It's a Simple Life

Hey everyone,

I was having a browse blogger updates from those who inspire me this afternoon and came across a post of one particular bloggy friend who is participating in the 52 weeks weeks to simplify your life challenge, which I had never heard of. I had a bit of a look into it and thought it might be a great way to reflect on the year to come after a rather challenging 2011. I am a little late to start so here are my first 2 weeks worth of topics rolled into one.

Week 1 - Create a list of everything that went “right” in 2011
Hmm... I'll admit this was a bit challenging as there was a lot that went 'wrong' in 2011. But it's not like me to be a total pessimist so here are some things that went right:
# My husband and I were able to travel to a new country for a few days
# My sister gave birth to my beautiful niece Kaleaha
# We celebrated our first wedding anniversary
# Christmas was spent with my entire family
# I was promoted to senior psychologist at work
# I discovered the amazing hobby of scrapbooking at a whole new level and had a couple of layouts picked up for publishing
# I met some wonderful new friends and collegues
# I was faced with some of the hardest moments of my life to date and was resilient enough to have moved through those experiences to become a stronger person

Week 2 - Define your personal Values
Here are 5 of my values that are of most personal importance:

# Family - this one tends to speak for itself with the importance of family and even more so due to our current plans of trying to concieve and start a family of our own.

#Love - Living without love would be like living without air to breath. We all need to love and feel loved and always remember to let our loved ones know that we do love them as life is short and precious.

# Fun - Having fun and being able to enjoy life is of such great importance. Without the ability to have a laugh, to do the things we love and simply enjoy life, it hardly seems worthwhile.

# Achievement - I pride myself on being able to learn new things, adapt to situations and enhance my knowledge. I love to surround myself in culture, knowledge and unique experiences which I feel to be personal achievements with each step taken towards gaining knowledge.

# Honesty - This is so important to me as I am a very honest person and I feel that others should give the same respect in being open and honest with me.

So I'll try and keep up with this throughout the year. It seems like a great way to reflect and very theraputic to share. As a psychologist myself, I can certainly see the benefits of an opportunity to 'simplify'.


Holly x