Thursday, February 19, 2009

Deliberate Living....



A new friend of mine said something that gave me pause. She said she needed to start living more deliberately. Hmmmm. As with all philosophies, some followers are rather militant, taking it to the very far extreme. Many, however, like my friends Cheryl, Kel, and Anet (and others of course) are just wading in and doing what their hearts tell them. Baby steps for me. I'm not sure I am ready to commit to any certain "thing" yet. It might be that I do as these women are doing and deliberately change the foods I serve to my family but it quite likely won't be exactly what they are doing. Maybe I'll work at reducing my plastics like Kel has done.

There are things we have that we cannot give up, like our swimming pool. Sure chlorine isn't the healthiest thing to be swimming in but does the exercise we're getting count against that at all? We can't afford to switch over to a salt water filter but I can research alternatives and possibly switch to a less toxic treatment or determine when the best times for swimming would be. There are other things out there that seem to be hype(or at the very least, overly dramatized) as well. I won't be giving up my microwave, sticking my feet in a detox machine, or exchanging our current bedding for organic, unbleached, undyed sheets. I have no room for a garden, nor do I have the inclination to dig in the dirt so that's out for me too. What I do know is that the phrase I heard at park day, "live more deliberately" struck a cord in me and I want to investigate further. How about you?

Here are more websites about living deliberately...

DeliberateLife.com

Deliberate Living: Slowing Down & Simplifying

Living Deliberately(a discussion group)

Living-Deliberately.com

6 comments:

autumnesf said...

Great post and thanks for the links.

Deliberate living is personal. I wish people could accept that what is deliberate in one persons life won't be the same as another.

Why do some people think we need to all do the same thing??? We are all created different for a reason. Why try to fit everyone in the same box?

Enjoy your deliberate living friend! I know I'm enjoying mine!

Anet said...

Hmmm... this sounds very interesting. I will be checking out these sites.
You've made me smile mentioning me in your post, I needed this today:) Sweet girl!

Betts said...

I think it's a good idea to think about what you do and what you can/want to do differently, but we all can't live an organic, unbleached life. We should do what we can and be happy with that.

A Slice of the Pie said...

Molly, thanks for the nod. I too needed this.

I laughed a bit at myself when I read that you're not giving up your microwave. Ours recently caught fire (not all bad since it turned into a little homeschool science lesson) but I considered not replacing it. Though we mostly use it for reheating, it really has become a necessity. I even stopped cooking planned leftovers for so many meals while we were without the microwave that it didn't make sense to give it up.

I think living more deliberately is a great philosophy as one can embrace it on whatever level suits their needs and life. It doesn't sound preachy.

coinguyslady said...

This Deliberate living is something I would like to learn more about too.This is my first time on your blog but I will be back.I found we had some things in common. I have a Aaron and a Ryan in my faimly, we homeschooled and redheads we have them too.You made a bat wing shawl and I work with bats.Also being a child of God and a fan of "Cat in my Lap".
Vicki

Cheryl said...

Thanks for adding me to your blog post :) Yes..we all have to find our own path to deliberate/intentional living...of course it will be different for everyone..I'm taking baby steps too, but I'm surely not being legalistic about it! BTW, I love reading your blog...when I get around to doing it!