Amy’s 5 for Friday – Life by Design

Quote I’m thinking about:

You can’t implement anything new if you don’t imagine something new first.” – Amy Applebaum

I hear the term, “Living life by design” a lot. I finally sat down this last week to ponder it. To ask myself… “Am I living my life by design?” And then it occurred to me that the important question is “Whose design/plan am I living?” Is it mine? Or is it some version of what other people want for me. Interesting to think about. What I realized for myself is that it’s a combination. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad or gets me where I want to go, yet. But… I think it’s important to think about it.

After all, we only get one of these lives to live right? So we should know whose life we are living. Perhaps we should have more say in how we live our life? Maybe, if we listened closely to our hearts and paid attention to our feelings we’d find that we are not living the life we imagined for ourselves. And if that’s the case, maybe we want to think about what a life designed by us would look like. You can’t implement anything new if you don’t imagine something new first. And imagining something new is the first step in creating something new.

New Snack I’m Enjoying:

Ooooooooo weeeeeeeee! I am loving SQUASH! Acorn, butternut, spaghetti… this week we cooked a different squash each night. What my family is loving is how filling and delicious squash is without being heavy and burdensome on our bellies. We seem to be feeling more energetic eating less grains. And, there are so many yummy ways to prepare it. Spaghetti squash makes an incredible pasta replacement. You can go savory with some olive oil, rosemary and thyme. You can go sweet with some butter and maple syrup. Mmmmmmmm.

Why I’m calling it my favorite snack is because you pop a bunch into the oven and bake it – and then the next day… leftovers! That’s what I’m talking about. Easy. Healthy. Yummy.

Favorite Read of The Week: EcoVillages

My family and I have been thinking about how we want to live our life. We’ve been wanting to live more responsibly. We are really committed to being more mindful in everything we do and that includes how we live day to day. What we eat. How we treat each other. How we deal with waste and treat the environment. In doing some research I came across these incredible ecovillages.

Now for many of you this might seem “extreme.” And it is an extreme deviation from how we experience living life. And while my family is not ready to move to an ecovillage – we are looking at them to inspire us to live a more holistic and sustainable life. What can we learn from these ecovillages? I wonder if we can stay at one of them for a short time to learn some valuable skills? What about how we are living gives back to others and the environment? Is that something we can improve.

Check these cool ecovillages out… I’m so inspired!

American Ecovillages? They Exist And Here’s 5 Exciting Examples

New Song I’m Loving: A Million Dreams

This week is all about creating a life that you design. A life that you want to live. To do that you have to be willing to dream. You have to imagine the incredible life you want to have before you can create it! Let this song, recorded by PINK’s daughter inspire you to bring something new and wonderful into your life!

“DO IT” for The Week:

We hear it over and over, “you only get one life to live,” “don’t take life for granted,” and yes… we know this. But what are we actually doing about it? Maybe a lot. And if you are, congratulations! Keep going. But if you’re like the rest of us, who get caught up in the routine of life without stopping to evaluate how we might live it with more intention, maybe you could carve out a few minutes to look at things.

I invite you to spend a few minutes this week asking yourself:

  • How can I live my life with a bit more intention?
  • What can I add that would make me happy?
  • What can I remove that would make me happy?
It’s YOUR life. So… Do what you like, girl!