Life Transitions Now Include the Blog!

So after hemming and hawing (and capping out my picture capacity after blogging here at Simply Authentic for FIVE years....), I've created a new blog.

NAME: Journey Authentically

It's still under progress...but so am I. :)

Hope to see you there!

PS. I was looking into doing one of those blog-to-book sites...but apparently five years of writing and pictures is TOO much...anyone tried this or have any suggestions?! If so, drop me a comment at the new site!

Reason for Blogging & A Book Response

I've mentioned my recent questioning about the purpose of maintaining the blog.....

....and then today, when I was whipping through the end of "Living Simply" by Joanne Heim, the following passage stuck out at me:

"How are you making and recording your memories? What are you doing to remember today? Nothing important has to happen--it could just be Thursday. But if you happen to be driving down the beach with your hair blowing in the breeze, smelling a tantalizing mixture of sea and Mexican food, singing your heart  out along with the Indigo Girls--then it might be a good idea to stop and think, I want to remember how this feels forever.

Feel the sun on your face, take a deep breath, and hold it for a second. Let it out and continue on your merry way, knowing the memory is made and stored away for the next time it's cold and rainy and you're feeling blue (pg 192)."

So even though I might not feel that I'm where I intended to be on this simple living journey (in fact most the time lately I've just plain forgotten.....), this passage reminds me that this blog has the capacity to be a living document---of those moments, of my life, of who I am at this exact time....if only I actually take the time to sit down and click out a few moments into script. In the few moments that I think about shutting down the blog, I do always contemplate using one of those hardbound services to convert the experiences and thoughts from previous years into paper......hmm....although I've thrown away/recycled some of my old journals, so not entirely sure about the point of that either. ;)

And now here are some thoughts on the book itself and the other lessons that I took out of it:

Honestly the first 3/4 of the book I wasn't overly impressed. Some of the reviews I'd read before purchasing the book had been mixed as well, but mainly from individuals who didn't know until the book arrived that the author is a known Christian author (and really you wouldn't know easily if you saw the book as a suggestion). There were many things about this book that didn't speak to me mainly based on a difference of lifestyles and that the author's manifestation of simplicity didn't necessary correspond to my idea of true simple living. The initial annoyance with the book surprised me as in the past I've delved into this material from other authors and felt much deeper connection and/or similarity of philosophy. However, there were some passages I highly enjoyed and that caused me to pause and think, including this referenced quote on friendship by CS Lewis:

"Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I [should] say 'sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.'"

Truly I only finished the book because a) I hate giving up on books and almost always see them through to the end regardless of how frustrated I become with them and b) I feel like my sister may relate more to this book and I wanted to honestly be able to send it on to her with a positive reference for her. Honestly the last three chapters of the book were my favorite: Simple Sabbath, Simple Pleasures, and Changing Seasons. From those chapters the things that stuck with me the most harken back to one of my primary reasons that I fell in love with a "simple life" in the very beginning: we need a time to refresh and restore leaving ourselves open to what God has to tell us, we are surrounded by so many incredible experiences that can bring us such pleasure if we only stop to notice creation and the daily gifts of life, and that it's not to be about us but rather about how to glorify God.

When I think of the moments from 2007 that I love the most, I am engulfed with memories of trusting in God and his provision, of keeping in mind a global outlook while focusing on my local surroundings, of relishing the glory of what surrounded me, of trying to live rightly to benefit others on this planet, of feeling that my truest gifts were minutes and hours in the company of friends and family, and of realizing that in all things it never was nor is about me.  All of those thoughts, those moments to me are the foundation of Christianity, of simplicity, and of sustainability....

So for every individual there is a book, while this one may not have been my favorite, it will probably speak to others....and at the very least it did remind me of a fabulous reason for blogging! :)

Resources and the Basics

So sometimes I forget that lots of people that read blogs are at different places of learning about simplicity or "green" choices, as it's dawned on me lately that there is plenty that I don't write about because I just assume that everyone already knows about it.  Although then when I think about this more deeply, I also recognize that I rarely posted when I was finishing my masters of public health---so instead of sharing my education I just sort of shut down in terms of time & resource sharing.  I always enjoy when others share resources on their blogs, so I'm going to attempt to do the same thing.  Thus if I write some posts that are repetitive of what you already know then I apologize, but I also think that there is a lot that I've read & researched in terms of toxic exposures and health outcomes especially that people may be interested in learning.  Not that most couldn't learn these things (or haven't already) by reading any of the books that I've also read, and I can't guarantee that once I start working that I'll be much better about posting routinely.

