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Simplify Your Life with 8 Simple Strategies

by suzie | Feb 27, 2016 | Articles

To simplify, we need space. Space protects us from clutter, which is really a terrible hindrance to a clear and relaxed mind. The complexity that comes along with ‘stuff’ that we accumulate through the years can choke the life out of us.

Why is this?

Well, I’m going to borrow an analogy from Jim Bunch, a successful businessman, entrepreneur, and member of the Transformational Leadership Council. He says to think of our overly-tasked lives as an overloaded computer system with too many browsers open. When we leave too many of these browsers open, it slows down the entire system. The same thing happens with us when we keep too many tasks or obstacles untouched. We slow down.

When we simplify, we set ourselves up to succeed.

Sounds good to me because I’ve spent far too long choking over here!

There is an undeniable freedom that takes shape in the presence of space. What do I mean by this? When we allow for space, we essentially provide breathing room or, as I like to refer to it as, wiggle room. With wiggle room we can breathe deeper, focus better, energize quicker, create a sense of lightness and ultimately become happier and healthier.

When we simplify, we gain freedom

She listened to the squirrels play in the branches above. She connected to the simple and grand undertows of the moment. For the first time in a long time, silence comforted her. Her heart reflected back a wishful, thankful beat. – The Dance

After listening to a webinar by Jim Bunch, I began an exercise where I went around to various places in my house where clutter overwhelmed me. I started off in my kitchen pantry. I pulled everything out of it and sorted it. I asked myself, is this making me happy or healthy? If the answer was no, I placed it in the got-to-go pile.

I found expired can goods (from two years ago! I know! yikes) taking up valuable space. I recycled many cans and jars, donated many non-perishables that I would never eat, and tossed out the junk to make room for the foods I eat on a normal basis.

This action resulted in lots of space where I can now see what I have, and will likely eat!

I moved on to the cabinets underneath my bathroom sinks, my linen closet, my bedroom closet, and my kitchen cabinets, repeating the question, is this making me happy or healthy?

Well, fast forward to today. It is recycle day in my neighborhood. As you can imagine, I had to start piling up the recycles very early to make sure they all got to the curb on time!

I can breathe again.

simplify After my tango with clutter, I allowed for a lingering moment where I stood peacefully in front of my newly organized cabinets and marveled at the space now created. Breathing deeply, I opened up to the echo of a peaceful beat, one that awakened my senses and made me want to twirl in response to its riveting lead.

You see, when we let go of what is no longer needed and embrace the richness of simplicity, breath flows. That open space on the horizon of freedom embodies ease with its feathery tickle and mouthwatering tapping on our hungry souls. The air circulates with more rhythm. The light shines brilliantly. The positive charge electrifies our subconscious. We are lifted to a perspective that offers clarity. Free of the clutter we left behind, our hearts beat a bit more in tempo with the song of peace, sweeping us up into its sweet melody where no obstacles stand stronger than we and no crevices exists for darkness to settle in and steal the joy of pure consciousness.

Are you ready to step into this joyful dance, too?

Here are 8 Strategies to Simplify

Donate, sell, recycle, or trade items that don’t make you happy or healthy.
Store items to open up space in your home.
Clean up emails (make folders and place important emails in them)
Place yourself on the do-not-mail list to remove unwanted promotional mailers
Unsubscribe from newsletters that no longer serve you
Say no to activities that no longer bring you joy
Avoid negative people
Exercise daily to clear your mind

Do you have ways to simplify that you’d like to add to this list?

Relax with Deep Breathing

by suzie | Feb 25, 2016 | Articles, Health and Wellness

Back when I originally wrote this post, I needed to relax. I found that by deep breathing, I gained a sense of control over my emotions. When I learned this, the week had been a whirlwind! A good whirlwind, but still quite a wild ride. My head was spinning and I did feel a bit overwhelmed. The good thing is that I knew why. I was rushing. And, I hate rushing!

