Rendering Unto Caesar and Other Thoughts During Tax Season

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Rightsized, Thankful

“Death, taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.” ~Margaret Mitchell

SMARTliving365.com I don’t often quote the Bible on this blog but the phrase “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s…” just seems appropriate this time of year. If you, like Thom and I, are self-employed then this is the time of year when we gather together our income and expenses and prepare to do some rendering. And while it is definitely not my favorite experience of year, it serves to remind me that we have a choice in how we view things (yes—even taxes!) So here are a few thoughts on paying taxes and on other things that we might as well render while we are at it. [Read more…]

A World On Fire—Living In A Time of Vampires & Archetypes

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Rightsized

“…the archetypal energy of The Vampire has exploded into the consciousness of our current generation.”

I have been a fan of author Carolyn Myss since reading her first book Anatomy of the Spirit back in the mid-90s. Her clear, humorous, no nonsense style of communicating attracted me—but it is her constant reach for deeper levels of awareness and spirituality that makes me her student. This last week I listened to a recent lecture she offered on the Internet. During the talk Myss pointed out that the world we live in is both physically and spiritually “on fire,” and that one of the best ways to learn to navigate this new world was to learn how to use archetypes. Regardless of whether you’ve heard of Carolyn Myss before, or the “why” of archetypes, a couple of her ideas stuck out that I felt were worthy of discussion. The most important of those were how a couple of today’s common archetypes are a reflection of life in the 21^st Century and what that means to you and me. [Read more…]

Celebrating Valentine’s Day or Just Another Consumer Holiday?

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Thankful

“…celebrating is one of the best ways to pause and remember this one, wild, precious and amazing life we have been given.”

Celebrating SMART LIving 365 style!

I know I have mentioned more than once that Thom and I have been married for 35 years. That’s a lot of Valentine’s Days! And in spite of what you may be thinking, Thom has always resisted them. His argument is that Valentine’s Day—along with several other holidays throughout the year, were all manufactured to manipulate us into buying stuff. I, on the other hand, see those very same holidays as a great excuse to CELEBRATE something special. So keeping in mind that a major focus of SMART Living is to provide clarity and awareness about all things that affect our lives on a daily basis, how do you view celebrating holidays? [Read more…]

The Big Minimalist Question—Kids? Or No Kids?

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Rightsized, Sustainable

I’ve been interested in sustainability, minimalism and simple living for a long time now. But one topic I’ve seen very little written about is the impact that having children has on both the practice of minimalism and the environment. Like a big elephant in the room, this enormous, but highly emotional issue is almost completely ignored on most simple living blogs. Yet when you think about it, until we are willing to talk about it and examine it from a state of awareness and conscious choice, bringing kids into the world becomes just another cultural norm that the majority unconsciously accepts out of habit and societal pressure. For that reason alone, the big question about whether or not to have children (or add to an existing family) should be on every serious young minimalist’s list of important issues to decide.

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Rightsizing Your Finances—A SMART Way To Manage Money

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Rightsized, Sustainable

Got Bills? Maybe it’s time to rightsize your finances!

Last week, after publishing my article on Rightsizing vs. Downsizing, a discussion came up while talking with friends at Happy Hour. I could tell that even though everyone agreed that going debt free was a wonderful element of rightsizing and simple living, most felt it was out of reach for the average family. That was a great reminder that rightsizing isn’t just about the size of your house, your car, or your credit limit—instead, rightsizing touches every area of your life including (and maybe especially) your finances. In fact, once a person learns to manage their money—both expenses and income—rightsizing the other areas of life will come more easily. Down the line, a person can eventually achieve the ultimate goal of rightsizing, which is to live a life that uniquely fits and brings the greatest amount of peace, contentment and joy to that individual and family. [Read more…]

12/21/12—The End of The World—Or a New Beginning?

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful

For those of you who follow the ancient Mayan Calendar, the world ends on December 21, 2012. For those of you into end-time predictions of any sort, a planet named Nibiru (sometimes called Planet X), supposedly discovered by the ancient Sumerians, will pass close to the Earth and wreck havoc and devastation on us all. Theories ranging from a super massive black hole at the center of our universe, a global geomagnetic reversal, or a formula named “Timewave zero,” each holds claim to be the singularity of infinite complexity that will change the world as we know it. And let’s not forget many of the world’s religions that predicted an apocalypse for several millennium. While it may be easy to dismiss these theories as nothing more than “end-time hoopla,” is it possible there is something deeper going on? Perhaps if we take a minute to look as the reasoning behind them all, we may find a SMART perspective that offers both hope and opportunity. [Read more…]

The SMART Living 30-Day Gratitude Challenge

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Thankful

Day 1–November 1, 2012

“If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” ~Meister Eckhart

Every November I start thinking about gratitude and thanksgiving in a big way. That’s because Thanksgiving Day falls on the fourth Thursday of every November in the U.S., but mostly because it is my favorite holiday of all. Instead of all the hoopla of being pushed and pulled to get and give, Thanksgiving merely asks us to pause and reflect on the good in our life. Plus it is usually celebrated by having dinner and spending time with people you care about most—and those who care about you—be they friends, family or neighbors. For anyone attempting to live a life of happiness, simple living, contentment, peace and well being, Thanksgiving deserves special recognition. [Read more…]

Ignoring the Black Dots and Seeing The Good

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Rightsized, Thankful

What do you see when you look at this photo?

This last weekend Thom, Kloe and I took a short trip down to Baja Mexico to visit friends. We hadn’t been to Rosarito in years and we hadn’t visited our longtime friends Larry & Jose since they bought their stunning condo perched on the rugged coastline. We had a wonderful time—lots of great conversation, plenty of laughter, tasty food, soaking in the hot tub, playtime with Kloe and her new dog girlfriend Tasha, a couple of bottles of nice wine and even a sip or two of the “new” almond tequila. But toward the end of the mini-vacation we hit a slight “hitch.” Luckily, we both quickly remembered that we “get to make it up” and decided to ignore the hitch and focus on the good. After all, did we want to remember the fun from the amazing previous four days, or the small “black dot” towards the end? And as usual, what we chose to focus on and remember, is up to us. [Read more…]

Be About YOUR Business

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Rightsized

Most of the time I consider myself to be one of the most fortunate people on the planet. I have a wonderful life—I’m healthy and have a great relationship—I also get to work and write about things that matter to me on a consistent basis. But every now and then something pops up that makes me pause and wonder if my writing and work is making any kind of positive difference. Other times things happen or people do unexpected and unpleasant things that catch me by surprise. That’s when it is SMART for me to remember the words of a wise woman named Byron Katie. One of the solutions she suggests for when we are feeling stressed out or unhappy is to “Stay In Your Own Business.” In fact, she is very clear that most time when we are struggling with a situation we are in someone else’s business—and the simple practice of recognizing that fact is usually all it takes to bring us back to ourselves. [Read more…]

Are You Really A Minimalist?—And Five Questions To Find Out

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Rightsized, Sustainable

Do you consider yourself a minimalist? Do you even know what minimalism means? Lately I’ve been excited by a number of blogs and websites devoted to the topic. That interest signals a reverse in the over-consumptive tendencies and consumer lifestyle so prevalent during the last couple of decades here in the U.S. But often when I read the posts and comments on such sites, it seems that those who are involved have differing views of what minimalism is and why it can be beneficial. Perhaps before we start calling ourselves a minimalist we should describe what we mean in the first place. [Read more…]