However in attempt to better share resources, I'm going to add a side bar that lists current things I'm loving--the items listed there might be movies, books, products, companies, etc.....but hopefully it'll be something.

And so here's on thing that I've been wanting to share: TED.  I first was exposed to this in my community organizing course watching a segment on Majora Carter and her greening of the Bronx.

And I just sent this one to my mother who is a Speech Language Pathologist with a strong interest in autism spectrum disorders (plus one of my nephew's is high functioning autistic/Asperger's): Temple Grandin.

If you haven't checked out TED though I would suggest it.  Valuable, 20 minute talks on a variety of subjects.  I actually just shared this with my husband a few weeks ago and he's become a fan too. :-)

Evaluation Time

Over the last hour or so I took a little trip down memory lane and read through some of my previous posts. I didn't go all the way back to the beginning because I already was aware of how much I've changed since then, but I was again reminded of just how many changes there have been in the last 12-15 months alone.  I went from:
-single to married
-graduate student/assistant to unemployed to on-call/recently employed
-living w/ a housemate to living w/ my husband (plus 1 month w/ another couple w/ us)
-a long-distance-rose-glasses marriage to day-in-and-day-out reality & hard times (but luckily w/ love)
-daily interactions w/ like minded friends to bi/weekly interactions w/ others
-easy routine visits w/ family to monthly phone calls back home
-most things green & eco accessible to limited access
-fulfilling church services to lack of spiritual connection
-daily independence to routine compromise & dependency in various forms
-no pets to three furry companions
-west coast living to southern life (including 2 trips to the east coast)

Many changes in a relatively short period of time.  And I'm sure there are many that I'm not really listing today, albeit they might be more of the smaller things.

Somehow I'm hopeful that the positive growth that has been arriving in recent months in terms of employment, marriage, and personal outlook continues to head in the "right" direction.  So with all of these changes in mind, I took some time today to sort of reassess the goals and simple pleasures I have listed on the right hand sidebar.  Wording changed on some of life's pleasures, as my approach and thoughts on some of those have also changed.  And some of the goals that I have achieved were given completion dates, while other goals were slightly altered.  Two goals were also moved to the bottom as those two are some that I feel would be incredible to achieve but not necessarily at the top of my list.  Most of these small changes are based on the fact that we're all continually evolving people.  Hence our "reality" is different today than it was yesterday, and thus some of our perceptions of our lives past, present, and future will continue to change as well.

I also have had to laugh to myself as my photo month project and recent postings in 2010 have already produced about half the number of postings I did during the entirety of 2009.  It's definitely one way to get back "on the ball" of blogging.  And I also realize that divulging a bit more of my personal life here does allow me to write more freely, although for the time being I still try to keep many revealing facts and photos absent from this blog.  One thing that I did realize though in evaluating the previous year is that I spent too much time wondering if I was "green" enough or worrying about being too far from where I should be environmentally.  I also noticed that generally speaking, I seemed to be more spiritually connected to others and to engaging in awareness of my surroundings--something that obviously needs to be re-implemented.

So sometimes, at least sometimes, it's good to take a moment to sort of re-evaluate where we've been, who we've been, and how we & our surroundings have changed.  In doing so, we allow ourselves to re-evaluate the direction in which we want to continue to go.

Hope each of you is enjoying a beautiful day!

25 RANDOM THINGS

Since I appear to be sharing a bit more of my personal life and making this blog into more of a brain dump, I figured why not share 25 things about me.  I'm always intrigued when other bloggers do this sort of thing, and it seems the perfect ending to a morning of losing myself in reading through others blogs etc.

1) Before August of this year, I really really did not like dogs.  I could tolerate them but was never a fan of having any near me.  Now I can't imagine not having our 2 furry gals to greet me every morning.