Take a Deep Breath

Slow down and take a breath was the subject of my self-talk this morning. I whispered it to myself as I stood in the center of my kitchen overcome with emotions.

I’ve had a lot going on this week, all good, but still lots! I just released The Dance and just received a glowing review of it in Curve Magazine.

Running my writing business is lots of fun work, but it does take a toll on my balance at times. I’ve had a challenging time finding a moment to breathe this week.

I had so many things I wanted to do this morning, so I found myself rushing around my kitchen like a complete maniac trying to do twenty million things in five minutes of time. I wanted to get the cooking over with so I could start on the book launch promos and other projects I had planned.

Illogically, I thought, the faster I get through this mundane task of cooking, the more time I will have to do what I really want to do.

Yeah, right.

Well, that didn’t work out as planned because I worked myself up into a manic frenzy trying to achieve an unrealistic and unhealthy goal. I had about one hour to accomplish what would truthfully take five.

Despite this, I rushed to get breakfast, lunch and snacks packed for the day while simultaneously trying to clean. And poor Bumblebee just sat there and stared at me with that worried look she gets when her momma thinks she’s superwoman and can take on the world. Yeah, as you can imagine, I was multi-tasking and accomplishing little. My mind acted like an out of control runaway train, trying to catch up with my physical body as I dashed around that kitchen getting nowhere fast.

I needed to take a breath

Here’s the truth, I don’t like rushing. In fact, I hate rushing. So, thankfully, I realized this as I stared at Bumblebee, holding a spatula in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. I was completely out of control.

Yes, everything I mentioned above needs attention, but not all at once. There’s a time for everything, just not all at once!

So, there I stood, in the middle of my kitchen, and drew a long, thoughtful breath. I tensed, holding that precious breath, then released it and relaxed my body. It felt amazing, so much so I did it for ten more times. I found a new attitude somewhere in those long thoughtful breaths.

The Result.

reclaim your life

I was calm. I was centered. I was focused. It took me all of three minutes to reclaim my life! I looked back at Bumblebee and she blinked her support, then went back to peeking out the window in search of squirrels.

Relaxed and ready to take on my mess, I glanced at a picture of a flower hanging on my wall.

It reminded me of how delicate time can be.

Nature rushes for no one. It operates at a pace that is undisturbed by distractions. A flower blooms on its own time, never rushing to open its petals in the hopes of being a flower in full bloom. It takes its sweet time, allowing the air to tickle its core as it awakens and stretches in slow, steady moves toward the promise of new light. Its thirst for transformation is quenched only by the journey of spreading its petals in one long, thoughtful move until it has kissed the day and left its nutritious gift onto those who slow down long enough to appreciate its presence.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that no matter what our passion is in life, if we don’t slow down and remain mindful, we’re in danger of being trampled. When the world is spinning violently out of whack, slow down. Plant yourself in the moment and just breathe. Somewhere in that moment where you take a breath you’ll reclaim what’s most important – your peace!

The Dance by Suzie Carr

by suzie | Feb 16, 2016 | Articles

I started to write The Dance after watching a TedTalk video with Dr. Marla Spivak about the declining honeybee populations. I immediately felt the need to write a story that would bring to light ways an individual could learn about these magnificent creatures and help save them through easy actions. The result was an adventure in research that made a huge impact on me personally. The honeybees taught me valuable life lessons. These lessons are weaved throughout this story.

A Book about Love and Friendship

The Dance is a book about love, family and friendship, and learning how to dance with life’s constant spin.

Dog trainer Jacky Applebaum is focused on one thing – making up for a grave misunderstanding that damaged her relationship with her fifteen-year old stepdaughter Sophie. They are suffocating under the pressure of hurt and guilt. Old wounds begin to heal between them when a spirited beekeeper named Brooke Hastings contracts Jacky to train her overly-protective dog, Bee. A mutual affinity grows instantly between them, an affinity Jacky won’t allow herself to embrace. But, the heart knows what it needs. Meanwhile, Brooke hires Sophie as her assistant in the bee apiary. A trust forms, and soon Sophie begins to feel alive again as she comes face-to-face with the many parallels between her and the honeybees she nurtures.

