SMART Living 365

Ideas to create a more happy, peaceful and rewarding life--365!

  • Sustainable
  • Meaningful
  • Aware
  • Rightsized
  • Thankful

A Few Things I Really Want For The Holidays

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware

Some people are born storytellers.  That’s why I have been, along with millions of others, a fan of Robert Fulghum. His short essays nearly always manage to touch my heart and remind me of what really matters in my life.  So although I know we all have a lot on our mind with the holidays unfolding around us, I thought I’d share one of his short stories that will lead to what I am guessing we all hope to experience this holiday—and into 2021.

“One year I didn’t receive many Christmas cards. One fetid February afternoon this troublemaking realization actually came  to me out of the backroom in my head that is the source of useless information.  Guess I needed some reason to really feel crummy, so there it was. But I didn’t say anything about it.  I can take it, I’m tough.  I won’t complain when my cheap friends don’t even care enough to send me a stupid Christmas card. I can do without love. Right.

[Read more…]

27 Comments

Could You Use Some Simple Instructions For Life?

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful

 

I’ve been a big fan of Mary Oliver’s poetry for most of my adult life.  She offers so many great quotes that it is difficult to just pick one.  But this one jumped out at me today for two reasons.  First off I am drawn to the idea of having an instruction manual for life.  And second,  I love the idea that life isn’t as complicated as we tend to think.  Today, I want to remember to just pay attention, be astonished and then tell about it.  How about you?

 

 

34 Comments

How Comparison Robs Us From Feeling Grateful And Happy

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Thankful

Have you ever heard the quote, “Comparison is the thief of joy?”  That great quote comes from former President Teddy Roosevelt.  And I completely agree.  But this week I realized that comparison is also a thief to feeling grateful—and without gratitude, how can we feel joy?  Of course, like so many issues of awareness, this seems obvious.  The key is to remember it on a daily basis. Because if you are anything like me, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of seeing and comparing what others have or are doing—and then overlooking the good in my own life.  Fortunately this week, two great examples popped up to drive this idea home.  Even better perhaps, they happened to others rather than me.  Ever notice how we can often catch behaviors in other people far more easily than in ourselves? [Read more…]

33 Comments

Riding A Bike Turns A Chore Into An Adventure!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Sustainable


Do you remember your first bike?  That question was a big part of the presentation made by Dan Austin, author and founder of “88 Bikes” at the Palm Springs 4th Annual Sustainability Celebration.  The event, which featured an exhibit area of local green and sustainable businesses, groups and organizations focused on promoting another year of growing and learning about ways to improve our desert community.  An exciting new piece of that puzzle would be an all valley bikeway from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea–a stretch of nearly 50 miles.

[Read more…]

Leave a Comment

Search

Stay SMART!

About

Kathy Gottberg is an author with seven published books and hundreds of articles covering dozens of topics in the last 35 years. Along with her books, her passion today is SMART Living 365 where she explores ideas and experiences that help to create a meaningful, sustainable, compassionate and rewarding life for herself and others. Beyond that, she lives with Thom, her best friend and soul mate in La Quinta, CA

To contact Kathy: click here

More SMART Ideas!

  • Welcome to SMART Living!
  • Who are we? And why SMART?
  • Other SMART & Favorite Blogs I Read
  • Our List Of Best Websites for Positive Aging and Retirement
  • Privacy Policy

SMART Books 2020

SMART Books 2020

All SMART Book Reviews!

  • Recommended Books By Review

Categories

Archives

Key Words & Common Themes

Abraham-Hicks appreciation awareness choosing to be happy consciousness contendedness creating happiness debt free finding happiness freedom ful-filled gratitude greater awareness happiness happy happy life interconnected interconnection journey Kathy Gottberg law of attraction learning to be grateful less is more LOA meaning minimalism Optimism peace positive aging Practicing gratitude retirement rewarding rewarding life rightsizing seeking happiness simple living Smart Living staying conscious staying healthy sustainability sustainable thankful travel well-being you get to make it up

Copyright © 2023 · SMARTLiving365 On Genesis Framework · Webmaster: T.O. Weller

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT