Keep it simple stupid.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.  ~Leonardo DaVinci

I have a way of complicating things. I'm really good at it. It all starts in my head and translates into action (or more often, inaction) and that sort of gets the complication ball rolling.

An example: I like coffee, especially on a Sunday morning. But I can only handle about one cup before a gross and disgusting feeling starts to form in the pit of my stomach. So this morning I put the coffee pot on as usual, and 3 cups later I have a full blown battle surging in my head ("Uh oh, starting to feel gross". "No, keep drinking! This is what you enjoy on a Sunday morning dammit! It relaxes you!". "Ohhh...gotta stop drinking coffee and start drinking water...you're supposed to be drinking lots of water!". "Just drink the coffee!".

Upon reflection, I can clearly see that this is utterly ridiculous. What would have made far more sense would have been to savour the first cup of coffee, unplug the coffee machine, and switch over to water, thus avoiding the tornado-like swirling of thoughts in my head, as well as the inevitable ickiness that surely would have set in after more than one cup.

I am particularly bad at waging war with myself when it comes to work projects as well. A very astute university professor of mine once used the term 'paralysis by analysis' during a lecture and that phrase has always stuck with me. I am a prime example of someone who puts this into practice (or, you know, thinks about putting it into practice).

Then there are the distractions. Junk email. TV. Google. Updating my Facebook status. Keeping track of PIN numbers. Worrying what other people are thinking. I think all of these can be managed (except for the last one, which should be banished altogether). I just need to implement some systems to streamline them. I need to review my values to see what should be eliminated. I need to curb the verbal banter that runs through my head.

As you may have noticed, I haven't blogged in about a month. I simply got overwhelmed trying to balance everything that exists in my life. I forgot what was important. I made things more complex than they needed to be.

So that's my experiment this week: Keeping it simple. Going to bed at a decent hour. Turning off the TV. Managing my email. Thinking about what matters. Getting rid of what doesn't matter.

Simplicity = Happiness. That will be my mantra this week.

Week 12: Take time to grieve my Dad...

So taking time to grieve my dad was supposed to be last week's experiment. I half heartedly did some thinking about my dad, but I wouldn't feel right saying that I conducted the Week 12 experiment with full attention. So I've decided to give myself an extension and do some full throttle grieving.

I wonder sometimes if we use the word 'grieving' too loosely. If you've ever truly grieved, then you know what I'm talking about. I've been through grief before, so that's why I know I never grieved my father's death to the extent that I should have...to the extent that would have been healthy for me to experience.

No, when my father passed away last August, there were too many other considerations to deal with that got in the way of dealing with the fact that my dad was gone. As a professional event coordinator, when disaster strikes, what's a girl like me to do? I'll tell you what - get organized! Who has time to grieve when there are so many details, details, details to take care of. Picking out flowers, airport pick-ups, photo collages, Shoppers Drug Mart runs with your 80 year old aunt for pantyhose and distilled water for her oxygen machine.

My first priority became making sure my mom was "ok". Ambulances, phone calls delivering bad news, funeral arrangements, financial questions, new routines...I oversaw it all. Mom is adapting just fine. I feel responsible for her well being - she was my focus for months. She still is, but I've relaxed my grip a bit.

The week my dad died, after the funeral was over and relatives went home, I started to grieve. But not for my father. I started grieving the relationship with my family, more specifically my siblings. We're a blended family and I have 5 half brothers and sisters. My full sister and I were younger and grew up in a different time, place and experience. Dad had been the link to connect us all. We only saw each other on holidays. I was feeling like my family was disappearing one by one...my sister over 10 years ago, now my dad, next the relationship with my siblings. It was a lonely place. 

Oh - did I mention that two weeks after my dad passed away, I was hit at an intersection by a 90 year old man who ran a red light? My car was a write-off and the bruises on my body were NOT pretty.

So by now I'm sure you can appreciate the distractions that kept me from digging deeper to experience true grief over the loss of my dad Freeman.

Well, I'm very happy to say that since my dad's death, the relationship with my siblings has grown stronger than ever. We've all promised to keep in contact and we get together regularly. I am deeply touched by all of their kindnesses, and I feel truly committed to keeping our relationship going.

Now that I've vented a bit, it's time to get down to business this week and spend some time celebrating my dad, feeling some feelings, and figuring out how the memory of my dad should be stored in my heart. Out of respect for my family, I'll be sharing more about this process, and less about the specifics of the relationship my dad and I shared. I'll report back soon.

I gotta pee!!

This wraps up my week of committing to an increase in my water intake. I do like the feeling of enhanced physical wellness resulting from the toxins being released from my being. I also enjoy the mental visual of those nasty little buggers making an exit from my body.

But I gotta say, this running to the bathroom every 20 minutes is rough! I've been conscious about making sure I pee before heading out. Even so, I've had to stop at a few gas stations and restaurants for a little pee break during public outings. It's way easier (and more comfortable) than trying to hold it until I get home.

I'm going to try to be conscious about making sure I'm drinking enough water...it's a good thing all around. But on the downside...well, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1zPKUe6PTc

Week 11: Drink lots of water

This week my experiment is to increase my water intake. Here a link that provides a knowledge based perspective on the benefits of drinking water:

http://www.totallydrinkable.com/health-benefits-of-drinking-water.html

More to come...