Just as they learn to open up and dance with life again, a hurtful truth reveals itself. Will this truth set them free or unravel all they’ve come to learn about life?

Why I Wrote the Dance

About a year ago, my admiration of honeybees turned into a healthy obsession to understand this magnificent creature more. I was sitting in my living room, flipping through some TedTalk videos, when I came across one presented by Dr. Marla Spivak, Why Bees are Disappearing.

When the video ended, I immediately knew I wanted to learn much more about honeybees and what I could do as an individual to help save them. I also knew that one day I would write a novel featuring these magnificent beings. Dr. Spivak offered several key ways a person could immediately help save bees. She suggested planting wild flowers and avoiding the use of pesticides and insecticides. I knew I had a lot to learn, and thus one day I’d have a lot to share.

Much to learn about bees

I contacted Dr. Spivak and she referred me to an insightful book, Lessons From the Hive written by a fellow Entomology expert, Mark L. Winston. I absorbed every ounce of information he offered. Then, I furthered my research by contacting a local organic beekeeper at Sweet Artisans Apiary in MD. I sat down with Steve and Kathy Sweet (yes, their last name is so cool and fitting!) and they educated me on everything and anything honeybees. When they spoke, they did so with a love kindred to that of a parent talking about their child. They consider their bees family. The admiration and respect they have for them caused my eyes to tear as I listened to them for four hours on that first encounter.

They later invited me back to their apiary to help them place their pollen collector trays in their hives. Talk about a rush! With the silly, ignorant fears of the past long gone, I suited up in their garage and then entered the apiary – a newfound paradise to my senses. The bees buzzed, danced, and went about their business of maintaining the hive as I stood a curious onlooker to their fascinating lives. Did you know that if you lean in close enough to the honeycomb hive, you can feel the wind from their wings?

I started writing The Dance immediately following this visit.

I hope to spread awareness about the fragility and beauty of the honeybee through The Dance. Through my research on this novel, I hope to bring to light to the issues facing honeybees and ways the community can help save this valuable, keystone species. Readers will catch a glimpse into the magic of these beautiful creatures and learn about the many parallels between them and the book’s characters who nurture them.

Everything is Temporary

by suzie | Feb 12, 2016 | Articles

Recently a friend of mine ran into some troubling adversity. I tried earnestly to say something that would help, but I was at a total loss for words. The situation was a tough one, and no words seemed adequate.

What do you say to someone who suffers from devastating news? Don’t worry. It’ll get better with time?

Let’s face it, in moments like this, that kind of statement can feel like a slap in the face because it’s hard to see past the blow. Until we’ve walked in someone’s shoes, we can’t be certain what thoughts are running around the mind. I’ve heard it said repeatedly that time heals.

I do believe this is true. Time heals. It doesn’t completely take away the pain, but it does eventually smooth over some of the initial bumps. I find great hope in this concept. And I hope my friend and you do too.

“Sandcastles are temporary. Trying to build them into permanent structures is an impossible dream. They fall down quickly, with little warning. The comfort comes when one realizes that when they crumble and fall back into the sea, they become the foundation for something else in the waiting.” – Sandcastles

Everything is Temporary

As deflating as adversity can feel at the moment, I believe it puts us in a place that helps us grow into even better people. Because everything is temporary and doesn’t last forever, we can draw out the lessons and experiences and transform from them.

Something to keep in mind – without pain, agony, and defeat, we have no frame of reference on which to judge greatness when it shines itself onto our life. I am a firm believer that defining moments shape our lives just as the powerful storms and angry volcanoes of years past have shaped Earth.

We need adversity

Without adversity, we’d have no Grand Canyon, no Mount Everest, no separate continents, and in respect to our singular lives, no respect for ordinary days when all is calm and right. And just as the temporary storm clouds clear and open up to bright blue, sunny skies, my wish for anyone battling adversity is that so too will the shrouds of fear, sadness, and hopelessness be lifted for you. For everything is temporary.

