AN APPLE A DAY - DAY 123 OF 365 DAYS TO LIVING A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

GETTING ORGANIZED BY ELIMINATING TIME-CLUTTER

Time is so important!  What we do with our time really matters to our overall health. 

Your life is made up of seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years.  You can’t just stretch them out whenever you feel you want or need more.  No matter who you are, or how much money you have in your bank account; there are still only 168 hours a week for you to use as time

How you spend your time amounts to what your life turns out to be.  One day we all will have to give an account for all of our time.  Psalm 31:15 says:  “My times are in Your hands; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.”  The wise author of this Psalm was doing the first thing we all must do in relation to making our times count; he was consulting God on how to spend his days and asking for God’s help in keeping himself organized.  Good plan! 

Psalm 74:16-17 tells us:  “Yours is the day.  Yours is the night.  You have prepared the light and the sun.  You have established all the boundaries of the earth, You have made summer and winter.”  When we read these very profound words we realize that God has given us everything we need to keep our time in order.  But then another question comes to mind; just how are we doing with that task?

How are you going to measure up when that final day comes around and you have to give an account for your time spent on this earth? 

What will be on your mind during the last few hours of your life on this earth?  Will you be wondering how you could have spent your time differently?

Will you be wondering why you didn’t have enough time to do all the things you really wanted and needed to do? 

Will you be sorry you wasted so much time on TASKS and did not spend enough time on relationships? 

Time can be your friend or your enemy depending on the decisions you decide to make about how to use it. 

One question will determine how well you are with managing your time and that question is well worth pondering: 

Just who is in charge of your time?  Is it you; or are you letting time-clutter break down your hours and days?  If so; we need to address that right now.  Let’s look at how we can cut down on time-clutter in order to give ourselves a healthier calendar.  Let’s lose all that extra weight we call time-clutter!

We all should be feeling great right now about getting our schedules and appointments organized with the new calendars and personal planners we discussed last week.  Are you enjoying the methods we discussed on the previous blog about incorporating, planning and organizing your daily time?  That project will go a long way in eliminating some of the time clutter in your life.  (If you missed those tips go here: http://dancinginseason.blogspot.com/2017_01_20_archive.html to catch up with us.)

Even with that part of our time management solidly in place; there is something else to consider.  The ultimate goal of time management is not about scheduling every waking moment in your life; it is about making sure that YOU are the one in control of what goes on in those moments.  If we want to make healthier, better organized choices we still have to consider eliminating what I call “time-clutter” from our daily schedules. 

So what exactly is “time-clutter” anyway?

Time clutter is anything taking up your available time which is totally unnecessary to bringing you peace-of-mind, order, joy, happiness and health.

We all have different types of “time-clutter” in our lives.  It varies from season to season as we live out our lives.  Can you think of are some things that currently cause you to have time-clutter?

Perhaps it might be a good idea to stop right here and make yourself a list of the things that give you “time-clutter” problems.  Identifying a problem is half-way to the solution.  If you find this hard to recognize just try jotting down how you are spending your time every day.  For one day log notes on your activities from hour to hour.  This log can help you to identify some of the things you might be missing.   I’ll also try to help you identify a few problem areas by discussing the areas of time-clutter that are common to almost everyone. 

UNSOLICITED PHONE CALLS AND CHATS AND TEXTING:

One of the most common areas of wasted time these days are phone chats and text messages.  We are 100% available to everyone all the time now with mobile phones and high-tech.  You can waste hours of time by answering all of your phone calls and text messages every day. 

Please don’t misunderstand this; you SHOULD be available to the members of your immediate family whenever they need you; but do you really need to answer all of those other calls????  Some of them might still be important too - but if they are; most likely they will leave a voice mail message where you can call them back at a time that is more convenient for you. 

I suggest you only actually answer calls from immediate family members when the phone rings.  Let everything else go into your voice mail.  Keep your family member calls down to under ten minutes.  Time yourself if you have to.  Save those LONG conversations for those REAL visits which you are going to have more time for if you follow some of these simple suggestions.

Check your voice mail once a day at the same time each day; and set aside 30 minutes each day for returning important, necessary phone calls.  If you run out of time make a list of numbers to carry over to answer the next day.  Answer the most important first.  DO NOT SPEND ALL OF YOUR WAKING MOMENTS ON THE PHONE. 

Friends ARE a necessity; so DO return the phone calls of good friends who are just wanting to chat; but try to fit them into YOUR schedule; not theirs.  A good time to use to return these phone calls might be on your commute home from the office at the end of the day.  You are in the car anyway – you may as well make the most of your time while you are trapped there inside your car.  Do this safely though; invest in hand’s-free phone products and use your speaker while you are driving instead of your actual phone, keeping both hands on the steering wheel at all times.  This one thing alone will make a HUGE difference in eliminating the time-clutter in your daily life.

