"Need Less, Be Blessed"

"Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee" Psalm 122:7-8

Here we are beginning another year. SO many blogs filled with 'resolutions' and self-help idea. I'm not against them, but I guess I tend to shy away from whatever the current 'fad' is. 

Last year I read "Happier at Home" By Gretchen Rubin (She also wrote "The Happiness Project"), a great book about teaching yourself to be content with your home (or how to achieve that happiness)  It made me consider a motto for the year. Last year it was "Choose Joy". 

This year I have been considering the idea of living a more 'minimalist' lifestyle. No... not all white with bare walls. I just don't want my possessions to own me and take up so much of my time to keep track of them. This year (2014) I have chosen for my motto:

                                     "Need Less, Be Blessed"

I want to be content with less things and focus more on how blessed I am right now.

Joshua Becker and his site http://www.becomingminimalist.com/ have been very helpful.  

I have also recently found another blog that encourages The Art of Simple 

I discovered while on vacation, especially in hotels I was very content to have just the basics and it was very easy to keep track of things. (Obviously) It made me think about how much my 'things' and 'clutter' at home are making me feel less peaceful. I did not like feeling less peaceful. So, this year I am going to make a real effort to 'de-clutter' my life and reduce my possessions to an amount I can realistically use and efficiently keep track of.  Towards the end of last year I started already to comb through many things in my garage. It is not going to be a quick task, but I am fairly certain by the end of the year I will be at a place of more peace. 

"Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful, or beautiful" 

William Morris

It is always my hope that my paintings will make you feel relaxed and peaceful. Painting is a very intimate activity for me. (Currently I do not have the above painting available as prints or cards, but if you are interested, please feel free to contact me and I can arrange for some to be made for you.. gerdasgarden at gmail dot com)

My hope and prayer are for everyone to discover peace this coming year.