Discussions
What excess in your life will you prune in 2009?
Posted by timethief • 1/06/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: addictions, attachments, aversions, hyper-parenting, internet addiction, obsessions, pruning, workaholism
Everyone's answer will be different; no one is exactly the same. Our habits generate or drain our power and energy. Removing a dead leaf from a plant or a dead branch from a tree or suckers that grow shoots from the base of a plant and rob the parent plant of strength gives it life and vitality. Likewise, pruning excesses from our lives creates space allowing us to progress and prosper.
(1) Work
For some, excess might be the time spent fulfilling their professional or vocational obligations. Work is what sustains us but too much work can become a habit which takes away from other important areas of our lives. While it is important to work, it shouldn't take 100% of our time and if it does then we have become addicted to work ie. a workaholic.
Workaholic: Who Me?
thistimethisspace.com/2007/05/15/workaholic-who-me/
(2) Play both active and sedentary
For others, excess may be too much time spent in either active recreation or armchair recreation. Too much play without proper balance between time spent with family and at work (or school), will eventually lead to nowhere at all in terms of personal development, and if it's spent in the sitting position it's bound to produce too much fat.
Aged armchair sports addicts and active athletes, who place their families second to their own pleasurable pursuits frequently find themselves divorced and all alone as they grow long in the tooth.
(3) Internet
Setting aside the work we must do online to sustain our employment, let's focus on the way we use the internet in our "free time". The debate about the risks posed by internet addiction has begun again with the publication of an editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry on the topic.
Let's take a look at what Jerald Block said. He identifies three "subtypes" of internet addiction: excessive gaming, sexual preoccupations, and e-mail/text messaging (not strictly internet, I know). Want to know if you're addicted? He provides these four criteria:
(a) Excessive use, often associated with a loss of sense of time or a neglect of basic drives
(b) Withdrawal, including feelings of anger, tension, and/or depression when the computer is inaccessible
(c) Acquisition mania including the need for better computer equipment, more software, and/or more hours of use
(d) Negative repercussions, including arguments, lying, poor achievement, social isolation, and fatigue
Ignoring the sex and gaming addicts, aren't rather a lot of people email/text messaging addicts according to this scheme? Are you one of them?
(4) Hyper-parenting
There are even some who spend an excessive amount of time living vicariously through the lives of their children. They do so to avoid taking care of their own "inner work" and personal development and growth. When the nest is empty these smother mother types are either bereft and miserable, or they become interfering and manipulative cling-ons that frustrate the growth of independence in their children, and continue to cause unnecessary stress in their children's marriages and family life.
In the book, Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety, author Judith Warner describes what she calls “the mess” of the modern motherhood religion. Gone are the days when Dr. Spock encouraged parents to enjoy their children. Enter the era of hyperparenting – the mad dash to equip children to be “winners” through strategic participation in a proliferation of educational programs and learning activities that will guarantee one’s child remains ahead of the pack. Nothing but complete devotion to the task will ensure success. Thus, a good mother must utterly devote herself to her children’s future – even at the expense of her own self-esteem, sanity, and well-being.
As noble as it sounds, the modern motherhood/fatherhood religion is not elevating but poisoning parenting. There is no proof that obsession with attachment-parenting produces what its faithful adherents promise. On the other hand, there is evidence that attachment-parenting hinders a child’s development.
Discussion question:
What excess in your life will you be pruning in 2009?
P.S. I will be writing this up as a blog post. The responses I get that I consider to be "the best" will be included in it along with backlink luv to the selected commenters.
User Comments
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Fat.-
That's one that is probably on the top of many people's pruning list. Thanks
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chocolate
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Ah ha ... a chocoholic I presume.
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I am a chocoholic, too. I've been off and on the wagon. I even posted an article about why I hate Halloween, inspired by a "fall."
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The hairs in my nose and ears need drastic pruning-
Oh my, then you best tend to them.
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I should probably prune:
time spent on the internet
snacks and desserts from my diet
naps-
Thanks for sharing those three
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If anything, I need MORE excess in my life! -
you can never have too much -
@deadrooster
Nah ... I'm not accepting your humorous reply as the best you can do. Please think about it and post again, okay? We are talking free backlinks here. lol
@hatingtherain
Sure you can. -
I'm TRYING Captain, but the warp-drive mechanism is overloading NOW!
