Kathy Gottberg Archives — Page 26 of 27

A Journey of Right-Sizing, or How Big Is Big Enough?

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Rightsized, Sustainable

Just over three years ago, Thom and I bought a new home in the “village area” of La Quinta, CA. We called it an experiment because we weren’t sure if we could live in a house that was nearly a 1,000 sq. feet less than the one we had before. Never mind that the new house had 1,400 square feet with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and was plenty large enough based on comparables around the world. But with huge changes happening in the economy, and our personal growing awareness in the “green” movement, Thom and I felt it was time to discover if the American obsession with size was just a habit we’d adopted or a true necessity. What we’ve come to know during the last two years is that smaller is plenty big enough, especially when it fits perfectly within your needs. [Read more…]

A Simple Path to SMART Living 365–Just Smile!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Thankful

Do you have any idea how powerful a simple smile is? I sure didn’t. Last night I watched the attached TED Talk where Ron Gutman, the CEO of HealthTap, explained the benefits of something we can do every single day—smile.

Gutman said he got his start from a study done at Berkley that tracked graduates over a 30-year period. What they did is first examine and then measure the smiles from students found in their graduation yearbook. From the smiles they measured they were able to predict how fulfilling and long-lasting the individuals married relationships would be, how well they would score on a standardized test for well-being, and finally how inspiring they would be to others. Wow—makes you wish you could go back and take that photo again right? [Read more…]

How Open Minded Are you About Closed-Minded People?

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Rightsized

Several years ago Thom and I attended a workshop where the speaker asked us the question, “How open-minded are you about closed- minded people?” It was asked in the context that here we all were, thinking we had the right and perfect solution to the world’s problems, and yet this simple question asked us, “so what makes you think you are so smart/spiritual/aware that you have the right/ true/correct answer to whatever is going on?” Huh?

SMART living requires that we are to take full responsibility for our lives if we want to live happy, and rewarding lives. But in order to be fully responsible for what’s going on, then we have to first be aware, and then second, realize that even when we think we know, there can always be a different or bigger perspective that we are clueless about. Even when we try to be as opened-minded as possible, we always have a blind spot here and there. And often, the more we fight something the more it “backfires.” [Read more…]

SMART Living is seeing the Good AND Laughing on A Regular Basis

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Thankful

Let’s face it. We live in an amazing world filled with all sorts of incredible things. Yet, because humans tend to adjust to just about anything very quickly, we usually forget how great our lives are. SMART Living asks us to slow down, look around and pay attention—and then be thankful. I found this great short comedy video on FaceBook today and I think it says something very important in a short, funny and irreverent way. What do you think?

The “T” in Thankful Completes The Path To SMART Living 365

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Thankful

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

The most important practice to living SMART 365 is to feel thankful and grateful on a daily basis. Luckily, it is also one of the easiest. Once you begin to put gratitude at the top of your daily to-do list, you will immediately begin to see positive changes in the way you look at your life. My own experience shows it is impossible to be truly grateful and unhappy at the same time. But I’m not alone in my thinking; these days there are books and studies that prove that the science of gratitude can profoundly increase the quality of your life. [Read more…]

Seeking Art and Beauty Everywhere—the “A” in SMART Living

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

When most people search for happiness, they seldom think of beauty or being artful unless they claim to be an artist. I certainly used to think that way. When focused on creating a happy and successful life, I seldom realized that unless I was also creating something artful or beautiful, that dream often eluded me. I think that is because there is something inside each of us that finds peace, harmony, awe and connection whenever we see and recognize beauty. And if we don’t see beauty, then no matter how close we are to achieving any goal, something seems to be missing. That’s why I believe it is critical to create beauty when living SMART 365.

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Meaning In Life—Explaining the M in SMART Living

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

In order to be happy and fulfilled, all people everywhere share one fundamental need regardless of their background, race, religion, education or any number of cultural differences—that one thing is “meaning.” When we have meaning, we believe our life has a purpose and that our being here matters. In other words, in order to live SMART every day, a sense of meaning is critical.

One of the champions for the value of meaning was a man named Viktor Frankl. As a three-year survivor of the horror of Nazi concentration camps, he eventually became an eminent psychotherapist. While many of Frankl’s fellow prisoners died in the camps, he believed that a key reason for his survival was the inner strength he derived from meaning.

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The R in SMART Living Stands For Responsible

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Rightsized

Happy SMART Day Everyone! Today is a great day to talk about the “R” in SMART Living—even if I am temporarily skipping a couple of letters to do it. That’s because the R stands for “Responsible” and one way of being responsible is being “response-able.” That’s right folks, although there are a couple of ways we believe that SMART Living asks us to be responsible…when it comes down to it, unless we are consistently able to respond in a way that creates peace and happiness we will always be susceptible to circumstances, events and other people. Once we take full responsibility for our actions, and yeah it isn’t always easy, then we can decide how we will proceed.

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What Does The “S” Stand for in SMART?

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Sustainable

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

It occurred to me that it would be wise to go through and explain what I am attempting to include with each letter in the word SMART. As some of you know, Thom and I have been actively involved in the “green” and sustainable movement for the last couple of years. We never, or at least I never, considered myself to be a “treehugger.” I still don’t. But what I have grown to discover is that living in a green or sustainable way means that you take care of what you have, you aren’t wasteful or inconsiderate with what you use, you honor the gifts that are given and don’t abuse them, and you realize what you give out you get in return. Not only does that philosophy apply to how we treat planetary resources, it also applies to just about every thing we do–physically, emotionally and spiritually.

[Read more…]

Happy SMART Day!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: What is SMART Living?

After some thought I have decided to start every post on this blog in a way that reminds me–and any of you who might be reading along–that our goal is to live SMART 365. In other words “Happy SMART Day!” That means that every day we strive to live 1) Sustainably 2) Meaningful 3) Artfully 4) Responsibly, and 5) Thankfully. The combination of these qualities/actions will go a long way towards helping us to create not only a happy life, but a life that is helpful and good for everyone we touch. Obviously each category is a huge topic on its own, that’s why following posts will attempt to offer clarifications, ideas and suggestions about how we can introduce each of them into our lives. One of the best parts about them is that there is lots of room for individual interpretation so that my “SMART Living” could effectively look very different from your “SMART Living.” Yet at the same time we could both be living our very best life and helping to create a world that works for everyone else too. Meanwhile, please feel free to post comments and questions as we go along. I have never considered myself an expert about this or any other topic, but as a curious seeker I strive to make a habit of following paths that continually open doors and challenge me to reach higher than ever before. So join us and let’s get started with SMART Living 365!