2) Besides the fact that my parents produced me, the most influential person in my life was probably my paternal grandfather.  Poppa was an incredibly wise and thoughtful man.  He had a heart for the world, a passion for education, and a witty humor that he was quick to share with those he held most dear. 

3) Ironically, it took Poppa's passing to create a wonderful relationship with my Granny, who I now hold most dear to my heart.  Sometimes I think it is our major similarities that made it so difficult for us to get along for many years.  I feel so grateful for the incredible relationship and life's lessons that I now share with this woman.

4) Two of my biggest environmental slights are that I eat a banana every morning and I finish every day with a hot shower.

5) I positively love the smell of sheets after they've hung on the line outside--a smell that we don't have due to having the clothesline hidden in the garage.

6) Being from Oregon, I absolutely love the rain...except for now having to wipe the feet of the dogs every time they come back into the house.

7) The colors purple and green together make my stomach curdle.

8) I am the youngest of 4 kids with 13 years between my eldest sibling and myself.  I love my siblings dearly even though we're about as diverse in our viewpoints and choices as you can get.

9) I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to education.  I used to think it was weird when people had 5 different degrees w/in their lifetime....but now I'm pretty sure I'll have at least 4 before I die. 

10) I don't believe that formalized education deserves the current weight and status that its given however.  I think there is a lot to be said for life experience, on the job training, and self-instruction.  Having the degree means nothing.

11) My two best friends are both people that I strongly disliked at one point or another.

12) Whenever I have to stand in front of a crowd, I never know what to do with my hands if I have nothing that I'm holding.  So I usually do one of the following: cross my arms on my chest, put my hands on my hips, or pop my knuckles.  The first two I'm sure do wonders for making me seem approachable! ;-)

13) I love to read but it has to be completely silent for me to retain information.  Even then I will never have very good recall in life.

14) I never in a million years thought that this would be the life I'm living, yet in most moments I feel that its playing out exactly as it should.....

15) I'm considering piercing my nose.  Just one of those little faux diamond studs.  But I can't decide which side it should be on.

16) I'm an avid night-time dreamer and they're usually pretty interesting.  In the last 6 months I constantly dream about people I know, whereas before then it was rare to see a familiar face in my dreams.

17) I believe in international travel where tourists attempt to become part of the culture rather than take advantage of it.  As horrible as major travel is for the environment, I am hopeful that eventually the husband and I will be able to make travel a more regular part of our life and be able to participate in humanitarian trips as well.

18) I have had the wonderful fortune of living abroad twice (my family was stationed in the Philippines when I was a young child and I was a Rotary Exchange student for a year to Argentina) and spent six weeks of college in London.  Thus I would say that my number one passion is culture.  I absolutely love learning about people.

19) Since I was 3 I have always lived within a couple hours drive from a coast.  I love the beach and sometimes wish that I would have followed through with a marine biology major.

20) I'm not a big fan of attending life change celebrations.  I've always felt uncomfortable at weddings and I hate attending baby showers cause it means I have to hold my public health lectures in check.

21) Non-professionally, I wear my heart on my sleeve.  This means I'm sensitive and can be easily riled at times.  It also means that in my personal life, you can almost always read the expression on my face.

22) I'm a fruit addict also (who has never had digestion problems with this either).  I seriously can't imagine going more than a day without fruit and by the end of fruitless day one I'm craving it anyway.

23) I have a competitive spirit but I hate to compete.  I was the girl in high school who played sports just for fun and to be physically active.  I never understood/stand when people get bent out of shape about sports.

24) I love seagulls.  Most other people find them annoying...I am amazed at their determination.  Plus they always get to live by water and you almost always seem them in a pack.

25) I'm not one of those people who ever really follows Hollywood and it drives me crazy when that's what a lot of people choose to talk about....but secretly I've always wanted to be a lil bit like Angelina Jolie w/o the super skinny part, being a husband stealer, and someone else raising my kids.. BUT  I've always appreciated her role w/ UN Humanitarian aid and her commitment to international adoption...and the fact that like most of us she's just a lil bit crazy.

Hibernation

So things have been pretty difficult lately here in Louisiana and I've been feeling anything but authentic for months, so I've decided to just take a break from blogging for a while. I'm not sure how long it will last or even if I'll come back to it, and truthfully it's not like I've been a consistent blogger for the last year anyway. I still realize I don't have it that bad though--as always I'm not being persecuted, I'm loved and supported, and I have a roof over my head and food in my fridge.