 Also – just ignore and delete all of those marketing calls that slip through your do-not-call-list monitors.  If you have someone constantly calling you with marketing that you are not interested in and they continue to call your phone over and over – I suggest blocking their number.  Then you won’t have the stress of being frustrated with them.  Your time belongs to you.  Your moments are precious and valuable.  Don’t let parasites that bring nothing of value into your life or your family eat up your phone time! 

Charities are a very good thing and I whole heartedly endorse giving to worthy causes; however; these are something that you should be deciding on with clear thought and good research.  You should chose your charities at the time that is convenient to you.  Sit down at the beginning of each year and decide how much money in your budget can go toward charities and pick the ones you want to sponsor.  Do that, then ignore the rest without guilt.  You are not responsible for the well being of the whole universe.  That job belongs to God.   There is a limit to any one’s extra money – so stick to your decision to spend where you feel your money can do the best.  Learn to ignore those charity phone calls. 

I would also offer the same advice for those random requests at the check-out line and whenever you are purchasing something at the store.  What gives them the right to decide where you will be investing in charities?  It is a very rude assumption; and I think stores are wrong for doing this.  They are simply playing on people’s guilt.   I consider those things an invasion of my personal privacy and walk away without one smidge of guilt.  You could do the same.  Just remember to do your part and make your contributions to a better society in a more focused, thoughtful, correct and considerate way as mentioned above.   Delete those messages and/or block them out and give your money responsibly instead of on a whim to whatever charity screams the loudest.  Support those that you really decided to sponsor on your own. 

Make sure your home phone system has a screen that shows you who is calling and if there isn’t a name attached to it that you recognize; let that call go to the answering service, especially at the time they love to get you the most – your dinner time.  Trust me – you will be much happier when you are able to free up your more valuable time to spend with those who truly love you for who you are and want to be with you for free.  Don’t let other people’s bad and inconsiderate phone habits clutter up your life.

OBSESSIVE WORRY:

How much of your precious time have you been giving away to worry each day? 

Worry can really clutter up your time.  It can paralyze you if you let it.  Throw worry out with the trash every day.  Don’t let it hang around your house and drain you of all your positive energy.  Matthew 6:25-34 offers some excellent advice in this area:  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food; and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the flowers of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of  his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith.  So do not worry, saying; ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Worry can tire you out and keep you from those things that you enjoy the most in life.  Just don’t’ do it!  Let it go!  Be responsible in every way that you can – then quit worrying without guilt or shame.

If you have something that you can’t get out of your mind and that worry is keeping you from having a more productive life; call a trusted friend and talk it out.  Hire a counselor if you must.  There are many good ones out there.  Share the load instead of carrying it around with you everywhere you go.  Two heads are always better than one.  Your friend or counselor may offer a solution that you haven’t thought about.  Talking it out with a reliable person will help you to cross that needless worry off your list so that you will be able to  move on. 

Don’t wait too long to do this.  Whenever you are feeling bogged down in worry; seek help immediately and then move on with the solution to the problem.  Get rid of the stress before it gets rid of you.

NOT DELEGATING THE THINGS THAT YOU REALLY DON’T HAVE TIME TO HANDLE:

Sometimes when we are feeling overwhelmed with time-clutter it is our own fault for not delegating those tasks that we don’t necessarily have to handle ourselves. 

Are you cooking ALL the time without ever treating yourself to a night out? 

Do you HAVE to wash those dishes EVERY night?  Why not use paper plates and plastic cups on some less formal nights? 

Do you not have time to clean like you want?  Have you considered having a maid come in twice a month?  It might be more affordable than you think. Are you considering not spending so much time with your grandchildren because you don't have enough time to clean, but it breaks your heart?  NO!  Let them come on over and make as much of a mess in your house as they want and THEN hire a maid.  LOL.  We all have our priorities; this is one I'm having to learn.

Do you struggle with having enough time to do your yard work?  Lots of people are looking for that type of employment these days.  If you search around and inquire with your neighbors you can find someone who is reasonable that does good work.

Do you need a break from constant child care?  Have you lined up some good, dependable people who love being with your child who would gladly help out for a few hours if you only gave them a call? 

Do you need to spend some more hours each week with an ageing parent but have trouble carving out the time?  Do you typically attend church every week?  Why not just go with your parent to their church a few weeks out of the month?  It would make their day and yours too.  You would gain a lot of common ground for conversations later; and you are already spending that time going to church anyway.  Your congregation can make it without you now and then and God can be in both places at the same time!  The more creative you get with some of these time-clutter issues, the more interesting life turns out in the end.  I DO encourage you to think outside the box.

Are you overwhelmed from church activities?  Don’t you think there are other people out there that might want to help out with your food pantry chores on Thursday nights?  Volunteering your time is a wonderful thing to do.  I highly recommend it; but once you get started and others see your willing spirit, sometimes you become the “go-to” person for the whole world.  There has to be a limit even to such worthy causes.  If you are volunteering after work more than one night a week; you might want to reconsider how you are spending your time in that area. 

