly article in our newspaper and a lecture series featuring both local and visiting guests. While she is now several years into this path, she went through many other possibilities before deciding to publish the directory.

Suzie Daggett

She very clearly has a strong dedication to her service in the world—a concept I’ve linked with sustainability of our personal energy level. How do we give to others and take care of ourselves? Who do we put first? There is a lot of conflicting advice floating around, so I was thrilled that our conversation illuminated this concept.

——-

ST: I’m very curious about how you were discerning the difference between what was right for you to do and what wasn’t. You had great ideas to lead workshops, be a speaker, package inspirational products—but those weren’t right for you. The Insight Directory was. How did you know the difference?

Daggett:  My belief is that when things are working right, spirit is behind you and they unfold. When things are not working right, you keep bumping. You’re not in the flow of the river, you’re in an eddy, you’re up against a rock, or you’re dry docked on the beach and you can’t even stick your toe in the water.

The whole idea is “row row row your boat” down the river, to go with the river of life. When you recognize you are going upstream–and every day there’s something to bump against–and you realize “I’m rowing up river, and I’m going nowhere because the flow wants to take me somewhere else. If I were to go with the flow, where would I go?”

ST: Let’s talk about service.

Daggett: Service instead of servitude…  

This is the red car that is the signal to me whether I’m in “servitude” or “loving service”. 

Servitude is when you get tired when you are doing things and you are doing them for the wrong reason. Loving service is you don’t do that.

ST: Tell me more about the red T-Bird, how does that work?

Daggett: The red T-bird for me means that I direct from that point of view of being in the drivers seat but I am not out there doing the work.

You can think, “Oh, my life purpose is to be in service.” And that’s part of my life purpose, to help people, obviously, because I do that all the time. But when I cross that line of being in servitude towards them, which means that I am doing something to assist them that doesn’t benefit me… It puts me in a position where I’m doing something solely for them.

A perfect example came up last week. I’m looking to fill a position to do the directory–I had told one gal she could work for me. This one gal helped me with an event, and she was very effective. At the event I said, “Let’s work together.” So she had it in her mind that she was going to work for me. I had it in my mind she was, too.

This other gal was unsure whether she was even interested in the position—but she’s better suited for it. She has graphic work ability and she can do Quickbooks. Those are important skills for me. And she’s very organized.

I thought about it the morning I was going to meet with the first gal. I just went into my little (quiet) space and I thought, “OK, if I hire M., instead of D., which one would I be in servitude towards?” Because when I’m in servitude, I am providing a job for somebody even though I’m not making any money.

And it was M, the one I had said, “Let’s work together! It’ll be great” to. I had to tell her that I’d found somebody else.  It was a guffaw on my part of opening my mouth too soon.

But, the saving grace was the red T-bird… And if I’m in the red T-bird watching, I can’t be directing. And so one (gal) I would have to direct, and sit with, and babysit. The other one I said, “Here’s my desk, here’s what I do”. And she said, “Well, let me do it, I’ll be able to figure it out better if I do it.”

ST:  Are there other ways to tell the difference between servitude and loving service?  

Daggett: Check the body and see how it’s doing when you deal with something that’s servitude.

ST: It’s draining.

Daggett: It is very draining. And your body doesn’t lie.

ST: I’ve been using the term sustainability, which culturally we’ve been using on an ecological or “green” scale. But sustainability in terms of human energy is exactly the same thing. If we are drained too far, we can’t continue. If we do something that’s right and in loving service, we’re going to be receiving as much as we are giving.

Daggett: It’s a good balance. So when I’m sitting in my red T-bird and I’m watching what is created instead of getting in there and mucking it up, that’s loving service. And it’s kind of a funny line, everybody has to play with it differently, you just keep checking in with your body, “Am I exhausted? Why am I exhausted? Who exhausted me today?”

You wake up in the morning, this is a Caroline Myss thing, you have 100% of your own energy. And the very minute you wake up you think of another person, “They did this to me yesterday, they cut me off on the freeway.” Well 10% of your energy just went to deal with that. And then you think about your kids who are bugging you, they’re not paying attention, their room is a mess. There goes another 15%. And that husband. If he would only do what I ask him to. Or, that family of mine, they’re so screwed up, they’ll never be right. There goes 50%. Suddenly, there’s no you left anymore. You’re sending all of your energy out. They’re not going to send it back to you. Do you think that guy in the car yesterday is even concerned? He’s gone, you’re the only one thinking about it. And kids don’t clean up their rooms. When you have kids, you’ll know that. They just don’t clean up their rooms.

ST: It takes a huge amount of discipline to catch that thought and say, “No. I’m not going to go there.”

Daggett: That’s consciousness. That’s sublime consciousness of being in the drivers seat instead of running alongside the car.  
 
—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.

Giving Your Intention the 3rd Degree

Confusion results when there is a lack of clarity. Sometimes we can be so confused that we have no idea which direction to try to shine the light of understanding. The tip for this issue, from our interviewee Suzie Daggett, gets right to the heart of the matter. She suggests using this tool whenever you feel a loss of vision of what you are doing, or to clarify a project—a mini business plan, if you will.

It’s a very simple exercise, and very helpful. Defining your intention and pointing your answers to that intention will quickly highlight where you’ve gone off track.

Pull out a sheet of paper and write down your intention.
Then write down answers to the questions:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

It’s seems so obvious, but I for one had never thought to ask these questions in this context. Thanks, Suzie!

Compiled by Lance Brown

Many Americans Opt for Voluntary Simplicity (Finding Dulcinea – Silicon Alley)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/3pmwwz    
This is a rather robust collection of stories giving the background, (and the foreground) of the voluntary simplicity movement. Links aplenty allow for lots of related reading.

Boost Your Productivity by Learning to Manage Your Time  (Telegraph-Journal – Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/5xqptf          
An article reviewing some of the top ways to get a handle on that invisible taskmaster, time.

Switzerland’s Obsession with Time (BBC News)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/5wc7ma  
And here’s an example of how some folks take the whole “time management” thing too far. Way too far. File this one under “What not to do.”

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

White flower

Introduced by Lance Brown

Top 12 Oxymorons of All Time

Unbiased journalism 
Rap artist 
Postal service 
Jumbo shrimp 
Work party 
Civil litigation 
Compulsory volunteerism 
Anarchy rules! 
Political principles 
Peace force 
Microsoft Works 
Military intelligence 

Thanks to Backwoods Home Magazine for passing this on!