LIFE’S 5 MOST IMPORTANT AREAS……
Last week I wrote about focusing on what is REALLY important in our lives and making those areas our primary focus. It is a choice whether we let the “squirrels” of our lives distract us from what is important or not. I had a recent reminder of this when our son and his beautiful wife visited. As we were talking over dinner I told them about shifting my focus but as I was saying the words I realized that my actions were not completely in harmony with my words…I was not totally practicing this.
I have now written my five areas in my calendar. I write my intentions for the next day every night, so the squirrels of life cannot distract me as easily. We all have the same amount of time, we have 24 hours in a day to either be focused on what we love or chase the squirrels.
The first step to this very important process is to really determine what is important in your life. The second step is to see if your activities are congruent with those 5 areas and if not, why are you spending your precious time on them?
As I made my list, eliminating some things, finding others fit under a broader area it became clear to me that I squander a lot of my time and energy on things that are not really that important in my life. An example would be going to meetings that I felt more of an obligation to go to instead of having a passion for, or spending time with people that the connection isn’t there …dinners…events….etc.
The areas that really spoke to me were:
GOD/Spiritual-church, service to others, spiritual community, prayer & meditation time, reading uplifting spiritual materials. We like to attend workshops that help with our connection to a greater spiritual life.
Healthy Body-food, exercise, rest, stress management, meal planning (also cuts cost). How many chemicals are we putting on our skin? Are the shampoos, soaps, deodorants, lotions, shower gels, bug sprays, sun tan lotions free of harsh chemicals? Are there any dyes in our food?
Relationships-family, friends and self. Scheduling time to listen, be present, visit. Write notes and cards, emails. Taking time to know and reflect on what is important in my life.
Home– relaxing, clean, decluttered. Do I spend too much time cleaning? Do we have too much stuff to shuffle? How toxic are the cleaning materials I am using? Are they biodegradable to help our environment? How am I doing with recycling? Is our home a safe, relaxing haven or do we walk in immediately seeing the to do list to maintain it? Is it more work than pleasure?
Healthy Finances– are we spending more than we earn? Do we spend our monies with companies that support causes that are close to our hearts? Do we make random purchases, or do we plan them?
My next step was to look at each area and decide how to do this. For instance, if I want a strong spiritual life, when will I schedule the time to spend on this in the quiet? I didn’t want it to be where I didn’t truly make it a priority. I decided for me it was first thing in the morning, sometimes requiring me to get up earlier. To have a healthy body I decided it was one conscious choice at a time. Relationships were taking a backseat to other things so each day I reach out to at least one person. Everyday I am focusing on ways to simplify our home so to enjoy it and not have it to be another dreaded “to do” item. As we focused on the first 4 items we are realizing that to truly have healthy finances we needed to be very mindful as to what, where and how we spent our resources.
The steps that made all this quick and workable for us was to focus on our 5 areas. If something doesn’t fit in or enhance those five areas, we are releasing them from our lives.
To get you started on a life of meaning and purpose you might ask yourself these questions.
What are the 5 most important areas of my life?
Is my time spent on developing, enjoying and enhancing those areas?
How can I shift where my energy and time is spent to improve those areas?
What can I release/add to my daily schedule to improve the quality of my life?
What, who, where do I receive my greatest JOY?
We can either sleepwalk through life or live a life a purpose. 
SQUIRREL, Squirrel…what is distracting you from your focus?
August 2018
Have you ever noticed how easily we get distracted from what we thought we were going to get done in a days’ time? You start off with good intentions or a list and one thing leads to another and it is time to go to bed. I have found that this seems to be my life story…days, weeks and months go by and if I don’t look at my calendar I couldn’t tell you what I have done. I would often wonder how this happens?
Our sweet dog taught me a lesson on this one day when I was sitting on the back porch with him.
He would be very peaceful, sitting on my lap when he spotted a squirrel on the fence. Off he went, totally forgetting the petting and love he was getting. He would come back after the squirrel ran away and off he would go again as soon as one appeared. This became a favorite phrase for us in our home. Any time one of us would get distracted we would just call out to the other “squirrel, squirrel”. (of course, this would also make the dog go to the window looking for one)
What are your squirrels? Is it your phone? Facebook? Television? Emails? Unopened mail? Phone calls? Texts? Stacks of papers or magazines? Video games?
I have been able to decrease my distractions by setting limits on myself. One of my downfalls has been scanning Facebook for the latest news on my friends and family. If I am truly honest with myself there is a little bit of ego involved with how many people notice my posts. I decided to eliminate it off my phone and leave it only on my tablet since I don’t look at it but maybe once a day. My next distraction seemed to be emails. I only look at them 2x a day, once in the morning and once at night. By doing this I have been able to shift my focus. Oh and the papers, books and stacks of other paraphernalia!
As I will share off and on I went thru a process of narrowing down my 5 most important things/areas in my life. I decided to make them my daily focus.
GOD/SPIRITUAL LIFE
HEALTHY BODY
RELATIONSHIPS/FAMILY/FRIENDS
HOME/ENVIRONMENT
HEALTHY FINANCES
I now look at this list EVERY morning and decide on one thing I can do to improve/focus on each area every day.
