Daily Om: Overachieving and Overreaching - A Sign of Imbalance

Today's Daily Om really spoke to me. As with yesterday's article, my comment centered on the importance of balance in one's life. Western society (and now, many other countries) do overglorify careers and pushing onesself to the limit and beyond. While it's good and healthy to have goals, it does need to be tempered with the needs of the body, soul and spirit. I really appreciate when the article said, "If we find that we cannot allow ourselves to experience and enjoy the present moment, putting pleasure off into some distant future, it may be a sign that we are being driven to achieve more than is truly necessary." It is a good strategy for rebalancing ourselves when we are too close to the source of the instability to accurately judge when we're going too far. Peter is right in that parents need to guide children until they learn to do this themselves, instilling in them the need to have this skill.

Daily Om: A Stress-Free Home

I have always loved the daily articles from this website. They are a wonderfully positive way to begin the day. Today's article on a stress-free home speaks to me so much because of what we have recently gone through this year in moving. When I was going to business school, I learned the lesson it teaches today, that we must "Consider that homes are the outer reflections of those who live within." It not only is a reflection of us, but of our current state of being, our attitudes, our inner stresses, our inner peace. If we want to change our outward environment, others reactions to us, we must first change our inner selves. What is it that is stressing us? How can it be remedied? If it cannot be changed, how can we change our reaction to it? This is a great key to inner peace, for there is much in the world we have no control over, except our reaction to it.

Go here to read the full article on The Daily Om.

Namaste

Intergem this coming weekend

Intergem is back in town at the Santa Monica Convention Center off the 10 freeway. If you are interested in going, you can order tickets at $5.00 online here. I have been attending this show for 20 years and while I prefer the Pasadena Bead & Design Show more these days, Intergem is still good for picking up items inbetween my new favorite venue in the hills above Los Angeles. Here are the specs on Intergem for the weekend:

May 18-20th, 2012

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
1855 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401



Show Hours:
Friday 12:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Saturday 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Sunday 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Tickets: One low ticket price good for all three days! Tickets are $6.00 per person. You can purchase tickets at the show. [Cash only] or online! Click here to receive a discount coupon. (Please note that this close to the venue, it may not be possible to get the ticket in time unless they are sent via email.)

Hack Your Wedding - An Etsy article that's great for planning brides

If you are an up and coming bride who's in the planning stages for your wedding, you want to check out this article on Etsy. Even the comments have great suggestions on how to keep yourself in budget and still have your dream wedding. Like the author, I had never heard the term, "wedding hack", but in this age of computers, it is amusingly appropriate. Don't let the big, bad wedding industry take all you money and leave nothing for the honeymoon. Plan ahead and buy from Etsy dealers who specialize in making your day one you will never forget.

Even though our wedding was way back in '89, the principals of wedding hacking were the same then. We looked at our budget and worked with what we had. Sometimes an unexpected expense comes up when you hack. Our wedding was at a local historical Rancho outside of Los Angeles and we didn't expect the need for a public gathering permit from the city (which I would warn all local brides about), but if the venue is below your budgeted cost and it doesn't kick it over, you still have a win in picking it. They had a beautiful rose garden and a building to move the ceremony into in case it rained (though in May, the chances of that were way out there).

Another interesting thing I have noticed recently is that the big wedding shows are suffering. I helped out at a local wedding show in Orange County, CA last November and attendance was pathetically small even though it was at the Anaheim Convention Center (a HUGE venue) and the wedding dress fashion show was done by a major dress retailer. More and more brides are going the route of their budget and are becoming wise to those who want them to part with all their money and have nothing left over for the wedding. This is good for us Etsy sellers, so be sure to do the best for our customers and give them the beautiful wedding they deserve while still coming in on THEIR budget, not our sales goals.