For the sake of analogy, let’s take nature to explain the beauty in the temporary. In every blink, life evolves. What disguises itself as death in nature is quite spectacularly a sacrificial dance of transformation. In nature we see the falling of leaves as a marked finality from their mighty sustainer. Yet, their shedding grants a moment of revival. Beneath the surface exists an exciting universe of possibility where nutrient-rich life blooms in a nurturing cocoon. Energy circulates and provides the eager new growth with the power to transform into fresh new life. This newness gathers its strength and bursts through the protective coating of its womb and reaches toward the air in a dance of spectacular beauty. In symbiotic union, the new bloom shares its life-sustaining richness with the world, offering its grace and love to all. It will share its fruit until it, too, has lived its purpose, at which point it will sacrifice its temporary gifts for the promise of future generations. It is only through this temporary cycle that we emerge stronger and more capable to thrive along with life’s dynamic nature.

Get Outside of Your Comfort Zone

by suzie | Feb 6, 2016 | Articles

The comfort zone is a place that paralyzes many. It drains the energy needed to sustain the long legs of a purposeful journey. This may be why many claim that it’s beneficial to get uncomfortable.

The Dynamic Beat Beyond the Comfort Zone

To stand at the edge of that circle and gaze wantonly into its center only serves to layer the seeds of change into an impenetrable womb at our feet. Those seeds want to come alive and experience their full unbridled potential, bursting through the surface of their imposed limits and reaching heights that offer spectacular sights.

Once beyond the banality of circumstance, these seeds extend their curiosity and offer life, love, and abundance to all who care to share on their journey. The fruits of their growth exemplify the very core of living in full bloom. No longer diminished by the emptiness of their cocoons, they free themselves to enjoy the mysteries, adventures, and gifts that await beyond the comfort zone.

It is in this space where they grow into the majestic beings nature intended them to be – full of glory and intrigue, cultivating the uncharted into something so familiar it too will eventually demand rebirth.

“Sometimes in life, people had to learn to swallow fears and walk past the shadows that lurked. I approached one of those times. It wasn’t about me anymore. It was about so much more than me.” Jane in The Muse

Jane in The Muse had it right. She would never be able to be the positive influence she needed to be without allowing herself to come out of her comfort zone. I think most of us have been there, in that moment when our comfort gets in the way of our growth.

A Recent Experience

I recently visited Epcot Center and ran into a situation that inspired me to stretch beyond my comfort zone. I ventured into Ellen’s Energy Adventure and landed eyes on a peculiar sight. Before me was a waiting room of sorts, a large oval shaped space that housed an enormous screen displaying a fun commentary by Ellen. The hundred or so people in the room gathered along the back wall, leaving the entire center vacant. I followed my friend to the far reaches of the wall so as not to get in anyone’s way. We stood craning our necks to see the screen. I looked to the center of the empty room again and thought, ‘what a waste!’

It dawned on me that all of us were so uncomfortable to make that first bold step to fill the room that we suffered in cramped unison. I thought, ‘this is a fantastic opportunity to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.’

“F&%k this kinked neck!” I thought.

I boldly opened up my stride and planted myself smack dab in the center of the room where I enjoyed a most spectacular view of Ellen! Suddenly, everyone else followed my bold lead, leaving the comfort of that back wall to embrace the full display they paid good money to see.

This got me thinking how comfortable most of us are just standing by the sidelines, stuck in the routine of the norm, and how by holding onto it with such determined rigidity we forfeit the chance at viewing the world through its widest lens.

A sense of empowerment flowed in me as more and more people filtered in around me.

Getting out of my comfort zone felt amazing!

Since that day, I’ve committed to taking small steps each day to stretch beyond the comfortable. The result has been a shedding of the old to make room for the new.

