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articles
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Personal Development
We're going to get courageous and face the darker emotions that you are likely to experience when negotiating any major life transition such as downshifting. (read)
When asked what they ultimately hope to achieve through coaching, the bottom line for many is "peace, tranquillity or happiness".) (read)
How much time in your life do you devote to fun and play?... (read)
In forming new habits, we need to understand that there is a process involved. (read)
Running away from our predicaments doesn't work. (read)
Book Review (read)
Being Authentic
How do we know when we are not being authentic?... (read)
How to be Abundant and Frugal
Here’s the dilemma – we have been conditioned, through being accustomed to a materialistic lifestyle, to believe that we can achieve personal happiness through acquiring something material, whether that’s a new car, mobile phone, new job or a new relationship.Viewed in these terms, frugality is a frightening prospect. How can we be abundant without materialism and happy in our frugality?... (read)
Jumping through Other People's Hoops
How much of your life is controlled by others and how much by you? One of the problems we face in the rat race is that we can find ourselves spending a large part of our waking hours jumping through other people's hoops. In this type of situation we can end up feeling very much like a victim of circumstance. Well, what can we do about that? (read)
Time Management For Downshifters
Have you downshifted and yet still spend your days racing against the clock? One of the bug bears of many of my clients is this: they manage to leave the rat race, to reduce their working hours, to balance their working lives with their personal lives, to find work doing something they truly love BUT they still feel stressed and pressurised because of their attitude to time. Why is this? (read)
Focusing on Profit: Why it Won't Make You Happy
I’m guessing that there are probably very few of us now who have not been affected by rising fuel costs, either at home or in our businesses. When the rising cost of a common commodity grabs our attention, this can trigger old anxieties around money.
Actually, when we’re feeling stretched financially, that is the time to revisit our business purpose and our reasons for doing what we do – our offering and contribution to the world. It is a time to “keep the faith”. How do we do that? (read)
Downshifting (or Voluntary Simplicity) Downshifting is a viable solution for those of us who find maintaining an externally imposed "standard of living" stressful and meaningless. (read)
Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin
Book Review (read)
Downshifting. 3 steps to get you started right now.
Downshifting is a different experience for each and every one of us. What is it that successful downshifters have in common and and how does someone who is still in the rat race get started? (read)
From Earning a Living to Living Your Dream.
Do you find yourself trapped in a job you don’t enjoy but which you continue with in order to pay the bills? My experience from coaching individual clients and from running teleclasses on downshifting is that this is a very sticky issue with many people. (read)
Making Changes
There are times when we would dearly love to make changes in our lives, but find it difficult to do that from here, from the situation that we are presented with at that moment. (read)
From Pain to Gain: How Rat Race Stress leads to downshifting success.
When we use the stresses of being in the Rat Race to re-examine how we are living our lives, we can uncover the opportunities we need in order to downshift. (read)
Jumping through Other People's Hoops
How much of your life is controlled by others and how much by you? One of the problems we face in the rat race is that we can find ourselves spending a large part of our waking hours jumping through other people's hoops. In this type of situation we can end up feeling very much like a victim of circumstance. Well, what can we do about that? (read)
Downshifting Into Retirement
According to a recent research report (January 2007) produced by a financial services company in the USA, 60% of Americans are planning a gradual transition into retirement by downshifting into part time employment or a less demanding full time job. A simple google search reveals that similar trends are also being reported in Europe, Australasia and Japan. Some are choosing this route of voluntary simplicity in order to reap the benefits of a downshifted lifestyle, while others feel forced into downshifting rather than complete retirement due to adverse financial circumstances. What if downshifting fills you with dread because you were looking forward to stopping work altogether and now you find you will have to carry on earning for a while? (read)
Working From Home Getting Out More
Making the decision to work from home can have far reaching repercussions with many aspects of our lives. What happens to our circle of friends when we take such decisions?... (read)
The Work We Were Born To Do by Nick Williams
Book Review (read)
Starting Self-Employment From Home - Part One
I guess “Starting Self-employment at Home” could be the title for a whole book! However, I wanted to give you a flavour of what I consider to be some essential pointers. So I’ve condensed some thoughts into two articles. (read)
Starting Self-Employment From Home - Part Two
Sustainable Small Business
If you’ve made the decision to live more sustainably and have left the Rat Race in order to set up in self-employment, it makes sense to incorporate sustainability into the new business plan. This article explains how. (read)
Sustainable Business Checklist
Job Juggling and the Home Educating Family.
As lifestyle challenges go, combining earning a living whilst at the same time home educating your children, has to be one of the toughest. For most families these days, school provides a large chunk of free child-care and this is what many parents exploit in order for them to be able to earn a living whilst raising children. So, what do you do when you do not have access to hours of child-free work time each day? There are many different ways in which families achieve this, although the process of changing their lifestyle has often taken place over several years. How do they manage it? (read)
Time Management For Downshifters
Have you downshifted and yet still spend your days racing against the clock? One of the bug bears of many of my clients is this: they manage to leave the rat race, to reduce their working hours, to balance their working lives with their personal lives, to find work doing something they truly love BUT they still feel stressed and pressurised because of their attitude to time. Why is this? (read)
Home Education (Home Schooling) The school summer holidays can be a decision time for those families who are facing problems with their children's education. (read)
Book Review (read)
How is Home Education Sustainable?
There are many ways in which home education is a sustainable activity and in which it encourages the next generation to live sustainably. (read)
Free Range Education and its Lessons for the Adults.
I’d like to invite you to think for a moment about those activities that you enjoy doing most now, as an adult, and see if you can remember how you learnt to do them. Were you taught in a formal way? Did you teach yourself? Did you learn through performing tasks, reading about it or some other way? What motivated you?(read)
"Whatever!" Surviving Home Education with Teenagers.