(I am seriously having a hard time with this for some reason)
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@deadrooster
Hmmmm ... what does that tell you, I wonder. Not to worry I'm writing the post on Thursday so you have a reprieve now put on the thinking cap. -
Damn it, Jim! I'm a doctor, not a self-help guru!
;^D -
Dead Rooster - you need to trim back on watching old Star Trek episodes and their movies! Live long and prosper! LOL!
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Wrong spot. -
@lulubelleb -- Best laugh of the day for me! Thanks!
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Self segregation. I spend the majority of my time within my city and only within my area of town. I have eveything I need within a 10 mile radius on top of working long hours. While I haven't seen this to be an issue I don't want it to become an issue physically or psychologically. At least once a month I will be venturing out of my city to explore something new. This may be a day trip to the lake 2 hours south, a new winery in the local mountains, there is a beautiful ice cave about 2 hours west of me in the middle of volcanic rock valley, some wonderful restaurants tucked away in Santa Fe, visit the train that takes you into S Colorado. There are many things I have yet to do locally such as raft the river (in the summer of course). The goal is sto stimulant my adventurous side while releasing myself from the typical and ordinary of everyday life.-
girlzstylin
Wow! Thank you for the excellent contribution. There's a lot of food for thought in it and I think it's "speaking to me", too. I will quote you in my post and send you blog a backlink when I do.
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Reading over your list for 2009 (and the lists of many others), has given me great pause for thought. What, my life isn't perfect?
It's not that I haven't given thought to how I can possibly improve myself, my list would surely tie up the database here at BC - it would take a pot of coffee before it was restored. But, to actually take my list and apply it, it would be difficult. Where does one start?
I'll stop eating junk food - just as soon as I finish the last of the potato chips and the gallon of ice cream in the freezer.
I'll exercise - just as soon as I've finished off the junk food.
I'll read more non-fiction - just as soon as I settle up with my book club.
I'll settle my debts - just as soon as I figure how to make more money.
And, the list goes on. See my dilemma?
It's laziness on my part; I'm just full of excuses. (sigh)-
you can never have too many excuses
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Tell me about it! I live alone in a remote location without coming into contact with humans for weeks on end - so, I have mastered making excuses even though they are mostly to myself.
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@MMM you sound like me and my forever putting things off to tomorrow. -
The shame.
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@madmadmargo
Shame - bah humbug, I sense that you are reveling in this paralysis. Procrastination ... hmmm ... and the four characteristics of procrastinators are: perfectionism, anger/hostility, low frustration tolerance levels, and negative self talk. Get out those pruning shears lady.
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I need to do some pruning in terms of belongings-- I've been fortunate enough to find so many good things at thrift stores, I need to send some things back to the thrifts in some sort of non-Lion-King-oriented Circle of Life.
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You and me both. Sometimes I just can't resist picking up that perfect item that I never use or wear. I love your non-Lion King circle of life expression - you are so witty.
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Doing everything myself... I have a bad habit of offering my help to people / clubs a little too easily. I offer my professional level help to people for no charge or personal gain for the mere joy of helping. While this may sound like an admirable way of being, it just leaves my own stuff unattended, my business not going anywhere and my pockets empty. Good karma doesn't add up, unfortunately.
The other way of putting it would be less play more work, as I consider helping others entertainment. But the first way of saying it is true too.-
@sebastyne
OMG! can I ever relate to what you have said. We self sabotage when we help others by shortchanging ourselves, and we end up with empty pockets and not so much as a thank you. That's an inclusion for my post, for sure. Thanks.
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The excess tomorrows. There's too many of them.
Too many, "I'll do this later."
Too many, "This is what I want to do someday."
Too many, "Eventually, I'll achieve this."
I'm going to stop wasting my time.-
@gabriel
Good pruning choice - all the time wasting excuses we invent that prevent us from moving forward need chopping, for sure. -
oops! wrong spot
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My pruning list
(1) Time spent on phone providing emotional support to customers and clients
I'm putting all of them on email contact only and I will check and answer email once daily only. I will respond only to "work related" stuff and no longer spend time on providing "emotional support".
(2) Time spent of "freebie" research work for clubs organizations
I will accept contract work only this year. I will not accept any projects where my contribution is expected to last more than 4 weeks , and I will limit the number to two projects - tops.
(3) Time spent social networking
I have dumped reddit. I will rarely bother with either Digg or mixx in 2009 because they bring me no traffic. I will spend less time posting to "opinion" threads at BC and more time answering technical support questions on another forum instead.
