POWER OF SIMPLICITY (continued) 

3. IDENTIFY THE HIGHER YES - Once you are clear about your purpose and your identity and what you value, you have to put a firewall around them.  One of the best practices is to learn to say "No".  This can lead to greater simplicity in our lives.  Part of our challenge is that we want to do it all.   We can do almost anything we want, but we just can't do everything we want.

Every "No" needs to be rooted in a higher "Yes."  The higher "Yes" is your purpose, your values, your core talents and you replenishment cycle.  The "must do's"  of your life.

Saying no to watching Jimmy Fallon could be rooted in the yes of getting up early to exercise the next morning.

Saying no to a business dinner could be rooted in the higher yes of being at your kid's soccer games.

Saying no to a requested meeting could be rooted in the higher yes of needing "think time".

Hans Hoffmann said, "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."

Here is my equation for simplicity and note that the order is important"

Clarity + Courage + Calendar = Simplicity

1. Clarity = what matters to you.  What are the things you really value? What are the "must do's" of your life?
2. Courage = the resolve to make change.  Will you have the resolve and discipline to recalibrate your life around that which is most important to you? It takes courage to eliminate the nonessential.

Questions to ask: Are you overextended? Are you spending time and energy on something that's not a core value or priority? Are you doing things simply because it is an expectation from others?  What do you sense you need to stop doing?

3. Calendar = the discipline to execute.
Your calendar will help you become who you want to become.  You calendar can be a bit like a junk drawer.  It can get filled with all sorts of random things that clutter your life.

Let me encourage you to find some time to get alone and reflect on this question:  What would it take for me to move toward a life of greater SIMPLICITY???

Thank you, Lance Witt, for this great information.    healthyhabitstoday.net 
tomharriet@aol.com     For any questions.

POWER OF SIMPLICITY

Simplicity, it's a beautiful word, isn't it?  You know simplicity doesn't always feel simple.

You probably have used these words, exhausted, overwhelmed, overscheduled and don't forget 
stressed.  The words of Charles Wagner:  "Amid the confused restlessness of modern life, our 
wearied minds dream of simplicity."  He wrote these words in Paris in 1895, before the invention of the car, the airplane, the television, the computer, the internet or social media.

Simplicity is far more than organizing your closet or cleaning out your garage.  These three steps on the road to simplicity comes from "Lance Witt" who coaches and consults leaders all over the world on how to live from a healthy soul.

1. OWN YOUR LIFE - first step to simplicity is responsibility.  You need to "own" your life.  You have to face the fact that the life you're living is the result of the decisions you've made.  We can't control some circumstances but we do control how we respond to those circumstances.  Dr. Henry Cloud and I love this quote, " You are ridiculously in charge of your life."  Think about this.  Own your stuff and admit that, when it comes to simplicity, you are your own worst enemy. Most of the complexity and clutter in your life is likely your own doing, saying yes too many times, not having healthy boundaries, not knowing your limits, and always trying to please everyone leads to a cluttered life.  You are not the victim.  You are the perpetrator.

2. GET CLEAR ABOUT WHO YOU ARE AND WHO YOU AREN'T - So many voices shape and inform our sense of identity, and that can lead to confusion.  Many times we live life others want us to live and not the life that flows of our own values, priorities, gifts and personality.  Lack of clarity around who you are and what is truly important to you will lead to complexity and clutter.  Think of the scripts that have shaped us and impacted us, we don't have to be held captive by them.

3. IDENTIFY THE HIGHER YES -  To be continued in my next blog.

Thank you Lance Witt in enlightening us on the power of simplicity.

healthyhabitstoday.net       tomharriet@aol.com

THE THREE THINGS EVERY SUCCESSFUL DIET MUST DO ARE:

#1 KEEP METABOLISM HIGH:  You want to keep those metabolic fires burning.  You want to keep your basal metabolic rate as high as possible.  Basal metabolic rate is defined as the rate at which your body burns calories 24 hours a day--even when you are at rest.  Basal metabolic rate high = easier to lose weight and easier to keep it off.

#2 PREVENT LOSS OF MUSCLE MASS:  When you lose muscle, you also dramatically decrease your basal metabolic rate.  That's because muscle burns off calories more rapidly than any other tissue in the body.

#3 TEACH TRUE LIFESTYLE CHANGE:  If you think of a diet as something you have to do until you can go back to living the way you used to live, that weight is just going to come back on.  You've got to make PERMANENT LIFESTYLE CHANGES if you want to keep the weight off.

Information from Dr. Stephen Chaney, do visit his website for more information: www.healthtipsfrom theprofessor.com      Harriet - www.healthyhabitstoday.net    (313) 928-4592

SPRING CLEANING AND SHOPPING CHECKLISTS!

Spring is here! The weather hasn't cooperated but that's okay.  It is just weather.
Would you like your spring cleaning to be quicker and easier?  I have just the 
solution.

There are 3 products that I am going to talk about that will make your life easier.

Shaklee Basic H3  - Basic G  - Scour Off

Basic H3 can be used as an All-purpose cleaner, dusting, window cleaner and also a
                 degreaser.

Basic G -  replaces ammonia and chlorox  in your cleaning,  toilet bowl cleanser, can be
                 used in a spray bottle for quick cleanups in kitchen or bathroom, also when
                 you want to clean your cellphone, computer mouse, phones, and electronic
                 equipment.

Scour Off - is a scour off cleaner for tub and tile, kitchen sink, ceramic top stoves,  any
                  place that you would normally use a cleanser but scour off has nothing in it
                  that is abrasive.

Your shopping list for cleaning should be as follows:
     wet and dry mops     vacuum cleaner     stepladder/stool     bucket     rubber gloves
     trash bags/paper towels    sponges/scrubbing pads     dusting/cleaning cloths*
*Sam's club has some great cloths in packs of 12 that are excellent cleaning cloths.

Well, you are all set with your cleaning checklist!  My next blog I will talk about your
shopping list.  Earth Day is April 22!  Change to Earth friendly products!  Use Shaklee!
For more information, contact me, 313-928-4592 or email: tomharriet@aol.com

The Best Of You: THE RAINBOW BRIDGEThis is for anyone who has had...

The Best Of You: THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

This is for anyone who has had...: THE RAINBOW BRIDGE This is for anyone who has had a special pet in their lives! Just this side of heaven is a place called the Rainbow ...

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

This is for anyone who has had a special pet in their lives!

Just this side of heaven is a place called the Rainbow Bridge

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to the Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all our special friends so they can run and play together.

There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one thing, they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance.

His bright eyes are intent; his eager body begins to quiver.

Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.

The happy kisses rain upon your face, your hands caress the beloved head and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together...........

(Anonymous )       Even now after many years of our beloved Gigi, this poem still 
                             touches my heart.  Only someone who has loved a pet gets it.    Harriet

TWAS THE THREE MONTHS AFTER CHRISTMAS....

Twas the three months after Christmas, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I'd nibbled, the eggnog I'd taste
At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales there arose such a number?
When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber)

I'd remember the marvelous meals I'd prepared;
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rare,
The cakes and the pies, the bread and the cheese
And the way I'd never said, "No thank you, please."

As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt
And prepared once again to do battle with dirt--
I said to myself, as I only can
"You can't spend a spring disguised as a man!"

So--away with the last of the sour cream dip,
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished.

I will change my diet, lick by lick
I'll even chew on a celery stick
I'll drink my Shaklee Smoothees and feel better each day.

My lifestyle will be changed and I'll feel so good
My goal weight is here to stay.

My new bathing suit is a sight to see
You just wait, I am a new ME!

healthyhabitstoday.net                 Revised by Harriet