Do you hate grocery shopping?  Do you know there are services out there that will do it all for you and all you have to do is pick it up?  Some of these services even deliver right to your doorstep.  They are becoming more and more affordable and easier and easier to use. 

Do you ever just order a pizza and have it delivered?  It isn’t a healthy choice for every day but it sure is a lifesaver if you are too tired or too scheduled to do anything else. 

Almost every chore that causes our time-clutter problems has an answer that can be delegated to others.  I'm not saying that you should blow your hard earned money by hiring EVERYTHING out; but sometimes you DO need a break and those are the times to look at the possibilities. If you can aford it; do it.  I have friends who barter and exchange certain services for other certain services.  One lady cooks extra meals ahead twice a week for her friend in exchange for her friend watching her children after school for a few hours a week.  I thought that worked out nicely for both of them!  Be creative if you don't want to spend the cash; but DO give yourself some freedom from time-clutter whenever you can.  Just one thing in one area only once a month can be a real treat for most of us.   Study how you are spending your time and make a list of how you can delegate and put a new plan into action.  See if this one little thing doesn’t give you more Sunday afternoon walks and family time. 

HIGH-TECH CLUTTER:

These days we all have to deal with a lot of what I call high-tech clutter.  These things will totally consume you if you let it happen.  We have already covered the telephone; but there are many other such things to deal with today.  Ask yourself these questions:

How much time am I spending answering text messages?

How much time am I spending on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter?

How many e-mails do I receive simply because I ordered a product or did business with someone in a one-time transaction?

How much television am I watching every day?

If you have watched television over one hour a night; you are probably watching too much.  Get up and get moving and save that little hour for your unwind time.  Consider renting a movie or scheduling a show you really do want to watch instead of the constant noise of that television.  You should turn it off completely two or three nights a week and let yourself curl up with a good book instead. 

Of course, if you are like me you will not limit your reading to one hour either.  I’ve learned to set a timer and keep a bookmarker handy. 

For those pesky e-mails, just click onto “unsubscribe” and you can quit wasting your time cleaning them out of your-in box every day. Such an easy solution!

When it comes to using social media, there are many plusses and minuses.  Being a writer, a certain amount of it is totally necessary in my day, but even people who use it for a living need to set limits.  Allow yourself 10 minutes a day for each of your favorites and let that be all the time you spend.  Don’t become so addicted to keeping up with other people’s lives that you forget to live your own.  That would be so sad.

I have a simple statement to my friends who expect me to always answer all of their text messages; “I don’t text!  Either send me a real e-mail message and I’ll get to it when I can or give me a call and I’ll answer when I can.  I will not be a slave to a cell phone.  Sorry.”

Well I think you can take over from here.  Look at all of these areas, analyze your time and think of some real solutions for your “time-clutter.” 

Good luck!  I’m off to do something else; spending too much time on my laptop……

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 154 BUILDING THE ARK

BUILDING THE ARK

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

In building the tabernacle and all the items that went inside it; God was giving Moses divine patterns.  Many people believe Moses saw the actual area of the heavens in the form of a vision as God spoke to him and gave him these very specific instructions.  So we know that these patterns were divine because they were fashioned after a heavenly reality.  This tabernacle was to be a type and shadow of the area around God's Throne in Heaven.  
Perhaps the divine aspect of the project was why it took so long for God to give Moses the instructions.  God created the earth in just six days; but he took 40 days to instruct Moses on the specifics of building the tabernacle.  The Book of Genesis only devoted one chapter to the Creation.  There were six chapters written to give the instructions for the tabernacle.  This lets us know for sure that we are dealing with some pretty important stuff in this study!

In all the building that Moses did from God's patterns, everything was to scale.  When we do this in the architectural world in which I work every day, we call it "building a model."   A model is a scaled down replica of something real.  You can look at the model and see what the real thing will be like.  In order for something to be properly built to scale all the measurements have to be exactly accurate.   

After God instructed Moses about the pattern for making the tabernacle; He gave Moses instructions for the items that would go inside the tabernacle.  The first thing God told Moses to do on the inside was to build an ark.  This ark was to be the most important item inside the tabernacle because it was molded after God's actual throne and that was to be the place where God would rest when He met with the priests of the tabernacle.  The ark was the point of man's connection with God.   God instructed Moses to follow a very exact pattern for building this ark. 
   
The ark was to be made of acacia wood.  Acacia is a wood that is harder than oak and it is very durable because the wood-eating insects avoid acacia.  At the time of the giving of the instructions for building the ark, Moses and the people were camped in the Arabian desert.  During this time period and in this area of the desert acacia wood was plentiful and easy to find.

This ark was to be two and one-half cubits long and a half high. It was to be overlaid with pure gold both on the inside and the outside.  It was to have a gold molding around it’s sides.  Moses was to cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet with two rings on one side and two rings on the other.

