I’m on vacation and resurrecting this blog from last year as a reminder to myself that tackling just the next step is always a good thing!
At the beginning of a new year (and a new decade) I’m ready to plunge right in and make waves. Presented with the clean slate of a new year, I’m ready to march forward with plans to do things differently. I want to make changes with my money, my food, my family, my home, my work – you name it – it’s doomed for an extreme makeover!
But then I found this old birthday card while cleaning out a drawer and it got me thinking about making waves. My waves are usually of the tsunami variety and can overwhelm me and everyone in its path. But does change in life have to happen like this? What if, instead of making waves, we dropped a pebble?
Think of the ripples radiating from the single drop of that pebble. Unlike a wave, there is nothing destructive or invasive about them. Yet, change does happen – it just happens in small, gentle, balanced ways.
If we applied this technique to our money problems, we would make one small gesture instead of vowing to change everything, everywhere. We would drink home coffee instead of Starbuck’s, buy store brand instead of name brand, make lunch one day a week or eat out one less time this week/month.
Each, just a drop in the bucket of our spending habits but each starting a ripple that will make a difference. A small difference to be sure. But if we put aside that differen¢e and don’t lose the savings elsewhere, we’ll be amazed to see how it adds up. And, we’ll be amazed how change can happen effortlessly. How about giving it a try?
I’m tossing the pebble. One small step for me….
3 thoughts on “Making Waves (again)!”
Great post, Jane. Just what I needed to hear this morning!
Steph
Your blog resonates with me from a heart perspective. The rhythm of the continually expanding universe is like the heart beat. What does that have to do with your pebble metaphor? Every heart beat begins with a rhythmic wave of electrolytes in a pacemaker cell in the heart that results in an impulse (pebble) that travels in ripple effect on to stimulate the whole heart to pump and results in the pulse of life! Imbalances show up there. http://www.heartmath.org/ as a quantifiable way to connect mind-body to achieve balance which is a counter cultural way of living. This is what I have learned from working with the heart community at Maine Heart Center @ Maine Medical Center’s Turning Point Heart Health Programs.
Jane – I finished reading your book (sent to me by your publisher) last week and what a pleasant read it was! You did an excellent job of putting financial matters in an easy to understand, helpful tone. So many financial books try to tell you how to do something a certain way, or make it seem as though only tough love will solve the problem. You did a great job of helping folks understand how to talk, calmly and rationally about finances in an easy (and might I say almost fun) manner. Good work!