July 18, 2013
Uncluttering our schedules and our lives
Writing for Religion News Service, author Jana Riess has this advice: “Want to simplify your life? Just say no. . . every day.” She says answering at least one request daily with a “no” may be a new kind of “spiritual practice” for her. But at the same time she hates doing it. Saying no is seldom easy. In these days of too much to do and too little time for doing it, most of us still try to cram one more thing into a bursting-at-the-seams schedule rather than disappoint someone or forgo something we’d like to do or somewhere we’d like to go in other circumstances. “I am at a point in my life when most of the offers that come my way are for things that I would have loved to do just a few years ago.” Riess says. “I had gotten into the mode of saying yes to those kinds of requests kind of automatically, but I simply cannot anymore.” She tells of reading a helpful book by Greg Cootsona, Say Yes to No, “which advocates regular pruning of our obligations so that we can make time for the things that are truly important.” Read how Reiss is trying to do this in her own life. Related Reading: See this essay by Greg Cootsona on “the unforced rhythms of grace” from the Huffington Post.