(4) My closet
I will be doing a major pruning of my closets, cupboards, bureaus, shoes, handbags, and junk jewelry and donating all of it to charity shops.-
I can so relate to 1-3...
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(5) Time spent with energy suckers
There are few difficult people in my life that seem to suck the joy and energy right out of me. No matter what the subject is they whine and moan. No matter how joyful the event is they manage to toss a wet blanket over it. I'm putting them on the chopping block in 2009 - whack! -
@timethief:
I sooooooo agree with #5!
Chop Chop Chop! -
@arcticulates
Where do these energy suckers come from and what is it about our personalities that attract them to us? That's the important question for us to find the answer too because the indication is that we need to prune those suckers at the root. -
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@crpitt thanks for that link ... lol
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I admit that I eat too much chocolate and am on the Internet entirely too much. I suppose I could define either as being an excess in my life. However, I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that if I decrease one or both, I will be a happier person. A thinner one, perhaps, with an ass that doesn't scream I SIT IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER ALL DAY, but I adore chocolate and as a stay-at-home mom, I not only like the Internet communities to which I belong but also find them necessary for my sanity. And sanity is a good thing around here when you're married to someone who would buy the air we breathe off the Internet if he could, as well as when you're the mother of two wonderful girls who nevertheless came out of the womb with "Remember Karma?" tattooed on their foreheads. So I don't see the decrease of either as my path towards happiness and contentment.
If I were going to cut down any excess ... it would have to be one of WORRY.
I'm tired of worrying about anything and everything and as much as I love Anderson Cooper, watching CNN all the time is not helping. It's just one piece of bad news after another but like an accident on the side of the road, I simply cannot take my eyes off the carnage.
It's not like worry is even an enjoyable excess, so you'd think it would be an easy thing to cut down because hey, if I don't HAVE to do it and doing it makes me miserable, and it's not an addiction like caffeine or drugs or alcohol or porn or whatever, then WHY do it, right?
But I can't seem to stop and I'm an equal opportunity worrier ... big things, small things, implausible scenarios, impossible scenarios, likely scenarios, milk that has long since spilled and dried up on the carpet, as well as that gallon that is just on the verge of spilling and stinking up the whole joint.
I'd like to get rid of my worry. I think life would be so much more enjoyable.-
@creativejunkie
Wow! Pruning worry - what a brilliant choice. I love the way your express it in the penultimate paragraph. I'm quoting you and sending your blog link love too.
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I have stopped drinking and will stop for six months.-
The one thing that I'm going to prune is for 2009 is the inability to speak to large group of people. I have a fear of standing up in front of a whole room of people and speaking. Therefore to overcome this, I have volunteered my time to Teach a class on our Military Post. I believe the only way to accomplish this fear is to actually get up and do it.
I can sit in a small group and speak, that is not a problem. It's when I have to stand up in front of 50 people with all eyes on me. So I guess you can say I will no longer evade my fear, but to make a stand and triumph over it. -
@aningeniousname
Kudos! And all the power to you for taking care of yourself this way. -
@armywife65
Great news - you are pruning fear. I also think this sounds like a good way to go about it. Best wishes to you.
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Er ... laziness? Excesive laziness?-
@Friday13
That confession rings with honesty. The challenge is to decide what will you replace that time squandering laziness with.
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I hope to prune my excess financial debt. That's something I plan to accomplish this year!-
@maxwell142
What an admirable aim that one is. We live in a society that sucks us into indebtedness and the price we pay, aside from the payments and the interest, is health issues that arise from feelings of insecurity and nagging worry that saps our energy and creativity.
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Would like to give up smoking.-
@chicky401
Great! Please read this guest post on my blog and the comments too thistimethisspace.com/2008/12/30/the-weakness-of-power/
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Well let’s see what excess i can trim?
i don’t eat junk food
i don’t drink
i don’t smoke
i don’t have clutter
I don’t work for money
The only thing i can think of trimming is the projects my wife gives me to do
So it’s settled, I will tell my wife Timethief told me to trim away the excess LOL-
Good luck! If we don't see you here for awhile we'll know it didn't work.
