As the year comes to a close, I found this treasure by Dawn over at www.FrugalforLife.com She talks about how she came to define for herself what "enough" is so that she could be happy and fiscally sound by living a frugal life. She decribes people who are content and have found what "enough" means to them as follows:
- They have a purpose that is larger than their needs or wants – They have a mission to help others; they aren’t out to fulfill their own desires, because those would be infinite and not bring the happiness that comes from helping others.
- They can account for where their money is – they know how much they have and how much they spend and they are ready for the unexpected
- They have their own ideas of ‘enough’ – They aren’t relying on what kind of car their neighbor bought or how many vacations they took. They look inside and they see that this *blank* is sufficient for happiness, whether bought at a yard sale or not.
While Dawn is talking about money, this is true of living a reasonably organized life as well.
- You have to have a purpose that serves others as well as feeds your passion in life in order to organize to make it happen. What is your clear & compelling purpose?
- Knowing what you have and being able to access it (regardless of how messy that is or what it looks like) is empowering. Whether it's knowing how much money you have and where it's going, or knowing where your important papers are, or just knowing where your keys are. Knowing what you have and how to get to it makes it possible to be ready for unexpected problems as well as for unexpected opportunities for great things to come into your life. Are you ready for a fabulous 2007?
- Know what enough is for you is a powerful tool to help you make decisions wisely. What is enough money? knowing this helps you choose your career and how much time to put into it. What is enough clothing? Knowing this help you let go of excess. How neat do you need to be to function well? How organized do you need to be? Is just having all your photos in one big box enough? Great! Do you need them all sorted into albums? Is it worth doing that over other ways you could be spending your time? What is enough for you? Where do you draw lines and make choices?
These thoughts are on my mind intensely as I start the new year and think about how I want to move forward with my business, balancing work with having a life and managing the way I spend my time. What is enough fun? enough work? enough business growth?
But for tonite, I'm off to enjoy First Night Montclair and ring the New Year in with FUN! Hope you have an inspired, peaceful, joyous, and wonderfully Neat New Year!
Ariane, I love reading Dawn's blog! I know that with one of my 2007 GOALS being organizing my creative spaces I will be checking in lots. So thanks! Lisa
Posted by: Lisa Knight | January 01, 2007 at 12:34 PM