Moses was to make poles with acacia wood and overlay them with gold.  These poles were to be inserted into the rings on the sides of the ark and used to carry it.  The poles were to remain within the rings of the ark and not be removed. 

Moses had everything that was needed right where they were camped.  The people had lots of gold that they had brought from Egypt.  It has been said that altogether they had 1,900 pounds of gold, 6,437 pounds of silver, and 4,522 pounds of bronze.  In today's world that would translate to about $13 million dollars worth of valuable items that they were storing in little tents as they camped in the wilderness.  It must have been fun for them to lug all of that around! 

God was the architect of all of this, and God had provided the people with exactly what they needed to carry out his own specific design.  Not one man put his own design on anything in the Tabernacle.  God was the ONLY architect.  

You might say Moses was God's construction/project manager.  A good project manager always knows how important it is to stick to the original blueprint and listen and communicate with the original architect.  Many times over in these scriptures we hear of God speaking to Moses and saying "make all things according to the pattern."  

It was important to God that the ark be covered with gold, both inside and outside.     The purity of the gold is symbolic of God's holiness, and the acacia wood is symbolic of mankind.  The gold and the wood combined represent symbolism of how God can make men perfect and useful.  It is the gold covering that makes the wood special and valuable.    

God instructed Moses that He would give him tablets containing the written laws that God and the people had covenanted to place inside the ark. 

Then Moses was to make an atonement cover of pure and solid gold two and one half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.  This was what has been called "The Mercy Seat."  This is the place where the high priest would go later, on the Day of Atonement and sprinkle the blood as a covering for the sins of the people.  

The Hebrew word for Mercy seat is Kapporeth.  It actually has nothing to do with mercy, but means "atonement."  Atonement and mercy are not the same.  Mercy is complete forgiveness; and the Hebrew word for God's mercy is "Checed."  Atonement is a covering and it means to condone, placate or set aside.  The children of Israel who did not yet have Messiah needed to have atonement.  The coming of Christ, much later would bring complete mercy.  The Mercy Seat will later become very significant when the law inside which men have broken is sprinkled with the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ as a perfect sacrifice.  It is the ONLY perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind.  Until this happened, the people had to continue to bring sacrifices of animals and receive atonement.  

During this beginning of the building of the Tabernacle the Ark sat in The Holy of Holies behind the veil.  Men could not enter this space.  Only the sanctified high priest could enter and only once a year with great caution.  Little did they know that the day would come when God would rip the veil from top to bottom and open up the way allowing mankind direct access to God's mercy seat.  

In the days of the wilderness tabernacle the high priest would be very careful to make sure that the proper incense was burned and he would allow it time to cover the mercy seat before entering.  This was the preparation for entering the presence of God back then.  Today it is our prayers, praise and worship that act like the sweet incense that allows entrance before the mercy seat where you can enter into the very presence of God.    

There were instructions for Moses to make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the cover.  One cherub was to go on one end and the second cherub was to go on the other end.  The cherubim were to be one piece with the cover at the two ends, and they were to have their wings spread upward overshadowing the cover with them.  The cherubim were to face each other, looking toward the cover. 

Moses was to place the cover on top of the ark after he put the tablets containing the covenant of the law that God would give to him inside the ark. 

God told Moses He would meet him there above the cover of the ark, between the two cherubim that were over the ark of the covenant law.  Whenever God met Moses in this place He would give Moses all of His commands for the Israelites.

Wow!  There is something amazing going on with the instructions for this ark!  Are you getting a picture in your mind of how things are going to be?  Do you see how God has made a way to come and dwell among the people?

MAKING HEALTHY AT HOME COOKING EASIER - MONDAY WEEKNIGHT MENUS - TORTILLA SOUP RECIPE

ENJOYING TORTILLA SOUP THIS WINTER
(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

We've had spring in the winter here in the south along with many storms and high winds.  Always after that happens we can expect a cold front......so here is another good soup recipe to enjoy during this winter time.  The menu for tonight is:  Shredded Lettuce Salad with Guacamole, Tortilla Soup, and if this is a feast night for you; Chocolate Ice Cream Tacos.  If you are like me, you are losing that ten extra pounds that crept up over the holidays and leaving off the ice cream.

SHREDDED LETTUCE SALAD WITH GUACAMOLE

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados

1 medium fresh tomato

2 Tablespoons minced onion

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

Dash of chili powder

3 cups shredded lettuce

Preparation:

Peel and mash avocados.  Peel and dice tomato.  Add tomato, onion, lemon juice, salt and chili powder to avocados.  Serve over shredded lettuce, toasted tortillas or corn chips.

TORTILLA SOUP

Ingredients:

1 Onion
3 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
3 Teaspoons Chili Powder
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 10. 5 ounce can condensed chicken broth
1-1/4 cups water
1 cup cooked shoe peg corn kernels
1 cup white hominy
1 4 ounce can chopped green chili peppers
1 15 ounce can black beans rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
crushed tortilla chips
1 sliced avocado
shredded Monterrey jack cheese
chopped green onion

Preparation:

In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth, and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in corn, hominy, chilies, beans, cilantro, and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Ladle soup into individual serving bowls, and top with crushed tortilla chips, avocado slices, cheese, and chopped green onion.

CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM TACOS

Ingredients:

6 Old El Paso flour tortillas for soft tacos and fajitas (6 inch)

1 bag (10 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons coconut oil

6 scoops vanilla ice cream

Candy sprinkles

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper.  Make 6 foil shaped balls and fold tortillas over balls to create taco shapes.  Place on cookie sheet.  Bake tortillas about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp.  Cool.  Place cooled pan of tortillas in freezer 10 to 15 minutes or until cold. 

In a medium microwavable bowl heat chocolate chips and oil in 30 second increments, stirring after each, until melted and smooth.  Spoon or brush melted chocolate mixture on inside of each shell to coat.  Place them back on the tray and freeze another 10 to 15 minutes until cold and chocolate is hardened.  Reserve the remaining chocolate.

While chocolate is hardening let ice cream soften a bit.  Once shells are cold they are ready to fill with ice cream.  Fill each shell to the edges with ice cream being careful not to break the shells.  The chocolate may crack a bit, but that is okay.  Place the ice cream filled tacos back on the tray in the freezer 1 to 2 hours or until ice cream is very firm.

Reheat the reserved chocolate coating in microwave 30 to 60 seconds as necessary.  Pour chocolate into wide container, like a small loaf pan.  Remove ice cream tacos from freezer and working quickly dip each taco into the chocolate coating, being sure to seal the ice cream completely and add candy sprinkles.  Place back on parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze another 2 hours or until firm before serving.

AN APPLE A DAY - DAY 121 OF 365 DAYS TO LIVING A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

GETTING ORGANIZED BY USING THE RIGHT CALENDARS/PLANNERS

Last week we spoke about how getting and keeping ourselves organized is one secret first step to staying healthy and stress-free.  

By completing one baby step at a time we can make this organizing process work in the favor of our good health all through the up-coming year.  If you follow the simple steps I'm gong to offer over the next six weeks in the Friday sessions of AN APPLE A DAY you will soon find yourself enjoying a very organized life!

You will be surprised at the burst of energy you will suddenly receive from using just these few and simple suggestions for getting organized.  Doctors around the world have now accepted the health benefits of leading an organized life as a medical fact.   WebMD addresses the problems of people who are feeling tired and unfocused in their work environment.  One simple solution is recommended. They suggest that the person stop whatever task they are presently working on and clean up and organize their desk.  This one task brings a burst of unexpected energy, and it is surprising how much easier it is for these people now to go back to focusing on their routine tasks.

  

We are simply taking this suggestion for organizing the desk one step further and applying it to our personal life as well as our work life.  Eventually, all of these baby steps for organizing will gel into good life-long habits that will help to make us all happier.

So; the baby step for this week is to begin to develop a daily habit of using a good calendar and a good personal planner as efficient tools for life organization.  The key word here is "use" not "buy."  If you buy them but do not use them you are simply wasting your time and money.    

Purchasing a good calendar may sound like a silly suggestion at first, because I know you probably have at least five to ten calendars just laying around your house right now, and you probably even check some of them from time to time.  That last part of my last statement is the key point!  Checking your calendar DAILY and USING it as a tool for staying organized is very important. 

Are you REALLY in the habit of checking your calendar for appointments, tasks and to-do lists every morning?  This is a must for an organized life.  

Do you REALLY write down those things that you need to remember during the day as they pop into your head; or are you trying to remember about two million random facts a day and forgetting to write them down on your calendar?  This will eventually cause you to be overwhelmed and stressed. You will eventually burn out.

There is a word used in Japan called "Karoshi"  which is literally translated to mean "death from overwork."  

Don't put your brain on Karoshi!  

The major medical problems caused by karoshi are heart attack and stroke due to stress.  By properly using the calendar and personal planner suggestions here you will be eliminating the constant stress of having to remember every little detail of every little thing you need to know for a healthy, happy, productive life every day of the year.  

In this one organizational step we eliminate a whole year's worth of constant stress.  We are not going to let that karoshi monster take over our lives!  Let's move on to getting our calendars and personal planners together! 

Once you develop the routine habit of USING these two tools (an actual physical personal planner that contains your daily calendar on paper and an on-line personal planner that keeps and organizes your more formal personal calendar) you will never want to go back to living without them!   

There is something wonderful about having everything all laid out, well planned, and scheduled in advance in an easy-to-use and orderly calendar.  There is a huge amount of satisfaction that comes from having one place that lists appointment times, contains your sorted to-do lists, and schedules your chores and daily tasks as well as your leisure time in the available time frame of the hours of your daily life in a simple and easy-to-understand manner.  

Suddenly your day becomes so much easier to manage!  

Who would know more about this subject of managing our "time" than the One who created all time?  

