Motivation Monday: Rejoice in the Way Things Are. The World Belongs To You.

Be content with what you have. Rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. —Lao Tzu

Hello folks! This Motivation Monday ties in with a lot of things on my mind lately, so I go into a lot of that here. I'm loving my focus on simplicity this month. While I have a loooong ways to go in regards to implementing the principle in my life, the constant reminder (I have the phrase printed on the white board above my kitchen sink) is helping me approach my daily tasks in a more straightforward manner that results in more productivity and a less occupied mind. 

A less occupied mind. 

Granted, that phrasing is not the most eloquent description. I guess the concept is allowing yourself to focus solely on the present moment without being distracted by dozens of other concerns. In short, striving for simplicity in thoughts.

Instead of creating clutter via your thoughts, take care of things when they pop up. Instead of thinking day after day that I need to clear off the papers on my fridge, I can take 30 seconds to clear it off right now. By doing so, I've eliminated both physical and mental clutter and am able to focus on the present matter.

In Relief Society (an organization in the LDS church specifically for women) a couple weeks ago, one of the girls mentioned a study focused on mental wellbeing. The article "Living the moment really does make people happier" outlines the study and provides some links to further information if you want to check it out. 

The study found that people spend 46.7 percent of their time thinking about something OTHER than what they are currently doing. That's almost HALF of their time. Isn't that kinda crazy? 

What are you doing right now? Are you thinking about anything else? Are you focused on something else? 

Here's a excerpt from the article:

"The team concluded that reminiscing, thinking ahead or daydreaming tends to make people more miserable, even when they are thinking about something pleasant." (emphasis added).

When I first heard about the study, I instantly though back to one particular day during my study abroad experience in London. This random day stands out to me as perhaps the most enjoyable of all the days in my several months there. And I think the reason is directly related to the focus on what was at hand. I headed out for a day by myself in the city. I wasn't thinking about communicating with my classmates or worried about a particular deadline. I was simply able to be. And enjoy. I came home that day happy, energized, and content with everything I experienced. Here's a portion of the journal entry I wrote:

"While I have always loved big cities and the busy rush that accompanies them, my first couple of weeks in London had led me to question my fix with city life. I was enjoying my experience but starting to wonder what the big deal was, why so much fuss and excitement about such cities existed. I suppose these feelings were likely motivated by the sudden changes in my life. One day I was in Provo, Utah, spending time with family and friends, and one relatively short plane ride later, I was sharing a flat in a foreign country with 50 other people I barely knew. I usually adapt to changes pretty easily, but this time I had a bit of a challenge leaving behind pretty much everything I was used to. 

Today allowed me to refocus and to appreciate everything I was experiencing. I finally took the opportunity to do something I've been meaning to do for several days now—I ventured into the city by myself. The experience surpassed almost everything that I've done so far, even though my adventure around London was actually pretty typical of a day out here."

To tie everything together, my intent is to continue focusing on simplicity. To simply embrace the current moment and acknowledge it for all the great things it holds. To truly live in the moment and focus on the happiness life offers.  

Be content with what you have. Rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. —Lao Tzu

An Informal Indesign Training

Tuesday a friend and I had a little informal opportunity to teach some basics of the program Indesign. I've taught similar things before and hope to teach many more, both in informal and formal settings.

To give you a quick overview of what we covered, check out the slideshare presentation.

After sharing some basics about what Indesign is and what it does, we talked about some basic design principles and compared the program to features of Photoshop and Illustrator.

I then walked them through some basics of the program while recreating a project I had previously created. At the end of my little tutorial, I showed them my final projects and reviewed further aspects of the program. Some of the things we covered included the following.

1. How to create a text box
2. How to edit text
3. What tracking and leading are
4. How to place an image
5. How to wrap text around an image
6. How to connect text boxes
7. How to incorporate color
8. An overview of RGB, CMYK, and Pantone colors
9. How to fit or fill frames with images
10. How to create, edit, and use master pages
11. How to use paragraph styles
12. Working with both Photoshop and Illustrator elements in Indesign

I'd love to do more basic tutorials and continue outlining a course description. Any Indesign users out there? Let me know your suggestions or what you'd like to learn.

Here are a few examples of some of my own projects completed in Indesign: Ads & Publication Design, Flyers & Marketing, Invitations & Postcards.

Frozen: You're Not Awkward, I'm Awkward. You're Gorgeous. Wait, what?

Last night Jake (my bf) and I headed to the movie theater for a late showing of Frozen. Given that this movie has been out for a little while AND the fact that the movie's typical audience had probably been asleep for a few hours, we had the theater to ourselves.

OK, fine. I'll admit having the whole theater to ourselves only lasted a few minutes as the late stragglers arrived.

I had been hearing good things about the movie but all I knew was that 1) it was a musical and 2) it was about two sisters.

We both really enjoyed the movie. I did like that there were lots of songs, but I think I'd have to watch the movie a few more times (i.e. get to know the songs) to really enjoy and appreciate them.

P.S. I do admit that after seeing "Saving Mr. Banks" a few weeks ago, I kept thinking about the development team behind the movie and wondering how everything came together.

The dialogue was also fun and witty. Here are some of my favorite parts.

This isn't quite confirmed, but I *thiink* my favorite song was "Fixer Upper"


I'm awkward. You're gorgeous.

All men do it:

Winter's a good time to cuddle...put me in summer and I'll be a...happy snowman.

I'm gonna tell him. Don't you dare.

You hesitated. 

Motivation Monday: Simplicity

Saturday I spent most of my day packing up Christmas decor, which then led to some deep cleaning and organizing. I've been doing this a lot lately, and I decided an appropriate theme for me this January is "simplicity."

Why do I like this theme? 

I think I'm in constant pursuit to improve my life and become a better person. When I think about simplicity, I think about a life that is free from distractions, a life in which I can focus on what matters to me, where I'm only surrounded by things (physical, mentally, emotionally) that contribute to me being the best me, where I feel on top of my responsibilities, where I just DO things rather than dwelling on any possible hurdle.

That, to me, is simplicity. Let's keep things simple. 

Here are some of the things I've done so far:

* Majorly cleaned out my clothing closet

* Sold/given away things I've had sitting around waiting to be sold

* Organized my storage closet

* Organized and consolidated my kitchen

* Started organizing my finances and bank accounts so they aren't so darn complicated 

* Went down to only teaching 9 classes a week (compared to 13+)

Here are some things I want to do:

* Establish a simple financial plan with money automatically going where it needs to go, so I can simply follow the plan and not have to move money manually so often.

* Implement a consistent billing process for my clients

* Simply put things back where they belong when I am done using/wearing them

* Strive to keep surfaces clear in my home

* Dedicate specific time each week to gradually learn choreography (rather than stressing and adding new stuff all at once)

* Continue ridding my life of junk (includes next going through my bookshelves, bathroom cabinets, and various other storage)

* Focus on doing rather than planning or perfection. I tend to focus on the later and then may not do anything at all. (e.g. reading a column of scripture rather than fretting about a long study, clearing off one section of a cabinet rather than trying to find time for a big cleaning extravaganza, texting someone a quick hello rather than trying to schedule a lunch date, etc. etc.)

And so much more. 

So there you have it. My motivational focus for this lovely January of what I believe is going to be an excellent year. Here's to 2014. (P.S. I have an odd prejudice against odd numbers...I love even numbers. 4 is my favorite. 14 is my second favorite. I'm excited about 2014.)