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Time is Better Spent “Earning” Happiness rather than Additional Money

By Anita Mathias

What I read yesterday as I wrote a post on the Prophet Habakkuk:

Has not the Lord Almighty determined
that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,
that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Hab 2 13-14
What I thought yesterday:
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” John 6:27
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Isaiah 55: 2
What I am reading today: Slow by Carl Honore.
* * *
 My husband and I own a small publishing company which provides our family enough to live on!
But, you know, there is a mortgage, and we have two children. And so we keep wondering if we should expand our business. The law of empires—expand or contract—is the same for businesses: expand your market share, or lose it and contract. So, against our better judgement, we have in fact been slowly expanding the company, in the last 3.5 years since we realised that we had enough to be happy.
We have now caught up with much of our backlog of procrastinated chores built up over a couple of decades of privileging work, and procrastinating everything else. So we were wondering if Roy should throw himself into expanding our business.
* * *
I am reading Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project. So thinking about what will make me happier has now begun to enter the equation.
Money can increase happiness up to a point, because it can help you cope with some of life’s problems, so that you are less sad and stressed. However, after your income reached a certain level, more money will not make you happier, according to Nobel prize winning economists Deaton and Kahneman at Princeton.
For me, because I don’t have any particular material thing I’m hankering for, a 10% or even a 50 % percent increase in income will not probably not make me particularly happier, I realized.
What will make me happier is
* To be able to keep up with my 1.5 acre garden, which I am afraid is looking rather shaggy and unkempt with all the rain we’ve had.
* To be have a tidy, organized and decluttered house.
* To eat healthy, body-blessing “Slow Food,” homecooked meals, homemade bread, and homemade stuff like Roy’s delicious salad dressings and dips!
* To exercise everyday.
* To have more time to read.
* More time to write.
* * *
So yet again, we are again putting off the decision to expand the business so as to spend more time in the garden, and kitchen, and in creating domestic order and serenity!!
You know, I think it makes sense. Time spent making extra money is not as well spent as “free time” spent on things which bring you bliss.
I like how Rick Warren puts it,
People are realizing that time is more important than money.  Money is a renewable resource – there are always ways to get more of it.  But time is a limited resource.
You only have a certain allotment of time in your life.  When it’s used up…that’s it!  YOUR TIME IS YOUR LIFE.  When you give someone your money, you’ve given them something that you can replace.  But when you give someone your time, you’ve given them a part of your life.  This means “time management” is really “life management.”
A question to consider as you work this week:  “How much of what I’m doing right now is going to count ten years from now…50 years from now.. or for eternity?”
You have just enough time to fulfill God’s purpose for your life.  If you “can’t get it all done” it means (1) You’re doing things God never intended for you to do, or (2) You’re doing the right thing in the wrong way.
                                             * * *
Time is always more precious than money, because money spent can be earned again, and money earned can be used to buy time (by farming out whatever work can be farmed out, cleaning, housekeeping chores, gardening, business admin.) Time, however, is an irreplaceable, non-renewable resource.
As Michael Hyatt wrote recently: Your time is a zero sum game.  You must say no to good things—worthy things—in order to say yes to your most important priorities.
                                          * * *
To celebrate life together, to be together in community, to simply enjoy the beauty of creation, the love of people, and the goodness of God—these seem faraway ideals. There seem to be a mountain of obstacles preventing people from being where their hearts want to be. It is so painful to watch and experience. The astonishing thing is that the battle for survival has become so “normal” that few people really believe it can be different.” Henri Nouwen, Seeds of Hope
So for a season, a few months, or years, or the rest of the my life, I am going to say No to working additional hours for more money in exchange for more happiness—happiness in my garden, in an orderly house, with more time to read, to write, to exercise, to pray, to read Scripture, to eat slow, home-cooked food, and to cook for and eat with friends and family!!

Filed Under: In which I pursue happiness and the bluebird of joy, In which I resolve to live my life slowly

Sundays, Poustinia, and Rest

By Anita Mathias

Several, several years ago, Roy and I went on a retreat in a “poustinia,” a concept popularized by Catherine Doherty. We were given a cabin in the snowy woods in Minnesota, and meals were brought to us in a basket. The center was called “Pacem in Terris.” Peace on Earth. Indeed!

One of the things I remember is that we were told that until one went away to rest, one did not realize how tired one was. That when one goes away on retreat, whether to pray or to write, the first thing one does is sleep–a lot.

I find that with Sundays. Though I do not feel particularly tired during the week, because I find my work–writing!–very stimulating, there comes a time each day,between 11 and midnight, when my brain feels as if it has turned to mush.

But on Sundays, the accumulated tiredness of the week shows up, probably because adrenalin is low since I don’t intend to write. I nap and nap and nap, and read and nap.

What a gift they are, imagine, one day out of 7 set apart for rest!!

Filed Under: In which I pursue happiness and the bluebird of joy, In which I resolve to live my life slowly Tagged With: Sabbaths and rest

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My Books

Wandering Between Two Worlds: Essays on Faith and Art

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Francesco, Artist of Florence: The Man Who Gave Too Much

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The Story of Dirk Willems

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Premier Digital Awards 2015 - Finalist - Blogger of the year
Runner Up Christian Media Awards 2014 - Tweeter of the year

Recent Posts

  •  On Not Wasting a Desert Experience
  • A Mind of Life and Peace in the Middle of a Global Pandemic
  • On Yoga and Following Jesus
  • Silver and Gold Linings in the Storm Clouds of Coronavirus
  • Trust: A Message of Christmas
  • Life- Changing Journaling: A Gratitude Journal, and Habit-Tracker, with Food and Exercise Logs, Time Sheets, a Bullet Journal, Goal Sheets and a Planner
  • On Loving That Which Love You Back
  • “An Autobiography in Five Chapters” and Avoiding Habitual Holes  
  • Shining Faith in Action: Dirk Willems on the Ice
  • The Story of Dirk Willems: The Man who Died to Save His Enemy

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What I’m Reading

Apropos of Nothing
Woody Allen

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Amazing Faith: The Authorized Biography of Bill Bright
Michael Richardson

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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Stephen King

On Writing --  Amazon.com
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Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer\'s Life
Kathleen Norris

KATHLEEN NORRIS --  Amazon.com
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Andrew Marr

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Opened Ground: Poems, 1966-96
Seamus Heaney

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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
Including stars in the sky, of which a new one heralded his birth
Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
As angelic song drew shepherds to him.
An Emperor, a King, scholars, shepherds, angels, animals, stars, an unwed mother
All things in heaven and earth connected
By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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