You might be surprised to learn how much the holy scriptures have to say about time-management.  It was Moses who said; "Teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom."  (Psalm 90:12)  Also the Parable of the Talents found in Matthew 25:14-30 illustrates the tragedy of wasted time and opportunity. So let's do something worthwhile that pleases The LORD and boosts our health at the same time.  Let's get those planners and get started.

By developing this one little routine-habit of keeping the planner current and updating it daily; life becomes so much easier and daily stress just begins to melt away.  Now all we need to worry about is the actual process of finding a good personal planner that works best for your own particular life-style

That sounds great you say; but where do you begin?  

How do you pick out the perfect planner? 

Start looking either on-line or in your favorite office supply store and it becomes pretty obvious that picking the right calendar and personal organizer can become a bit confusing.  There are so many different kinds and so many styles to choose from these days.   A lot depends on your specific daily needs and routines and your own personality.

You can find personal planners geared to fit almost any type of career, hobby or lifestyle.  You definitely need something that is flexible enough to fit every occasion of your day-to-day busy life.  

Is there one certain outstanding element in your daily life that you need to conform your time around?  

Perhaps it could be golf, family, church, gardening, school, job, travel, etc?  Try goggling a search specifically for your area of interest.  

For instance I’ve noticed there are many calendars and personal planners out there for athletes who are training in certain areas; such as marathon running.  Google "calendars for marathon runners" and you will get some real specific types of planners that not only list your dates, times and appointments but also give you charts for recording your speeds and scheduling your exercises to prepare for the next race.  This is pretty cool!  

Try searching in your own area of life interests or hobbies.  You might come up with just the perfect solution for managing your own specific goals.  Since I am a blogger; I keep a blogger's calendar.  I don't know how I ever functioned before I started doing this.  It is a wonderful tool that is very helpful to me.  I use it every day.  

When picking a general calendar or personal planner, you need to consider whether you want a day at a glance, a week at a glance, a month or year at a glance, or all four combinations in one place. 

Many people are finding that they function best by using both an on-line planner as well as a paper planner bound in a way that they can carry around and flip through whenever it is convenient.   

For your portable personal planner that you will carry with you, something that is easily accessible and convenient is good.  It should not be too bulky; but it should not be so small and simple that it doesn’t meet your need for spaces to make notes.  Consider the size you need and pick a color that makes you feel happy.  Get a sturdy and workable jacket on the planner that you will be carrying around, and make sure it will hold a pencil.  There is nothing more frustrating than thinking of something to write down in your calendar and having to hunt for a pencil to write with.  Use a pencil that has an eraser.  Erasers are very important.  They make your life flexible.  This is yet another stress buster.  None of us are perfect; we all make mistakes and need to make changes from time to time.  Erasers were invented for that purpose; so let's use them.

I happen to think having my contact information close when I’m working with my calendar is handy and useful.  If I am going to call John on Saturday; I can easily look up John’s number and jot it down right beside my reminder.   A planner that holds your cell phone with your contact information inside it would work just great in this situation.  It would also remind you to take your planner along every time you reach for your phone to go somewhere.  You probably have most of the contact information you need in your cell phone; but if you lost your cell you would have a back up right there in your personal planner.  This is a wise plan.

Think about your own specific needs and make a list of the things that would be the most helpful to you for planning your days. 

Here are a few things to consider as you look for the perfect planner:

Do you make a lot of appointments? 

Do you need constant lists and reminders to get through the day? 

Do you need a handy address book?

 Are you constantly looking up phone numbers? 

Do you want to combine financial management into your organizer? 
Would it be handy to use a planner that has a built in calculator?  

Are you having trouble keeping or following through with your life goals? 

Do you need daily motivation and reminders? 

Do you want constant inspiration?

Would it help you to list the things you are most grateful for at the end of each day? 
Do you like to keep a prayer list handy?

Do you have trouble remembering event times and places?

Are there tasks that you just simply will not get done unless you schedule them? 
Do you like keeping a bucket list as you go?

Do you like to journal? 

Do you enjoy things that are color coded and/or tabbed?

Is there a big event you will be making plans for all during the year; a wedding; an anniversary, a move, etc.?

Do you need some help in coordinating with your family members each day? 
Do you keep a scrapbook that follows your family's timeline?

Are you a visual thinker?
Do you need budget reminders?  

Are you scheduling for your home life, your career life, your family and household errands only, or do you want something that incorporates all of the above into one simple streamlined location?
Would it be easier for you to separate these into different planners each; or would it be more convenient for you to keep all of these categories of life together in one place?

There are many good tools out there to help you with each and any of these special categories.  I’m going to make some suggestions and tell you what I have found to be most useful in my own life.

I would suggest using both an on-line and a hand-held personal organizer.  I like to record EVERYTHING together in one place; but you may prefer to separate; it is simply a matter of whatever works best for you.  I like to keep my portable/physical hand-held planner with me at all times, either in my car or in my purse.  Men might prefer something that is pocket sized to carry with them during the day.   