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@KiefersCorner--Yeah, that won't go over too well..lol...good luck on that one. You will be sleeping in the dog house
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I'd like to prune away my anger. I don't have a bad temper or anything terrible but I would like to allow myself to let things slide more easily than getting upset or angry.-
That's a good one. And none of us would think you get angry with a beautiful smile like that. -
Thank you LynneaUrania
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That's an excellent one Sylvia. Did you know that the Buddhist goal of transforming anger is to harness the energy of anger and change it into more positive and compassionate emotions. This is different than the common teachings of anger management.
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oops! wrong again
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In 2009 I'm gonna stop being so closed to people. Even within my circle of close friends I still am very private because I have a complete fear of vunerability. Not too long ago Model Friend accused me of being half a friend because I sit, listen and give advice to everyone but I don't allow others to do the same for me. My forever resolution not just 09 is to continue to work on being completely open and honest at least with the folks who mean the most to me.
Oh and still working on getting out of college debt. This has been an ongoing resolution since 2008.-
@Faith
Good for you and thanks for gracing us with the honesty and openness it took to share that.
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I won't change a thing, everything is going well for me.
Life is good and I have no complains as far as pruning.
I did pruning years ago when I got rid of an unwanted relationship.
I'm now a free bird and loving it, free to do as I please and loving life. -
addiction to caramel lattes -
I'm too much of a workaholic to prune my workaholism. Yeah, I know, kinda counter to the question.
But I do want to exercise more because I want to keep a lean frame. Nothing like a "blogger's bulge" to harsh my mellow. -
The first thing that I need to prune out of my life in 2009 is to cut down on the amount of crafts supplies that I have! I have so so many, and not nearly enough time to create with all of them, so I will pick and choose my favorites, and prune down to those.
Also, I would love to stop wasting my money on cigarettes, and would love to stop smoking, that would be a big help not only for my health, but for my budget too!
And finally, I would like to learn to deal with the grief I carry around with me daily. I would love to prune that down, and deal with it better than I do most days. Don't get me wrong, I know it won't be a "quick fix" and it's not something that will be instantly corrected, but I would love to prune away alot of the time I spend grieving, and start living more!
If I can accomplish those few things, I feel that my life in 2009 will be so much better!
Take care,
Kat -
Everything that isn't a necessity. Although, that wouldn't be true, really. I need to cut back on many things - too much time online in general, too many groups, too many product reviews, too many silly mindless games online.
I'm stressed out lately to the breaking point and a lot has to be cut out so I can focus and take care of things that really need taking care of -- me and my family. -
i'm going to prune my garden.
also my hair
then i'm going to try and eliminate unnecessary things such as negative thought, overworking when it's not really needed, negative people, self indulgence and i'll try not to waste a note -
I have very little excess in my life. I go to school full time and work part time. I can't trim anything there because I have a three year dual masters to work on and it doesn't allow trimming of
study time. I work and do sit on the board of an visual art education center and gallery. That is not trimmable either, because I committed for two years.
I'm not a parent, so my responsinbility is only to myself. Folks with no one dependant on them have it easier I think.
I can't trim my running or pilates I get really cranky without them, though pilates is the first to go in a pinch. I
have an unconscious list of things which go first when time crunches. Pilates, internet, lunches with friends which have nothing to so with work or school are the first thing to go when things get tight.
I do not accumulate things. I purchase only what I need, except for books, and I do not actually spend that much time online compared to most people and my online addiction must be fed so at this point that will not get trimmed. I am trimning my booksright now while I'm off school because I have so many of them they no longer fit anywhere. I'm loading up boxes of books, I currently have three boxes, and I'm bringing them to the woemn's shelter which has a small library.
I
At the end of the year, after the election, I stopped wasting my time watching pundit media. I was quite addicted for a time to media pundit cable news shows. I stopped watching them completely in December and plan to continue.
I have allowed myself more regular televsion this year. I was nevEr a television watcher but I'm fitting in a couple of shows and replacing pundit news shows with comedy central. -
Instead of thinking in terms of excesses, I'm just trying to live mindfully and let the rest take care of itself. Okay, sometimes work is excessive, but I am in no financial position to cut back on that.
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I've done a lot of pruning in this past year. One thing does need to change that on the surface sounds like an addition. But it means cutting out more of the time I take to myself:
TAKE TIME FOR RITES.
Sound strange? Perhaps to many who haven't devoted themselves to rites at home. For some faiths it may be called devotional time. This is similar, but without doing so much study time in sacred texts. That's too easy for me. The more difficult part is setting time aside for prayer and the stuff that's meant to go with it, at least in my tradition.
