Wednesday, November 05, 2014

One Thing. I Can Do That.


“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” 
― Meister Eckhart



Busy, busy today! So here's a re-run post from many years ago, one which still tickles my head each week...



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Years ago I read that a woman made one new improvement to her home each day. I was inspired! I mean, just think--if you changed just one thing about your home or about your life each day, by the year's end, you'd have made 365 changes.

And the kinds of changes I'm speaking of are simple:

Rearrange the furniture in one room.
Wash one shelf of knick-knacks.
Clean-out one closet, one drawer, or one cupboard.
Paint one chair or one wall or one table.
Place pretty contact paper in one drawer.
Visit one coffee shop for the first time.
Take one photo from your home on a gorgeous day.
Create one quiet reading corner just for you.
Rearrange the items on one table.
Deep clean one room.
Gather one bag of cast-offs for a thrift shop.
Sew one decorative pillow.
Hang one lovely picture.

...and I'm sure you can think of a hundred more 'one things,' non-oh-so-daily things which make a pleasant difference in your day, your outlook. Tasks which whisk you away from deep, dull ruts. (The stuff we 'should' do each day doesn't count).

Sometimes we just get stuck in an overwhelmed frame of mind, dreading the one-hundred things we believe need to be done. Yet just by doing that one simple thing, we are often inspired, freed to do yet another thing and then another... 


It's the pushing past that awful weight of lethargy or a same ol,' same ol' frame of mind that can release creativity and a smiling sense of accomplishment.

One thing--one new thing each day. I love that.

It also works for relationships: one new thing to resuscitate that friendship I've let slide. One thing to show my husband he's still my favorite friend. One thing to show Naomi she's always in my thoughts even though she's no longer living in our house...

... and so on until one thing has become thousands of delightful things over the years and feeling overwhelmed or bored has become just a vague memory.



(Photo by Scott Garlock.)

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"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."   ... 2 Corinthians 5:17

“I want every day to be a fresh start on expanding what is possible.” 
― Oprah Winfrey



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Did you pick up a free copy of Let Them Eat Cake for your Kindle when I listed it? My friend, Kristi, highly recommended it, I'm reading it now and oh! Totally enjoyable, just as she said.

It's $3.99 now (unless you have kindle unlimited) , but I thought I'd mention it in case it's already sitting in your Kindle waiting for you...


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Free Kindle books:


Sara in Montana

The Charms of Miss O'Hara



I truly enjoy  my 'Baker Boys.' They make me smile even on bleary-eyed mornings.

4 comments:

Tracy said...

Great idea and one that is easy to implement! Inspiring post, Debra!

Debra said...

Thank-you Tracy! I'm glad this inspired you and I do thank you for letting me know. Blessings, Debra

mabeane said...

I love this idea and think I will do it this month. We desperate to continue the decluttering. Moving will be in our future as we need to get the equity out of our farm and possibly move nearer to husbands work. If he works until he's 70 it would be better for him to be 5 minutes from home rather than an hour.
Our place is really too much for us to handle and the visits are few and far between so having the extra bedrooms is no longer a necessity.
So...making a change every day is a grand idea. Thanks for giving me the idea!

Robin M. said...

I am new to your blog and it is very nice. I want to try this suggestion on doing one thing to beautify or organize my home everyday instead of trying to do too much at once.

I especially liked your post of Breaking up with HGTV. I couldn't agree with you more. It seems so many people are discontent and on those shows so much is wasted - it's a shame, isn't it?