Posts by Annie
Live Simply 2020: April Mantra
There is never a perfect moment. The world is never without strife. The universe is never devoid of suffering. Lately, it’s felt as if there is more hardship and anguish than normal. Communities are united in collective grief, with fear gripping the globe. Yet we are no less in charge of what we choose to…
Read MoreLive Simply 2020: March Mantra
It is so easy to stop. It’s easy to give up and give into the desire to be lazy. It’s infuriating, really, how easily exemplary slips back into mediocre. It takes just a handful of choices; fewer, probably. A closet’s beautifully organized status begins to be undone with a single garment not put back…
Read MoreLive Simply 2020: February Mantra
In almost every couple Live Simply has worked with, there is one person who tends to be more inclined to organization, and one who is less. There is one person excited to plow ahead with growth and progress, and one person dragging their feet and protesting to varying levels of severity. Yin and yang.…
Read MoreLive Simply 2020: January Mantra
It doesn’t matter what goals or resolutions you set, dreams you launch, ideas you create, or relationships you make; it is inevitable that at some point or other, you’re going to screw it up. I know, I know; it’s the first month of the year new–of the new decade!–and the blankness of the slate…
Read MoreLive Simply In 2019: December Mantra, Be Light
After I moved out of my parents’ house, there was a time when returning for visits was terribly depressing. Everything that’s hard about being there (chronic illness and the chaos that goes along with it) would smack me in the face upon entry, and I would wilt away like lettuce. Eventually, I realized my…
Read MoreLive Simply In 2019: November Mantra, Forgive Past Mistakes
Forgiveness is a spiritual reset button. “Begin again,” Forgiveness instructs. Release the offenses incurred, the standards unmet, the judgments rendered. View the situation, or that person, or yourself with compassion. Remember that everyone, including yourself, is sorting through hardships, and (probably!) doing their best to play the hand given. Begin (forgive) again, and again,…
Read MoreLive Simply in 2019: October Mantra, Embrace Change
I can’t be totally sure, but I’ve heard rumblings that there are people out there who naturally embrace change. The same thing over and over again starts to feel boring, stifling. They take it upon themselves to move to new cities, get new jobs, make drastic decisions at the hair salon. I envy those folks.…
Read MoreLive Simply in 2019: September Mantra, Strive For Excellence
If perfection were possible, we would have attained it by now. If telling ourselves perfection is an impossible goal were enough to convince us to cease striving to attain it, we would have given up long ago. Yet so many of us (myself included) continue to want perfection, and live with the constant disappointment of…
Read MoreLive Simply in 2019, August Mantra: Heed Your Intuition
My first introductions to intuition came from spiritual leaders and self-help writers. “Your intuition is that little voice inside you,” they all told me. “It has all the answers.” I took their explanations to mean that there ought to be an oracle dwelling within me, a psychic on constant speed dial who, from their descriptions,…
Read MoreLive Simply in 2019, July Mantra: Release Expectations
We’re a demanding group of people; have you noticed? We want precisely what we want at the moment we desire it, hold strongly preconceived notions about how long getting what we want should take, how much it will cost, and how much effort it will require. These expectations are so often fulfilled according to…
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