I use the physical planner whenever I need to jot down something new.  I like to keep my planner, my phone, my keys, a sharpened pencil or a lead pencil with an eraser and my wallet all together all in one handy and sturdy cover/container that works like a three ringed binder with compartments for storage.  Finding a pretty cover that does all of this is like putting icing on a cake; go for it!  Some purses are also special-made to store these types of planners.  

Let the hand-held personal planner be the beginning of all planning.  Use a PENCIL, not a pen.  Feel free to erase and change as you go.  Before you go to bed at night – lay your hand-held planner down on your desk beside your lap-top computer.

If you are struggling along without a laptop computer on your home desk; quit doing that.  Find a way to have one.  Ask for it for Christmas or your next birthday, or save up your pocket change until you can at least purchase an inexpensive model that will do what you need. Notepads are temporary solutions to this problem; but in the end you still need a laptop. They are a necessity as far as I am concerned.  Phones are just too tiny and portable planners cannot carry everything you will need for the long-term.  Any life these days, even if you are retired and living on a desert island, requires easy access to the web and the ability to research from a computer.  The one at the office simply would not be a good place to put your personal information.  Make sure your laptop is secure and has protective software to stop hackers, phishers and viruses.  

Once a day, first thing each morning if possible, sit down at your desk with your laptop and look at your on-line planner for a few minutes.  Update it from your hand-held planner’s notes, and then remember to put your hand-held planner back in your pocket, your purse, or your automobile.   

After those on-line updates are done; browse through your on-line calendar and look at today’s date.  What do you have scheduled?  Note any appointments and to-do lists that you will need to remember today.  Check all reminders and follow through on them later.

While you are on-line, remember to check any other reminders, such as your daily goals and note any progress that you have made.  Cross off what you have accomplished and enter any new goals that you have not yet entered.

You might also want to write a word or two in your on-line journal, and/or post a photo that will work similar to a personal diary to help you remember the events of your daily life as you look back over the last year of your life later.  A lot of people find this more helpful than using facebook or goggle photo albums for remembering the timeline of their personal photos. It is definitely more personal and less distracting.  I call this little daily routine “Five Minutes with the Past, Present and Future.”  

The photos are totally unnecessary; but a lot of fun!  I find them very helpful because I am a very visual thinker, and I like to keep a scrapbook of our family life for each year and give it as a Christmas gift to the whole family. Day-to-day life is so easily forgotten without photos.  I want to cherish all the moments of my life.  Looking back over these daily photos I’ve posted in my personal journal helps me to organize the annual family scrapbook whenever I have the time to actually sit down and enjoy this hobby.  My journal also helps me to remember important and significant family events that have transpired.  Some days my journal entries are only one liners; or other days they are even just one word.  Some days I want to share the memories with other close family and friends; some day I just want the journal to work like my own personal diary that no one ever sees but me.  I have all of those options on the software that I have chosen to use.  Most days though, I try to keep things as simple and brief as possible here.  I have other things to do with my time besides sitting at a desk all day.  That is part of the reason we are doing this!

So how will you decide on which on-line planner and which hand-held planner to use?

Have you ever met Cozi?  I think it is my favorite on-line personal organizer.  

Cozi is a great tool for totally organizing your day.  I found it years ago while following The Fly Lady’s website.  Have you met The Fly Lady?  She is known for being one of the first great on-line organizational coaches.  She had all of these ideas before they even became popular with the general population.  The amusing part about that is it all sprang from the fact that  her own life was a total mess and she needed to create a way out.  As she helped herself; she helped the rest of the world.  Life often works like that.   These blog articles might also fall into the same category.  Anyway; you might enjoy looking The Fly Lady up on-line.  It will be a delightful and educational experience to say the least. She is quite amazing and helpful and she recommends using Cozi.  Just google "The Fly Lady."  She can become your own personal on-line coach for just about anything.

You can find Cozi by going to the Cozi website at:  www.cozi.com.  One of the neat features about Cozi is that it can be shared by other family members too, or anyone else that you chose to share it with.  If your husband is wondering where you are at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, all he has to do is check your appointments on Tuesday from Cozi.  If you are wondering what class Johnny is sitting in at 3 p.m. each afternoon at school; just check his class schedule that you recorded in your Cozi at the beginning of the school year.   You can share a portion of your Cozi, or all of it, but you can also let it be all private.    

Moms with school kids find Cozi especially helpful for organizing sports calendars and keeping up with all their kids many homework assignments and after-school activities.  Every kid can have a separate calendar if you wish for that to happen.  

There is a place for organizing your grocery shopping; and a really helpful place for stashing your recipes that will feed over to your grocery list, which can also be shared to your mobile phone for convenience.   No printer to print your list?  Just send it to your cell phone and look it up as you enter the store.  

There is a handy section for making and keeping specific “to-do lists,” which can have items that are dated and put on your daily calendar as reminders.  

