Congruity through de-cluttering

The book I'm writing has at it's core the notion that part of finding happiness in a career is finding what you want your life to be, and then stop spending time, energy, and money on anything that is not pushing your life in that direction. I call this idea congruity.

Oprah's "clutter guy" Peter Walsh expresses a similar notion when it comes to de-cluttering your life. "It's not about the stuff," Walsh advises. "It's about what you want your life to be." Once you know that, you can quickly distinguish between stuff you need to keep to reach your goals, and stuff you don't:

Most things that you save for the future represent hopes and dreams. But the money, space, and energy you spend trying to create a specific future are wasted. We can't control what tomorrow will bring. Those things we hoard for an imaginary future do little other than limit our possibilities and stunt our growth. When I urge you to get rid of them, I'm not telling you to discard your hopes and dreams. It's actually quite the opposite. Because if you throw out the stuff that does a rather shabby job of representing your hopes and dreams, you actually create room to make dreams come true.

-Peter Walsh, "It's All Too Much"

His worksheets for rooms go beyond organizing. They ask questions like:

• What is the current function of the room?
• What is the ideal function of the room?
• Who uses it?
• Who should use it?
• What should it contain?
• What has to go?

This approach keeps you on the high ground, goal-focused, not bogged down in the minutiae of which drawer to put what in. When your life is all pushing in the same direction, the clutter takes care of itself.

Here is an excellent, more detailed review.

Aunt Lizzie graduates!

At the beginning of June, my little sister and Danielle's Aunt Lizzie is now a graduate of the prestigious International School of the Americas. The ceremony was held at Trinity University in San Antonio, and was a heck of a lot more fun than most. There were great speeches, a spoken word rap, and a four-part harmonization of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back." How cool is that?!

She'll be off to UT Austin in the Fall of 2008. We hope to get to see her once in a while, but with her living downtown, next to The Drag, 6th Street, and all that campus fun, we're not holding our breath. But as long as Lizzie's learning and having a good time, we're OK with that.

Congrats, sis!

Sorry we didn't get around to posting about this sooner, but this little one kept us as tired as she was at the end of that day! See?

Swim party at the Acostas

Our super-cool neighbors Rick and Rose Acosta invited us to a great fajita barbecue dinner and swim party. We had a lot of fun, especially Danielle, who really enjoyed playing with the fountain built-in to the pool!

She also had her very first ice cream.

This was back on June 5, but I'm just now getting around to posting the photos. Thanks, Rick and Rose, for a great time! We'll try to return the favor here, soon.

Family reunions

Mary, Danielle, and I caught up with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Bill in Edna, Texas. Nancy is my godmother, and I don't get to see her nearly enough. We had a good, if brief, visit with her and Bill, and the dogs and cat, before we motored off to Crosby, Texas, for a Schattel Family Reunion (Mary's mom's family); back through Central Houston, to see D.C. and Carol Bucek's beautiful new home; down to Wharton, Texas, to stay with the my in-laws Janie and David; and finally, to Sealy, Texas for a Bucek Family Reunion, before coming home to Austin.

Whew!

Father's Day decisions

Wow. Father's Day is bittersweet. This picture is why: I'm celebrating the greatest joy in my life, my little girl Danielle, while also missing my mentor, best friend, and all-around World's Greatest Dad, Ron Guilbot. I'm so glad that we were able to have a few moments like the one above, where Dad was able to hold his granddaughter (I stubbornly held out to have kids until age 39; I don't recommend this). But we were also shocked at Dad's early passing.

Other bittersweet news: we've decided not to go ahead with our build-to-order home in Austin's Circle C neighborhood. Excellent though it is, it is pricey, and we... well, I... am at a crossroads in life. A lesser wife would have given me the heave-ho long ago, but darling Mary has stuck with me, frustrated though she must be.

When I think of Dad, I think of his advice, and also of his untimely passing, and the things he wished he would have done. I don't want to have such a list when I die. I want all my "to do's" checked off, so to speak. Life is about the experiences, not the stuff, and right now, I'm thinking long and hard about what I want to experience, rather than what I want to accumulate.

Of course, the catch is that some of those accumulations help make the experiences possible. So it's a trade-off, and I am trying to find the balance. My dream has long been to act for a living. I'm not sure that's still my dream; I'm meditating on it. But my community of practice is in L.A., not Austin, as much as I prefer Austin. All of our family is here in Texas, no more than 3 hours from us, so leaving is a pretty selfish call. I'm not sure I can bring myself to do that.

But we... I needed time to figure it all out. No doubt Dad would render an answer in 10 seconds or less- whether I asked or not! Right now, I'm missing that.

A whole lot.

Mo' house pics

David at KB is on the spot. Two new home pics. Closer and closer...

Neil's vacation at Lake District

My good friend Neil Atkinson sent me this photo of him and his girlfriend Vic, celebrating his birthday in the beautiful Lake District in the north of England. It's gorgeous country. I wish I had spent more time there, but I opted for the Scottish midlands, instead.

Neil and I used to play in a band together, back in the day. Vic sings for his new band, Mosaicist. They have two CDs out, and are beginning to tour the UK. As temperatures hit 101' F yesterday (about 34' C), I'm pretty jealous of the mild weather there, mate! Then again, come December, I won't be so envious. :-)

Thanks for the photos, Neil! One day soon, we hope to bring Danielle back to "da hood" in Leeds.