Warm Wishes...Peggy

A few months ago I discovered this fantastic website - www.postcrossing.com . In an attempt to pair down my postcard collection, I wondered if there was somewhere ~ or someone ~ I could send my postcards to. PostCrossing came up in my Google search, and has provided me with a really cool opportunity to connect with individuals from around the world.

It's really simple. You sign up to send and receive postcards through the website. When you are moved to send a postcard, you simply send an online request, and you are provided with the name and address of someone who might be from your continent OR half way around the world. Once you send a postcard, you're entitled to get one back, and you won't know from whom until that happy day when it shows up in your mailbox.

I've sent and received postcards from Europe, Asia, and the USA. It's almost like putting a big hunk of good karma into an envelope (without the envelope) and mailing it off. I know my experiment this week is focused on written correspondence with friends and family, but I feel like the people I send and receive postcards with are my friends - even though we will likely only share that one single interaction in the course of our whole lives. We share information about ourselves, the places we are from, the weather, interesting or funny facts about our country and well wishes for one another. Cue the "I'd like to teach the world to sing..." Coca~Cola commercial.

I sometimes wonder about the journey my postcards take before they land in the mailbox of their recipient. Where do these written greetings go after I drop them into the post office box that's a mere 30 feet from my house? I picture planes, trains and postal carriers as part of the journey.

Here's a funny postcard I received from Josephine in Germany. Can you interpret what it says? I bet the guy in the processing line at the post office got a chuckle.

The Write Stuff

"Letter writing can strengthen your immune response, reduce the symptoms of depression and reduce the need to visit a doctor." Yup, that's according to Claudia Kalb, a medical writer for Newsweek. That's what my experiment addresses (literally) this week - Written Correspondence to Friends and Family.

I am a big advocate of written communication. I've been practicing it my whole life. With my mom's family being from Manitoba, my childhood was filled with letters to Grandma letting her know what I'd gotten for Christmas (I still remember one response from her: "Your Christmas gift sounds very nice. What is a ghetto blaster?").

After my friend Dana moved to Ontario in elementary school, our relationship essentially existed through the mail. We'd send long letters written on perfume scented stationary embellished with rainbow and unicorn graphics.

My mother encouraged my sister and I to write thank you notes. Heck, I even named my business after the idea of written correspondence (RED ENVELOPE Marketing & Communications..."Just like finding a red envelope in your mailbox, as a business operator, I have the skills to package an organization's promotional activities so that they stand out from the rest"). Ahem, this blog post sponsored by…

These days, I'm a busy woman. I just don't have time to write long, thoughtful letters. So this week I started by sending a couple of notecards to friends with just a short line or two in each. Not to sound hokey, but I do think it's the thought that counts. I believe my friends will appreciate receiving my short notes in the mail. Just like the notecard I received recently from a childhood friend who I ran into briefly at Christmas. It was a nice acknowledgement that even though we are both "all grown up", we can still give a nod to having a presence in each other's lives.

One letter I haven't written yet - but which I am going to commit to doing in the coming days - is writing to my penpal Carrie. Carrie (from Edmonton) and I were matched up as penfriends in the 4th grade. And although our letter exchange is no longer regular, we are still in touch (although severely overdue for some communication). I saved all of the letters and postcard received from Carrie over the years, and it's so funny to see how writings about her involvement in Ukrainian dancing as a girl turned in to trips to Cancun as a young adult, then announcements of wedding plans. Carrie, if you're reading, I'll be in touch soon!

If you don't send written correspondence to friends or family, is there anything that keeps you from doing this? There are SUCH cute packages of notecards available right now. If that doesn't sway you, maybe thinking about the warm fuzzes of sending and receiving a handwritten note will.

Say cheeeeeeeese!

So now that my hard copy photos are somewhat under control, I've moved on to dealing with the digital photos that are on my computer. How to organize them - that is the question.

I decided that the best method would be to organize them by year, month and event. So for example, 'My Pictures' contains files that look something like this...

2011-01 January (Mustang Convertible)
2011-01 January (Robbie Burns Party)
2011-02 February (Miscellaneous)
2011-03 March (St. Patrick's Day...I've already made this file in anticipation of the upcoming holiday)

This way the files appear in chronological order, and as long as I know when an activity happened, it should be easy to go back and find it. Now if I had a photo named, for example, "Leprechaun Peggy" and had just saved it as a random photo instead of under 2011-03 March (St. Patrick's Day), it might be difficult to find it a few years from now.

It's not a perfect system. For example, if I want to go back and find photos of myself, they could be scattered throughout various files by date and I'd have to hunt for them...unless I had a separate file named "Pictures of Peggy". But hey, what system is perfect?

Organizing my photos this week has been cleansing and it feels nice to have an organization process in place.

This link contains some good tips for organizing digital photos:

http://www.digitalphotos101.com/organizing-your-digital-photos.htm

I found this going through my digital photos. I took it a few years back on a trip to Halifax. Hee hee.