Because for me, prayer isn't just utterances. One dreams a prayer and prays a dream. Such things can be incorporated into dance or making love. And when they take hold, astonishing things begin to take effect and one can find herself losing all sense of time even existing. This is the kind of praying that opens up fascinating vistas that are sometimes difficult to explain.
Call me a heretic or a sorceress. But this is the way I do devotional time. -
Gosh I am having a hard time coming up with anything, which isn't to say I am perfect. It's just I am stuck on the word excess and I don't seem to do much in excess. In fact I am thinking if anything I need too try a little excess, such as excessive amounts of studio time. -
I would need to tone up, lose another 10 kg and start dating girls! -
I will be pruning as well as re-focusing my energies in 2009.
What I will prune:
watching t.v. - back to one show a week, it's time NOT well wasted
computer time - especially social networks:
Facebook - is now down to select friends and family and will only be used for contact purposes, to be checked once a day for 5 minutes.
BC - I will come in, read a few posts, answer some, check my dashboard and groups, and will be off, 20 minutes once per day.
Yahoo Messenger - I have deleted all but 5 people from my messenger and it too is now limited, I go on, check for messages, if someone is there I wish to speak to, again I have a 20 minute time limit.
(this adds up to 45 minutes and I have a spare 15 minutes to surf or whatever)
E-mail - 5 mins per day
Blogging - one hour per day, to post, respond to comments, upload photos etc.
I have even figured out a logical order to do all this, which will probably cut my time down even further
micro managing my children/home:
We have never allowed any of my children to part take in more than one extra-curricular activity at a time, because we believe one should fully immerse, enjoy and give 100%, to whatever passion we have choosen, though for kids these passions are allowed to change every September. So it may be baseball one year and ballet the next, but never two at the same time.
We are, however, putting systems and organizational tools in place, for them to be as self-sufficient as humanly possible for their ages, simple things like picking/laying out their clothes for the next day and making sure all the stuff they need to take to school the next day is in their basket next to the front door. This will eliminate time looking for sock mates, agendas and last nights' homework.
What I will re-focus my energy on:
Learning - one hour per day, reading and doing activities from a self-help and/or spiritual book.
Painting - in the studio for one hour per day no matter what
Spiritual practices - at LEAST one hour per day:
meditating morning and evening for 10 minutes each
doing morning pages
decharging
prayer
ritual
gratitude journal
motivational or religious reading
These activities only require 5 hours per day, so it is possible, seeing as my children are at school for 7 1/2 hours, wish me luck!-
Wonderful pruning there!
Good luck.
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I don't make New Years resolutions so I don't think about things like this typically. I want to work on My Proof Positivity blog more and social network less.
I want to figure out how to make money on my other blogs so that I can get PP as a www.proofpositivity.com so far my measly $12.00 from adsense isn't good especially since it will end up being 10 years before I get a payment.
I also want to earn enough money to turn PP into a mass media site this means video. Being on camera is what I went to college for and I'm more comfortable with that than typing.
I'm hoping to go on a "me" journey. I need to figure some things out so I can go back to looking like the girl in the picture. I need to stop hiding behind my children when we take pictures and just learn to accept me as I am and go from there. -
Excess hmmmm... let me see... what excess do I need to cut back on or get rid of all together?
One is working too many long hours at a time, being a type A personality perfectionist when it comes to my business, I forget sometimes to just stop and take a breath and walk away for a few minutes.
Looking at the past... Sometimes I get so focused on the way back whens, coulda, shoulda, woulda thoughts that I fail to see the blessings right in front of me.
The to do list that I get from others that seem to think I have all the time in the world (because my business is in my home) to get the stuff they want done... done... I have tried to be nice and just do it, but it is starting to effect my attitude about everything in general.. and making me feel physically and mentally tired.
And in my blogging world... well, most of the networking.. It has been so time consuming, and most of the time fruitless. I find myself losing my personal focus on my blog, because I am spending every spare minute promoting and for very little traffic from most places. So I am narrowing down my networking to areas that have been worth the time spent. -
Well until I started my new job about 6 months ago I had given up sodas for a year and was drinking a lot of hot tea. Once I started that job though the convenience of the soda machine called to me. I am going to try and cut back on the sodas again, possibly even give them up totally again. I felt so much healthier when I wasn't drinking sodas.
