List.

I’m not going to lie that I stole this list from Tsh Oxenrider. I started her book on my trip, mostly because I’d downloaded it months ago and had already spent my $10 per month Kindle budget. It was just sitting on my iPad, calling my name.

She’s a smart lady, that Tsh.  A culturally aware, spiritually rooted, local-food loving mama in Central Oregon. I think we’d get along swimmingly.

It never ceases to amaze me that in my quest toward the movement for slowness, I keep finding more things to add to my list to be a simpler person living a slower life. The irony is not lost on me, folks.

Adopt a cleaning routine.

Have a weekly meeting for budget review and scheduling.

Work out three times per week, walk or get outside the other days.

Make craft activities for the kids.

Look into sign language or Spanish classes for the kids .

Keep the house clean.

Keep the car clean.

Keep your heart clean.

It seems that, in my quest to be better, I automatically equate it with the need to do more. Logic tells me that it is precisely the opposite. The journey in-between, however, is where I struggle.

She wrote this list on page 22 of her book. I wanted to mark it with a flashing beacon and paint it on my pillow. Maybe osmosis will make things happen if I’m not disciplined enough to do it on my own.

One thing was apparent: going with the flow and living like everyone else does not automatically guarentte a slower life. My nudge from God was true; living slower requires living with intention. And to live with intention means to make little daily choices that resonate deeply in our souls—that make sense deep in our being and ring true…

These five slices represented the major categories of our family’s daily decisions:

·      Food

·      Work

·      Education

·      Travel

·      Entertainment

I’ve adapted it for our own family. Knowing myself, I’ll probably forget I wrote it in May and rediscover it again in November, only to attempt reimplementation in 2017 (by the way, how the heck did it get to be 2016, yesterday it was 1993). But nonetheless, I’m really going to try this time. I’m feeling all sorts of giddy at the power of togetherness we will be forced to have in this new environment. The possibilities are endless and all I want this time around is limits. Intentional choices. Mindful eating. Purposeful spending. Quality time. Margin.

I know we don’t need to move to Costa Rica for that.

(First FOOD, coming soon)