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Last month's TCOY Lessons From My Favorite Bloggers was jam-packed! I love it when there is so much good stuff to share with you all. To that end, there were some things that just had to be left off...but not forgotten. I've included links to a few things on this month's lessons that might be noted on the wrong month but still as relevant as ever.
Relationships:
Trent at The Simple Dollar shares The Value of the Golden Rule and the ins and outs of How To Organize and Host A Gaming Evening.
"Are Your Friends' Good Intentions Holding You Back?" asks Pick The Brain.
How To Have An Affair With Your Spouse is an insightful surprise from Simple Marriage.
Lysa reminds us of the crucial role good friends play in our life in I'll Be The One With The Greasy Hair.
And lastly, I will use Aileen's sumptuous post at Kaizen Vision on 12 Low Cost Luxuries To Indulge Your Senses to remind you of my belief that the most important quality relationship in your life is with yourself!
Finances:
From Get Rich Slowly, we have:
Allowance: For Learning or Reward?
DIY Personal Finance: How to Take Control of Your Financial Life
Where's the Money Honey? Why You MUST Track Your Spending
And from The Simple Dollar, please enjoy:
Pay Cash or Not? Cash Flow Versus Liquidity
Scarcity and Abundance: Escaping the Scarcity Mentality
Jealousy--And What You Can't See
Diet & Exercise (a brand new category!):
Clearly Composed (aka Emma) at Graceful Balance pays homage to one of her favorite foods in Nutrition Spotlight: Soup.
Lynn, writer of For Love or Funny, was surprised that the food she eats affects how she feels in My Decision To Go Gluten Free.
Suzen at Erasing the Bored alerts us that October is NON-GMO month (non-genetically modified foods aka genetically engineered). If this is something that interests you, please check out the link she provided to The Institute for Responsible Technology's website with tools that will make it easier for you to choose non-GM foods, such as the Invisible GM Ingredients list and a Non-GMO Shopping Guide.
Self Improvement
A new-to-me blog is Pick The Brain and you will see posts from them all over this (and likely future) TCOY Lessons. They choose to take a broad approach in their focus on "self-improvement" and, as you can see by the categories I've shared them under, it's the truth. I am very happy to have found them for both my own enjoyment and for sharing on TCOYou.com as well. Enjoy!
In my self improvement category, I want to share their ideas on not multitasking, getting results without working too hard, taking risk and most importantly finding more time for yourself.
This guest post on Get Rich Slowly called What To Do When You're Completely Unsure highlighted something I've learned myself: Don't wait around and let the frustration of inaction be your catalyst.
From The Simple Dollar, we are reminded of The Value of Reducing Stress -- and 12 DIY Tactics For Doing So.
Trent is also breaking down David Allen's book "Making It All Work" and his sixth entry Getting Control: Clarifying has been my favorite so far. Here's a sampling:
It moves you from a sense that your life isn’t moving forward very much to a sense that your life is moving forward in a lot of dimensions. That’s transformative. It fills you with hope and energy and a sense of accomplishment and it lets you feel in touch with areas of your life that you’ve felt out of touch with.
Awareness
Aileen at Kaizen Vision outlines the ultimate factor in boosting productivity (or why happiness works, as I would say :-).
Clearly Composed (aka Emma) at Graceful Balance shares the blessings and gifts of an anxiety attack.
Pick The Brain instructs us on How To Recognize Constructive and Destructive Emotions and wisely says, "You already have the life you want".
Corey from Simple Marriage offers the 60-second solution to developing the skill of appreciation: gratitude training.
Chris Brogan offers up the wise advice of "Be. Then Do." in Inch by Inch.
I completely enjoyed Even Better Than Enough, a guest post on Get Rich Slowly.
Bets gives it to us straight in Are You Too Comfortable?:
We’ve been caught up in the crazy belief that personal comfort is always the goal. It’s why we try to regulate every aspect of our existence. Too cold? Crank the heat. Too hot? Turn on the AC. Bored? Turn on the TV. Work too hard? Spa day! Convinced of your beliefs? Avoid critical thought. And on and on. This has made us fat, lazy, stupid and unhealthy. Not mention that we have a chip on our shoulder and a massive entitlement complex. Creature comforts have become our god-given rights, and they’ve robbed us of our health and vitality. Of our humanity.
House & Family:
Many of us have probably already heard of the little rocks vs. big rocks analogy in reference to prioritizing and time management. I found a nice reminder on Motherhood Your Way, complete with pictures to really get the message across.
Terrific insight, humor and knowledge to be found on the "Parenting Teenagers" guest post (part I/part II) at Simple Mom.
Always inspirational Lysa reminds us that "We moms should never build the stability of our identity on the fragility of our kid’s choices" in The Mother Load.
Clearly Composed (aka Emma) at Graceful Balance shared this amazing reminder about Creating A Haven:
It’s a basic need to have a roof over your head and the essential items for living but it is a higher calling to view that space and your possessions in a sacred way, imbuing them with intention and energy that fulfills and lifts the spirit...Tending to our homes can be a joy or a chore depending on what it is exactly you are doing and why. Cleaning a toilet because it is Tuesday and that’s when you clean the toilets is a pretty joyless endeavor. Choosing to honor space and pay loving attention to it is a whole different process.
About Suzanne:
One thing leads to another as they say. I recently discovered a pretty fabulous blog to read called Pick the Brain and through it I found Shake off the Grind. I'm subscribed to both and have enjoyed reading them.
If I remember correctly, I found Shake off the Grind when Joe contributed a guest post to Pick the Brain about how to control negative self talk. This is sometihng I've been focusing on lately myself. Thankfully, I'm a pretty positive and compassionate person, especially to myself. Occasionally I do find myself saying something unkind to myself when I make a mistake (usually a dumb one), so I've been working through the "Challenge" step Joe outlined.
C = Challenge: Dispute the negative thoughts and replace them with accurate and positive statements...When you start to notice your bodies’ reaction to anxious and detrimental thinking, you can start to become present, consider how you want to react, take a step back, relax, and rationalize what’s really going on. This is where the “Challenge” step comes into play.
As Joe put it so well, "Learning to recognize how thinking, feeling, and acting influence each other, helps you to develop emotional awareness, and to start monitoring and managing negative thoughts and behaviors."
Life Clutter:
Erin at Unclutterer shared a valuable resource on RealSimple.com for how to recycle or reuse anything and 5 simple ways to easily organize your things.
MaryJo identifies the root of disorganization.
TCOY on the outside from Already Pretty:
This month's goodies from Sally include how to repurpose a bridesmaid dress and her thoughts on staying stylistically flexible. (Be sure to read the linked text in the article that says, "I believe that we should all make subtle changes in our hairstyles every year"...another great gem!)
In an Other sort of way, here are 10 Toiletry Products With Surprising Uses from College Candy...the comments are good too.
Until next time...Take Care Of You!
Photo Credit: Iron Design
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