The teenage years can be quite a challenge, however you decide to educate your child. If your child has been home educated for at least a few years before reaching adolescence, then they will probably be accustomed to the lifestyle. If you are lucky, your teenager will also have learnt how to educate themselves with support from you and others and will be reasonably self-motivated and confident in their abilities. But what if that doesn't happen or if, for whatever reason, you decide to withdraw your child from school once they reach their teenage years? (read)
Job Juggling and the Home Educating Family.
As lifestyle challenges go, combining earning a living whilst at the same time home educating your children, has to be one of the toughest. For most families these days, school provides a large chunk of free child-care and this is what many parents exploit in order for them to be able to earn a living whilst raising children. So, what do you do when you do not have access to hours of child-free work time each day? There are many different ways in which families achieve this, although the process of changing their lifestyle has often taken place over several years. How do they manage it? (read)
Self-Sufficiency and Sustainable Living Top Tips for a Sustainable Christmas
Some tips to remind us that the environment still matters at Xmas and that there are measures we can all take to boost our immunity to the consumer frenzy that occurs at this time of year.. (read)
Intuition and Sustainability.
Living sustainably involves getting in touch with our heart's desires... (read)
Food: Sustenance or Sacrifice? (Part One)
Are you feeding yourself in a way that is sustainable for the sake of your personal health and wellbeing or are you sacrificing a nutritious diet, and thus your health, in order to survive in the Rat Race?...(read)
Food: Sustenance or sacrifice? (Part Two)
Your Wake Up Call. Signposts to Sustainability. By Chris Wright.
Book Review (read)
Carbon Detox. Your step-by-step guide to getting real about climate change. By George Marshall. Book Review (read).
Sustainable Planning: Keys to a Simpler Future
It can be said that there are only two certainties in our lives – that we will die and that there will be change. The beginning of a new year is traditionally a time for planning but sometimes planning at any time can seem futile when life can be so unpredictable. How do we come up with a plan for our business or our personal life that is sustainable? How do we ensure that our plans are flexible enough to be worth spending any time on? (read)
De-cluttering Paperwork the Sustainable Way.
Dealing with domestic paperwork has to be one of the most tedious tasks there is. And here we are living in an age that is information rich and where a fresh supply of paper (useful or otherwise) is dutifully delivered though our front doors every day. What can we do to reduce the impact that this has on our lives and why is it important that we do so? (read)
The End Of Suburbia - Film Review
Made in 2004, this documentary examines the American suburban way of life in the light of Peak Oil. If some, who may have viewed this documentary a few years ago, thought it alarmist then, then revisiting it now might reframe their beliefs in the light of the predicted consequences of Peak Oil which now seem to be actually taking place. (read)
Ethical Finance and Financial Independence Money can be such an emotive issue. How does this affect our children and their financial independence?... (read)
Materialism: How to Let Go.
Materialism, or the “joy of ownership” seems to be valued in our society above other, simpler, more wholesome forms of happiness.This report describes some of our unhelpful materialistic beliefs and suggests some new sustainable ones with which to replace them. Subscribe to my newsletter "fruitful" to receive your copy.
How Will I Cope? The Financial Implications of Downshifting.
Some of your most burning questions answered in this frank and down-to-earth article....(read)
Spiritual Growth The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Book Review (read)
How to Stop and Do Nothing (and Why it's Important for our Wellbeing.)
One of the prerequisites for downshifting and leading a more sustainable life is for us to slow down. According to Jonathan Porritt, “Speed is the enemy of sustainable living”. When we opt for speed, then we tend to prioritise convenience over and above sustainability and this inevitably results in our consuming more and caring less about our personal wellbeing and that of the planet. What I’m going to suggest in this article is that we also need to stop altogether from time to time. Even if you have not yet decided to step off the treadmill, both slowing down and doing nothing are habits we can cultivate right away and from which we can very quickly start to derive benefit. (read)
Meditation - Getting Started
"Meditation is the unfolding of what is best for each person and its results can be measured by the benefits to an individual's self and life..." (read)
Health and Wellbeing Slowing Down the Pace of Life
Wondering what it is that makes it so challenging to live with less of the consumer lifestyle and more of the sustainable lifestyle?... (read)
How Downshifting Benefits Your Health and Wellbeing
When we choose to prioritise our quality of life above our standard of living, magical things can happen with respect to how we treat ourselves... (read)
Food: Sustenance or Sacrifice? (Part One)
Are you feeding yourself in a way that is sustainable for the sake of your personal health and wellbeing or are you sacrificing a nutritious diet, and thus your health, in order to survive in the Rat Race?...(read)
Food: Sustenance or sacrifice? (Part Two)
Relationships How to Tell Your Other Half That You're Leaving the Rat Race
Many of us are aware that communication plays a vital role in any relationship. That doesn’t always mean that it’s easy, of course!...(read)
Open Hearted Relationships: A Sustainable Approach.
Approaching relationships with an open heart has some wonderful advantages. This is how sustainable relationships are formed... (read)
Conscious Relationships: A "performance" or a "connection"?
Some people call living a sustainable lifestyle, “conscious living”. So, what about our relationships with others? They will inevitably form an important part of our sustainable lifestyle. Can they be conscious too? I suggest that they can and that conscious personal and business relationships are a necessary part of living in balance and with a high quality of life. (read)
Parenting Some ideas for getting the best out of going away together. (read)
Listening to Our Children
Skilful listening is a habit worth cultivating for the benefit of all members of the family. (read)
Does Your Child Need to Downshift?
As a parent, how do you spot the signs of stress in your child? When is it time to intervene and to help your child simplify their life? (read)
t 01749 674842 e sally@sallylever.co.uk