If you’d like to try breaking free of your comfort zone, too, here are some ways:

Smile at a stranger
Compliment someone
Make a phone call you’ve been avoiding
Ask for something you desire
Take the lead
Face a fear
Do something that normally makes you uncomfortable

Help me out. Share your ideas on how we can break free of the comfort zone!

Be Ready for Opportunity

by suzie | Jan 26, 2016 | Articles

Opportunity is everywhere and available to all of us. We only need to open our eyes to it. Then, it’s up to us to recognize and take hold of it.

It took me decades to understand this concept about opportunity. There was a time when I would say, “Wow, that person is so lucky to have such talent. Imagine being born with that kind of opportunity in life? How did she get to be so lucky?”

I don’t have the scientific backing on this, but I would say with utmost confidence that a majority of people have pondered those very questions, too.

Luck and Opportunity

Let’s face it, it’s hard not to look at someone like Tony Robbins, an incredibly popular and successful success coach, and think of how lucky he is to have been born with such a gift. People pay him astronomical amounts of money to listen to his advice, and all he has to do is stand up on a stage with a headset and talk. Wow, such opportunity!

He makes motivational coaching look so easy. He walks that stage, flexes his strong jaw, and gets everyone pumped up with what seems like natural flow. How lucky he is to have such ability.

Here’s the thing

If you focused the majority of your time on becoming a success coach, logic points out that you would eventually gain the ability. What we focus on the most, by the very virtue of the physics of energy, will begin to emerge. This is powerful.

Tony Robbins is not lucky. He is focused. He is prepared. He is committed to his talent.

Behind his brilliantly-delivered coaching sessions are years upon years of determined focus. He didn’t become a world-class coach by focusing on the latest television show or drinking his productive hours away at a bar. He did so by concentrating his efforts on that goal daily, and making it one of his top priorities.

In my novel, Tangerine Twist, a story about a musician who hits the big times, the lead character Becca James is completely out of her element and struggles with finding her footing under the wave of success that hits her overnight. Why is this? Well, she wasn’t prepared. She also didn’t truly believe such ‘opportunity’ would ever come into her life.

Ready for Opportunity

So how can we apply this to our own lives right now?

To rise to our fullest potential takes commitment. We need to slip into a productive mode of preparation so when we meet up with opportunity, we can stand before it with unshakable confidence. On our way to this point, we’ll traverse paths that will surely test our resilience. This path will be nothing short of adventurous because anything less will never allow us the chance to grow persevering roots. Expect these challenges and plan to embrace them. Let them teach you the rigors of controversy, the humility of defeat, and the glory of accomplishment. A path full of obstacles is a great gift, for they serve to get us out of comfort just far enough to stretch past our limits.

Along this path, we’ll surely encounter fallen branches that will twist up at our ankles and threaten to trip us. We’ll be blocked by boulders capable of stopping our momentum if allowed. We’ll come across raging rivers that will force us to contemplate our journey, teasing us to lay ourselves down on the side of its banks and ease into our familiar comfort of safety. We will need to choose to either admire the opportunity rising on the horizon past this river or engage with it by plunging in with everything we’ve got, ignoring the least resistant path.

Anything less than tripping, climbing, and tackling the flow may result in our losing the opportunity to see what the other side of this obstacle has to offer. Digging into the challenges and discovering their weaknesses allows us to develop strengths that would otherwise go untouched and untrained.

Don’t fear the road that has no footprints yet. For ours may very well need to be the first set.

Be ready for your opportunity.

Determine your Passion

What gets your heart pumping? What would you be willing to either get up early for or stay up late for to do? Go do that!

Prepare

Get into learning mode. Absorb as much knowledge as you can about your passion. Study it. Practice it. Repeat this over and over until it’s so deeply implanted in your brain that it looks easy to those who haven’t seen the behind the scene efforts.

Embrace Opportunity

Look around you. Opportunity is everywhere. Once you’ve prepared for it, you’ll see it and be ready to partner up with it.

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Simplify Your Life with 8 Simple Strategies