Living Well, Spending Less

No one can do everything all the time without letting something else slide. And it doesn’t make us any less wonderful; it just makes us human.

There are many gifts I can give my children, but the gift I don’t want to give them — or myself, for that matter — is just more stuff. Instead, I want my gift to them to be a life filled with the things that matter most, things like faith, joy, peace, fellowship, contentment, gratitude, and compassion.

Eliminating the unessential is where setting priorities and having a long-term vision become so vitally important.

Keep in sight what matters most, and the rest will fall into place.

buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.

An important shift happened when we began making money decisions based on what we wanted to accomplish five, ten, or twenty years from now rather than on what we wanted or what we think would make us happy right now.

Friends, let me tell you, it is pretty amazing to discover how much the dynamics of your relationship can change when you are suddenly striving together toward the same goal.

Sometimes it is okay to fail.
I think sometimes we become so fearful of making a mistake, of doing something wrong, of having someone else laugh at us, that we become paralyzed with indecision.

Finding our sweet spot means listening to that tiny voice inside of us that says, Make the most of where you are right now. Learn. Grow. Develop who and what you are. And often the sweet spot will emerge, right in the middle of living life.

There is a strange magic that happens the minute we stop comparing our lives to those we perceive as having more, and instead begin intentionally appreciating all that we really have. We just tend to take all that basic, boring stuff for granted, but chances are we have all been blessed with gifts that many people don’t have. When we open our hearts just enough to see the blessings we’ve already been given, our whole worldview changes from one of longing to one of overwhelming gratitude and joy.