I've already started spending less time on my computer and I am hoping to continue that trend. I will try to do more reading and watching movies. Watching more movies may not sound like a good thing but I am a film geek and I don't just sit back and really watch a good movie as often as I'd like. Usually when I put on a movie it is on in the background while I am doing something else.-
Sodas would be a good one to prune.
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Well, I hope this isn't too personal, but on the top of my pruning list for 2009 would have to be other people's expectations... real or imagined. I have spent the bulk of my life telling people what they want to hear so that they will like me, and doing things out of obligation rather than the joy of serving. I feel like everybody expects me to be just like them or better, when all I can be is me... whatever that is. So, yeah, I guess it'd be that. -
@boytrotters:
I sure can identify with what you are saying! All I can say is me too! -
Ahmen!!!
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I've spent most of my life pruning this or that. I seldom had enough money or personal time to accumulate that which needed pruning.
My life is headed in a direction now. After a lifetime of penny pinching and sleep deprivation (from stealing time to get it all done), I am cautiously adding excess to my life. My ingrained cautiousness makes it difficult sometimes...it was difficult to justify buying a Mercedes, for example, so I bought a 2nd hand one. After 40+ years of housework, however, it wasn't so difficult to add a maid, though!
Perhaps if any pruning is in order, it is the habit of self-abnegation and putting myself last. It is not difficult for me to acquire things for the house or my husband, but I find myself explaining or justifying purchases for myself. If it is a kitchen gadget or a necessity like deodorant, I'm ok...but something personal like a pot of Estee Lauder cream for very dry skin or a new blouse or...heaven forfend!...a leather coat, every fibre of my being screams "that money would be better spent elsewhere!"
Seems odd to be contemplating pruning a tendency to put others first... -
Takeout and delivery food. I just looked over last years expenses and I could have bought a car with the amount of money I spent.
Time online, especially forums and researching -
holy smokes! what a refreshing way to talk about making certain types of changes in our lives. it gave me pause to think about something i haven't poked at in quite some while. thanks!
and regarding your examples, double holy smokes! again, giving me a much larger landscape in which to venture my pokage.
and after much pokeracity, i arrived at some stunners. you see, i used to prune with the best of them, like a lumberjack with a newly purchased chainsaw really. to be more clear, if i were a barber, a request for a little off the top would have you headless in second. which is why i haven't pruned the past few years as much i should. cowlick hair notwithstanding, i need to sharpen and tune the old gas powered mccullock licketty split.
there are two that come to mind immediately. the first is a rather stubborn one. it is this notion that i can make a go of writing humor. i need to nip it in the bud. and soon. if i don't, i'll be ordering "natural debt cures they don't want you to know about" (or whatever) within a month, as lowly a place as one can descend.
the other one is my left pinky toe. it hasn't moved in a decade. it's useless and taking up much needed circulation. if my great uncle duke did it with a hatchet, i certainly can with pinching sheers.
thanks for creating this moment of zen for me and much luck with your forthcoming post! looking forward to a great read timethief! -
I tried to answer this last night on my iPhone--but it didn't go through! This is a great topic for discussion--particularly in view of the recession and our economy. Personally, I think most of us in the U.S. have been leading lives of "Conspicuous Consumption" for quite a few years. We buy things on impulse--things we don't need or want--just for the sake of buying something. It's indemic to our society, really. This year, I will continue to work on 'wanting what I have' rather than 'having what I want.'
I don't buy a lot of material things--but my husband and I have been incredibly wasteful of food during the last couple of years. We have a tendency to purchase way more than we need and then we leave for the other coast and the food is no good when we get back. I am going to think through our shopping lists much better this year so that we don't engage in this wasteful spending.
I also vow to use less of the earth's resources this year. I think we all need to do this also--because the state of our precious planet is dependent upon ALL of us, working together, to be kinder and gentler to our earth. What I do take from the earth, I plan to give back as much as I can--even if it is simply picking up some garbage on the street in front of my house, planting a tree somewhere, or volunteering a few hours a week at the local food bank.
Excellent topic, timethief! -
Worrying....I'm pruning worrying from my life....I already started this in 2008 and I'm just going to get better! -
Internet.
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Gas - In all it's forms.
LOL!!!
I'm sure gas will skyrocket again this year.
That's a given. -
Great article, very thought provoking! I will continue to prune anything or one that brings negative energy into my life and of those close to me. I started growing up and realising who my real friends were a while ago and I can only do genuine now.
