"Up In the Air"

Are you unemployed, underemployed, "Up In the Air," or are you finding a better path to health and happiness? While there are a number of people who have been able to take advantage of the slower economy by buying less expensive houses and taking advantage of sales and close-outs, many are feeling the pressures of loss and disappointment. What happens when you suddenly take a pay cut, have a single family income, or lose your job? Each of us has a different consequence depending on our savings and how many people are depending on our incomes. You may be feeling the squeeze of more people living in your household or moving out of your comfort zone. With so many transitions, relationship building and support systems are increasingly important. Finding resourceful ways to work together in a household or neighborhood will actually help you build teamwork skills for your next employment opportunity.

Living greener can actually help our career development. We can begin living greener by saving more and using less. Saving money always provides more future opportunities, and using less gives us skills and resourcefulness for finding greener jobs. Some of us remember a time when we saved leftovers and used them to make a fabulous meal later. Freezing leftovers is the old fashioned way of getting fast food. Recently packaged goods and fast food seemed to be analogous with fun and freedom. The reality often meant waiting in lines only to get home with cold soggy food. Not quite the picture in the advertisement.

This morning as I took three different containers of leftover tomato sauce and pasta sauce out of the freezer, I realized that by saving money I'm finding more time and freedom to do what I love. By taking a few minutes to freeze leftovers, thaw and remake a delicious nutritious meal, I can actually save time as well as money. Bringing the family together to wash vegetables, slice, dice, and mix builds relationships while burning calories and adding natural vitamins to the diet. Today I will slow cook the sauces with herbs and add fresh vegetables. A nice blend of fresh spinach and carrots adds flavor and vitamins to the sauce. According to the Carrot Museum website, carrots are most nutritious when eaten blended, cooked or better yet blended and cooked.

In my experience working long hours didn't lead to health and happiness. Doing what I love, work that has meaning, and finding a satisfying career has led to much more joy than exhausting myself working for more money. When meeting basic needs is a priority, then money may be the goal at the moment, but saving and using less will leave more room for new opportunities. Spending less and saving more gives me more time for giving and building healthy relationships which gives me a happier more meaningful life.

Living naturally for a safer environment,
NJ Miller, LifeWork Coach
www.centerforlifeworkdesign.org
success@lifeworkplan.com

Time to Clean Up and Clean Out

I'm finding that January is a great time to think about what I really want and need. As I clean up and clean out my desktop, email, desk, and office I am thinking about what is really important to me. What do I want to savor and keep? There are things I want to be surrounded by to improve my sense of happiness and well-being, but I also see too much trash. In the last few years I purchased too many things that were over packaged in plastic, and the packaging just keeps getting bigger.

I'm not sure what to do about some of my over packaged purchasing, but I am buying less and using things longer so that is one step. I love gadgets and electronics, but it is getting harder to ignore my invasive footprint. I enjoy buying fruit at Costco, but I've been noticing the volumes of plastic packaging. For the past few months we have been buying produce from Capay Farms. They deliver and reuse the box although some of the lettuce comes in plastic bags. This year our garden will be bigger which is by far the best way to reduce the plastic, trips to the store, eat healthier and give the waste back to the earth.

I cherish the delicious last bits of vegetables from the garden as we clean out the old and compost for our spring garden.

Just as we clean out the garden, and I see the lemon balm still growing, I find that there are parts of my work that are still growing and inspiring me. But much of my work looks like the wilted tomato plants after the frost. I have papers, magazines, and stuff that I haven't looked at in years (?). Time to see what ideas and information have lasted the season and clean out the old. I hate to throw things away because I might want them later.

Sometimes I do want them later, but I have so much, that I can't find things if I have them. This is the year, the month, the day to start generating fresh ideas, rejuvenate the ones I value, and let go of the rest. That is my challenge!


Living naturally for a safer environment,
- Nancy Miller

Accidental Gardener

It's an exciting new year full of possibilities. Gardening reminds me that everything in life that is thriving is also growing. Growth may be constant or may have rapid random spurts with seemingly nothing in between. Personal growth can have the same cycles as we face changes in our environment and culture. We can learn to be resilient like plants who weather hot and cold, wind and frost, and changes in soil. In nature, only the strongest plants that are suited to the environment survive. Desert Cactus can adapt to low moisture just as Bengal Bamboo grows well in rainforests.

As a career counselor in graduate school studying personality and relationship styles, I realized that the same factors that affect a person's ability to grow also affect plants in nature. Natural Strengths, Values, and Environment are the core factors that affect personality. In nature, Natural Strengths are like the seeds, Values and beliefs are like the soil and the Environmental conditions are the weather. We can nurture our personal strengths and relationships in many of the same ways we nurture and cultivate a garden.

After researching many creative analogies, I came up with the idea of four vegetables to represent four different personality styles. The idea of vegetables fit so well with the need to create more healthful lifestyles for myself and my coaching clients that I decided to develop workshops and presentations around healthy eating and healthy relationships. After spending a year developing the concept and presenting workshops for a First 5 Sacramento community grant, I began calling the presentations, Color Your Style with Vegetables™. As the workshops grew in popularity, I realized it was important to apply for a copyright, which I completed last year.

I love junk food, reading, research, and writing, so the leap toward a more healthful lifestyle required getting out of my comfort zone. Now I am taking long walks, exercising, and adding color to my plate. Now I am so conscious of color that I rarely have a bland beige meal. If I notice a lack of color, I add spinach, red bell peppers, tomatoes, or carrots. I've learned to enjoy new flavors, textures, and colors in my diet just as I learned to add flavor to my relationships.

The next step to healthful living was to start a garden. I am not a natural gardener. I consider myself more of an "accidental gardener" since I came to gardening in a roundabout way. I started out with enhancing my counseling skills through studying personality development. I learned the value of relationships and developed "Relationships by Design" workshops using the "True Colors" analogy. Now I am using the relationship design concepts combined with the garden vegetables to create a colorful vegetable analogy.

This year I will be blogging my journey through gardening for health, sustainability, career development, and relationship building. I hope you will come with me on my journey toward building a healthier more sustainable lifestyle through gardening. A greener business starts with a greener lifestyle. You are your business!

Living naturally for a safer environment,
-NJ Miller