There is a place for keeping your daily appointments on a calendar and a place for organizing your contacts.  This really comes in handy for Christmas cards.  Cozi will mail your cards out if you ask it to do so.  You simply have to order the service.  

The calendar will send you e-mail reminders if you tell it too.  It is helpful for remembering to buy birthday cards and helpful for remembering all the dates and details for traditional holidays and holy days. 

Cozi will arrange everything at a glance for you on your home page, but you can navigate to specific individual functions too.   

You can post in a journal daily or weekly or monthly if you just wish and make notes about your day-to-day activities and family events; and you can even add photos to your journal. 

You can also go to Cozi’s website and/or blog from within the program to find helpful articles about daily living and life hacking tips.  You can find very helpful menus and recipes there too.  Need some help shopping; Cozi can probably pull up the dirt on the item you are longing for.  The articles help you stay up to date on daily life.   There are articles on organization, and other such subjects that are very handy according to whatever season of the year we are currently living through.  If you have time you can read their posts which read pretty much like most typical woman’s magazines.  Just look for the Cozi app; and I do recommend going gold.  It isn’t very expensive.

Cozi is an awesome and very inexpensive way to keep up with everything you could possibly want to do in the realm of organization in your daily life.  Everything is right where you want it wherever you are and whenever you need it. 

Cozi happens to be my favorite on-line planner; but there are many others out there to chose from.  Some of them would include:  Evernote, Google Calendar, Zoho Calendar, 30 Boxes and Which Time.  Of course if you use microsoft word it has a calendar that will keep appointments and events and send you reminders.  That felt too much like a regular work task to me; so I opted for something different at home.  It will do though; if you want to use it.  Your home computer may have come with its own version of personal organizer.  Check there first!  Google all of these or simply google "daily planner software" and pick the specific on-line planner that best meets your needs.

Even with the wonderful use of an on-line organizer; I still need something that I can look at off-line.  It needs to be something tangible; something that I can hold in my hand and carry with me everywhere I go so that I don’t have to be constantly checking my computer or phone.  I need something that organizes things and makes me think through life every day.  I need to be able to glance at my daily schedule from one piece of paper, make pencil notes and check off items by hand.  I need something that will remind me often of my goals for the year.  I’ve found an awesome solution.  It is called The Living Well Planner. 

I first noticed The Living Well Planner by touring Ruth Soukup’s website.  I've began to think of her as an "Up-dated Modern-Day Fly Lady."  I hope neither of my heroines find that title offensive.  I intended it as praise for both parties.  Both of these women are amazing and unique in their own way.  They are on all the same subjects; but often approach them in different ways.  The Fly Lady can show you the basics and teach you the very practical stuff; but Ruth puts her own special twist on things.    You can find and enjoy all of her posts at The Living Well Spending Less website (livingwellspendingless.com.)  Ruth Soukup has more organizing tips than you could ever manage to read in one lifetime!  I was amazed.  She too is a great organizational coach.  There are several great books authored by her on her website that can truly help people to get their lives organized.  One of her most popular books is called “Unstuffed,” and it is a great read if you are feeling overwhelmed with the clutter and “stuff” in your life. 

In my own personal opinion, The Living Well Planner tops all the other planners for overall completeness and usefulness.  Ruth will walk you through the instructions on how to use this planner and make sure you do your planning correctly in order to get the full results of the benefits of using this planner she designed.  If you like, she will even send you a whole downloadable course on how to use your planner.  She does all of this on-line and is a wonderful instructor.    I bought the stickers that you can purchase as accessories for the planner and found them very useful too.  They are optional and cost a little extra, but really do come in handy.  I find them very functional and helpful.

The price of this personal organizer is currently around $55.  It may seem a little high at first, but not when you consider all that if offers.  It is worth the price I promise.  If you are going to splurge on anything; I recommend it be this.    

This Living Well Planner's calendar incorporates all the needs for setting appointments, making daily schedules for tasks and organizing to-do lists, There are personalized sections on budgeting, menu planning and goal setting for every area of your life.  These are great tools!  They really make you think and keep you focused and goal oriented. 

There are many other good personal organizers and calendars out there.  I'm sure one of them is just tailor made specifically for you; so go ahead!  Just start your search and select one.  Google "personal planners," look around on-line, and take your pick and/or visit and browse your local office supply store.

Well, I’ve given you several good recommendations for getting your calendar and planner started.  These tools are so valuable toward organizing your daily life that no one should ever be without them.  I have also dropped a few good names of organizing coaches that you might find interesting and enjoyable to research in your spare time.  

Don't you just love those little words ..."spare time?"  You will certainly have a little more of that now that you are in the process of getting organized.  Enjoy!  

I hope some of this information gets your new year off to a very good start!  

Our next baby step in organization will be all about how to eliminate the things that are stealing our time (time-clutter!).

 

Keep looking for next Friday's AN APPLE A DAY BLOG if you desire to stay focused and want to be organized for healthier living in 2017!