Life is too short to have negativity around you.
Worry is one of those emotions well worth pruning! I agree with Lordiwanttobewhole.
May the force be with you Timethief! All the best to you for 2009. -
Im cutting down on acquaintances who waste my time. -
I don't make new year resolutions because generally they are things that you stick too very short term, it really isn't the best time to sort out your life and give things up just when you are about to hit the worst weather (for us in the UK at least), a most stressy work time, the most likely time to be ill, etc etc.
But, shortly before Christmas I do look back on the year and think:
What did I do good and what did I do bad?
The Good
I started blogging, I made some good friends
I started to do some art again for the first time in years
I have been supportive to my Mum & Dad, they are both 80 next year...my time is running short with them whether I like it or not AND they are good people
I have been a happy person and found delight in the simplest of things and they have made me smile, the butterfly that opened it's wings in front of me, the little Robin that made friends with me, Tiggs next door that miaows at me for fuss, the flowers in my garden this year, the frost in the trees...you get the idea
I have enjoyed my best friend relationship with another and I love him to bits for loving me for being myself (please note these are not in order of importance)
Bad:
I struggled so much with time management.
I felt stressed workwise
I lost my way craving popularity instead of meaningful
I struggled to express how I felt (to My Mum in particular who is very ill), I consider myself to be articulate, I do need to try harder...
I still get so angry I could spit, I need to take up yoga or something...
Evaluation: I need to spend a lot less time on social networking sites and more time with the peoples' company I enjoy, online (they are big relationships too), offline, it makes no odds......friends, family, loved ones..............
Big Hugs to all who have spent some quality time with me...and Happy New Year -
Good question. I was just reading about how simplicity creates a happier life. I feel like I already have prunned my life. Its the whole reason I moved to New York. I left everything that was pounding me behind. The friends who weren't really friends, the ex's I kept running into, the work that was making me unhappy.... I eat, sleep, write and party on occasion. I have love and laughter in my life. I buy what I need, and sometimes what I want. I don't complicate my life with drama or conflict. I simplified in 2008 and 2009 brings the year of maintainance. -
None. I intend to indulge even more in 2009 than I did in 2008. -
I'll prune some blog posts
About one hundred of them
Dumb blog debacle
I'm also pruning
Weight, blood pressure and clutter
That's enough for me
I might add stuff, too
Like hair, my own, on my head
And maybe a dog -
This is just to let everyone who has posted to this thread know that I will write my post tomorrow and that many of the comments posted here will be quoted in it. Thanks so much for the thoughtfulness that went into your comments. I appreciate it very much.
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Diet Coke. I'm sure I'm going to give it up.
I'm also sure it is going to hunt me down, tie me up and force me to drink it.
Sigh.
Happens every year.... -
I finally came up with a legitimate answer to this topic. It's going to sound like a joke answer, but, as Dave Barry would say, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!
I need to prune my excess cartoon consumption. I LOVE cartoons and often watch them when I should be doing more important things, like sleeping. I sometimes stay up until 3:00 a.m. just so I can get a dose of Metalocalypse or the latest Venture Bros.
I will never stop watching The Simpson's, Family Guy or South Park, but staying awake to watch a talking milkshake argue with an anthropomorphic wad of hamburger has got to stop.-
It takes a brave man to say, "I am DeadRooster and I am an animationaholic."
(clap, clap, clap, clap!) -
Or, maybe an "animaniac"
...oh, wait... that might be copyright infringement. LOL -
Yes, I suspect Yakko, Wacko and the Brain might all object.
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omgggggggg i am laughing sooo hard!!! ty I needed that!
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I hope you were referring to me and/or TSR 'cause, you know, as humor bloggers, we need that kind of support.
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For me is internet addiction, my Internet is getting very slow in year 2009.
Always lagging, delay my surfing time. -
i'm pruning stress!...well, hopefully -
This is just to thank everyone who contributed to this thread and to let everyone know that I have published my post and it can be found here thistimethisspace.com/2009/01/13/what-excess-in-your-life-will-you-prune-in...
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This is such an excellent discussion! I loved your blog entry on this. It really got me thinking, i agree with what you are paring down on....I feel the need to pare down on these items too!
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Thanks. I just approved some more comments on it this morning and one from boytrotters had a suggestion for a new post that I liked.
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