Amidst the hurry and hassle of our everyday lives we sometimes forget to stop and enjoy the beauty and miracle of life. I know I can neglect to do this; giving gratitude and bowing my head in recognition, humility and love doesn’t come naturally to me.
Today I want to pay homage to my life and the people in it! My life is extraordinary in its natural rhythm – the way in which hard work and achievement intertwine, the way in which hilarious embarrassment and joyous recognition mingle, and subdued sadness morphs into burst of intense happiness.
I realise this probably sound strange on a personal finance blog but I still had to say it; and you already know that when it come to questions of money I’ll always start with matter of life. If your life is not beautiful without money, it is not very likely it will be so with it. I only wish that today my readers can take a moment to reflect on the beauty of their lives and the various ways in which each is extraordinary.
Now, let me tell you about the articles, and events, that caught my attention recently.
I’ll start with the miracle of life event of the month: tiny, little and gorgeous baby J$ has arrived. Congratulations to J$ from Budgets are Sexy and his wife on the arrival of their baby. J has taken paternity leave (and so he should) and while I miss his quirky writing and sense of humour he has lined up some great guest posts. Have a look at Jeff Rose’s post, for instance – this guy never stops to surprise me; and his wife is pretty good as well.
Moving from miracles to feats of personal finance, Brent over at On Target Coach published a post about the McDonaughs – the family who paid off over $100,000 worth of debt in couple of years. You see, my friends, I told it can be done; for one we are doing it as well and have paid off over $128,000 worth of debt in two and a half years. There isn’t much left now; we are in the last miles of the marathon. Anyone can do it – you just have to change your focus, develop a new obsession and ‘persist with the persistence of a drug addict’.
Krantcents also surprised me last week. Yes, he does have a personal finance blog and good one at that – I always visit when I need to read something stimulating. I don’t always agree with what I see there but I always enjoy the experience. Judging by some of Krant’s comments on what I have written and by his writing I didn’t expect him to write a manual on how to marry for money. Go read the post but please try not to forget about everything else – it is best to fall in love with someone who has money. An interesting way of re-distribution of wealth; and avoids revolutions and bloodshed.
I adore Len Penzo’s Aunt Doris. There is another gem from her on his site – this time she shares her secrets for a long life. And I surely hope I’ll never lose my sense of wonder, fascination and sense of humour. As to smoking – it is my intention to start again when I am 70 but we shall see how this goes.
I will leave you with a wonderful, life affirming post by Leo Babauta at Zen Habits. I always have a lot of time for what he has to say but I still think that it takes some courage in this time of breathless pursuit(s) to remind us that killing time isn’t a sin. We don’t kill time – we can either waste it or enjoy it. And no, this is not about productivity – it is about reconnecting with the pleasure that life can be rather than staying with the pain and strive that it has become. Thanks you Leo! As to you, my reader, go and read this even if it is the only blog post you will read today (well, apart from this one, of course).
On a different matter, The Money Principle is still having great time of achievement and recognition. Of course this is to a large degree because of you – your firm support, reactions and encouragement is what drives this blog.
Last week, The Money Principle was in seven personal finance carnivals. Apart from this we were in great company at The Millionaire Nurse Blog and were also part of the round up at the Discount Coder Blog.
Thanks to the support of our readers (and other, for which we are grateful) we seem to have sailed through the second round of the Tour de Personal Finance at My Personal Finance Journey. This means that The Money Principle will continue to need your support – and I’ll ask for it.
I was also approached by GoBankingRates to take part in their Personal Finance Olympics. This is in collaboration with FinCon 2012 (which I am regretfully going to miss because my son is starting high school at the same time) and the article I was asked to submit is SOS Debt Management: is debt consolidation worth it. I agreed which means more voting.
So as you see, Fortune has been smiling down at us here. Let it long continue!
Till next time, my friends!
Thanks for the inclusion, I really appreciate it. Whenever I write an article I want to stimulate conversation or dialogue and definitely get the reader to think about my viewpoint. I would rate this article as a success!
Thanks for including me in your weekly highlights and great job at paying off your debt!
Very powerful post. I totally agree. We all need to slow down and take notice of the awesome things in life. We usually just ignore them because we are focused on this that and the other and rushed to do x, y, and z. I also agree with the fact that you have to find happiness in your life apart from money. They can’t be related.
I have been working on this very thing the last year or so. It is a work in progress but my outlook is changing for the better.
Miss T: Thanks! And I don’t doubt that your outlook will shift even further.
I am reminded of a saying attributed to Gary Player – and probably many others.
“The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
Well done!
Pat: This as well, Pat. But I am more fascinated by theway in which different events, moods and happenings alternate. Too much fun can be hard work; too much success can turn into noredom and pale in significance.