The good news as of late is that I planted some lettuce, turnips, and green beans--all of which are coming up but I am not sure how well they'll do. We actually had frost on the ground the other morning and some days have been chillier than I'd expected. Since they're coming up next to the house, hopefully they'll get some residual heat also.

I also had my first day of subbing finally on Monday of this week. Pretty regular sub experience except for the fact that the kids say "yes, ma'am" and wear uniforms. The uniforms I felt were a benefit as the kids could still express individuality via accessories (shoes, belts, sweatshirts) but I didn't have to worry about kids being inappropriately dressed at all. The school is fairly small (grades 7-12; 450 students) and lacked resources, but I was impressed with the variety of course offerings and the small class sizes.

So I hope for the best for you and yours, and I feel the most authentic thing I can do is take some time to pause until I can regain what my own authenticity actually is....May each of you have full moments and complete appreciation for that which we all do have.....

The Beginning

I suppose I could say that this whole part of my life started six months ago, but then I know that wouldn't be quite true either. Even as a young child I remember moments of being enthralled with nature and having what one of my undergraduate college professor's called "sacred moments" in which one recognizes and is taken in by the beauty and spirituality of being one with nature. I remember, too, moments of recycling and my environmental science courses while a middle school student in Eugene. At one point, we developed a worm farm and an advanced school recycling program-something I have yet to see replicated in another educational institution. It was during that class that we also went door-to-door in an attempt to educate community members and persuade them into trading in their old shower heads for water-reduction shower heads. What a change it was then to move from liberal Eugene to a more conserative community on the coast, where "tree hugger" and "recycling" were thought to be bad words. Thus began a period of attempting to keep my liberal ideals to myself and trying my hardest to be a closet environmentalist, although I don't know how well I actually did at trying to disguise all of my ideals.

Now a bit older, I have begun again to demonstrate and advocate for issues such as social justice, sustainability, health, education, and spirituality. However the most profound of my individual changes began approximately six months ago, and slowly I am trying to incorporate more avenues into my life in which to make my individual foot print smaller from a consumer impact. What was this change you might ask? Well those that know me well already know that it initially stemmed from watching the movie Blood Diamond. Now how could Blood Diamond completely alter someone's life you might ask? Well let me tell you! It was through that movie that I again was faced with how lucky I have it living in the United States, where (although I may complain about choices of those who govern us) I am generally free and can live without the fears that face so many of those who share this planet with us. I have shelter, clothing, transporation, food, employment, and I also realized how MUCH of all of that I had. How could I have SO much when others had so little? That began to be the question that wormed through my mind and has remained settled on it throughout the past months. Directly following that movie, my mother and I went through our linen and coat closets and donated a trunk load of items to the local gospel mission. And from that time on, I have embarked on a mission to lessen my load and to try to live a life that is more friendly toward others and the planet.

To me, all of these subjects correspond with one another. When we are acting in a way that is best for the Earth then we are looking out for the welfare of all who inhabit it. When we are looking out for the welfare of others, then we are encouraging the health and vitality of those that inhabit the Earth. When we remember that the Earth is a gift and embrace it, we are again embracing our spiritual connection to each other and to God. All of these concepts, as well as all of these life changes can positively alter all areas of our lives.

You will find attached to my blog several links to other blogs from individuals that are reducing their impact upon the Earth, as well as links to other resources. Among the blog community, there are many who making huge changes (such as trying to reduce their carbon footprint by 90%) and others that are making small changes on a gradual continum to decrease the negative impact we as humans can leave on the planet. Wouldn't it be great if we only left our positive impacts on the world?

Through writing here, I am not trying to impose my beliefs on others-only to create awareness. I do truly hope that every person is engaged in some aspect and care of improving our relationship to each other, to our environment, and to our spirituality. Our recent Sunday sermon inspired me through it's call to "live distinctly" thus through my blog I hope to increase awareness of issues, share a variety of "Elizabeth" thoughts, and to hold myself accountable to live in a "simply authentic" nature.

May you all have a wonderful rest of the week!