I may read spiritual material (I always take time to pray and meditate daily). I may exercise or make sure I have the food for our meals that day (I plan a menu monthly). I will send a card, email or call someone daily to stay focused on relationships that are important in my life. My home is a story of itself as I am always looking at ways to purge and embrace it, only using healthy & biodegradable cleaners. Our finances are an area that we look at as far is being sure our money supports companies and causes we believe in. These are just a few thoughts on what my day looks like and how I can find focus and balance in a chaotic world. Even when we travel I will be sure to have note cards, notebook for inspiration and find ways for us to focus on our health. I no longer buy momentos along the way choosing to take pictures instead.
I encourage you to look at the five most important areas of your life and stay focused on them. Each of us will have things that are more important to us. Some will have their career as one of their primary focuses. If your career is one of them try to keep a balance with it and not let it consume all your energies both physical and mental.
After you look at what is the most important to you …. what distracts you from focusing on these? What are your “squirrels”? Become aware of them and started finding ways to decrease them in your life.
Living a life of JOY, PURPOSE and LOVE begins with decreasing our distractions from the important things in our lives.
AND SO IT BEGINS …
August 2018
WWW.SoulSoothers.org Susan Torres Susan@SoulSoothers.org
Healthy Living has many different aspects in a person’s life, though we often think of only eating and exercise. Occasionally we will acknowledge that stress might have “something” to do with our health. And even though these are extremely important in keeping our bodies healthy there are so many factors that affect our health and need to be considered.
On a morning quest of meditation recently, I was led to look at my life and what was important to me. I will be the first to admit that this has changed greatly over the years. There was a time when having the six-figure job and large home took a priority. We built our dream log home 
with a lake view and rolling hills surrounding it in a quiet country community. Along with the large home was the 75 acres to maintain. This of course resulted in needing to earn more money for the upkeep and most of our free time was spent repairing, cleaning, maintaining rather than enjoying our surroundings. There was less time to enjoy the home and to be with family which led to frustration, exhaustion, guilt and stress. There were other relationships that also suffered including one with myself. I knew something needed to change drastically but I was just too tired and financially couldn’t figure out how.
This is when I had a life changing accident. In a freak accident I broke my foot 
on what was supposed to be a quick run to the store, quick being the optimal word here. I didn’t notice a hazard that was left in the way and down I went, twisting my foot in a contoured way. I was told by the medical field that it probably wouldn’t heal, the break was a spiral break and surgery wasn’t an option. I was put in a boot, wheelchair and unable to walk for three months. At the time I was a RN working as a Director of Nursing. I attempted to work in the wheelchair as my husband transported me for an hour and half each way to and from work. (it was my driving foot) Long story short I resigned my position and stayed home after one of my patients fell and I couldn’t help him. I felt I was not able to do the job I had been trained to do and had done for about 40 years.
It was at this time when I really poured myself into studying natural healing. I consulted others and found the best herbs, essential oils, supplements and foods to promote healing. My go to person for essential oils was my friend Valerie who has been trained extensively in all aspects of oils. If you would like to contact her you can reach her through her website. I not only followed the doctors’ orders of no weight bearing on my foot I also used every method I knew and was available to me to heal myself naturally. My quest for pursing my lifelong interest in natural, healthy and simpler living had begun. I had been interested in integrative medicine and herbs from an early age and now that I was unable to do the job I was trained for, I started studying for my Master Herbalist.
I decided to build on my education as a Registered Nurse and long-standing interest in herbs that I had from my childhood. I began my Family Herbalist course and once I completed it went on to complete my Master Herbalist. I wanted to share this with others who had lost hope and started offering any assistance I could. I now offer my services as a health and simple living lifestyle coach. You can reach me by email at susan@soulsoothers.org.
My grandmother, who was Native American, would take me into the woods to dig and gather plants. She would take care of ailments without heading to the traditional MD or pharmacy as her first choice. Now please don’t miss understand, there is a definite place for both alternative AND traditional medicine. I am a strong advocate of Integrative Medicine and have found that there are now physician’s and nurse practitioner’s that embrace this form of treatment for their patients.
After much thought, pondering and prayer I really looked to see if my time, resources and energy was being spent on what I felt was most important to me and my family, which of course they were not. I decided to clearly focus. I needed to narrow my list down to five areas which wasn’t as easy as it might sound. I thought we could just do and have it all with no consequences. As you look at your life you will find that your priorities will probably differ from mine and possibly your partner’s priorities. Each of us will have our own list of our life desires.
What are your five areas to focus on? Would it be your home? Healthy Body? Maybe a career change? Your spiritual life? Place of worship? Relationships? Finances? Volunteering/Service to a cause that opens your heart? These are just a few that you may consider.
I am now making it my life purpose to help others sift thru the fog and become clear on what is healthy for them and their families.
Let your adventures begin…
Susan
Posted on www.soulsoothers.org
What a beautiful journey! Sometimes it’s hard to believe in coincidence – rather, divine intentional preparation.
All is falling into place🙏
Thank you SO much for sharing!
What a beautiful message! Thank you for your kind words! I’m so glad you enjoyed it…keep coming back, I’m planning to post a new blog weekly.