DO less…so you can BE more.
John Busacker encourages readers to trade in their overcommitted and
underwhelming lives for the pursuit of something vital and lasting
Ever been lost in a car on the way to an important event? If so, then you know that people are the only animals that speed up when they’re lost or confused. It’s only as a last resort that we’ll finally hit the brakes, put the car in park, and set about the humbling task of asking for directions. The sad truth is that many of us live our lives the same way: lost, directionless, and never slowing down enough to find the real answers we need. Unfortunately, slowing down and doing less are foreign solutions for today’s problems. Envision a student notifying her parents that her goal is to slow down because she’s stressed out in school. Picture a husband suggesting that he wants to do less in his marriage. The very concept of doing less seems like sheer laziness, but it can actually be a very productive strategy for living.
For readers who are finally ready to stop speeding along and start slowing down enough to find some answers, John Busacker’s new book, Fully Engaged: How to Do Less and Be More, offers practical advice on how to do just that. In a world full of countless options and disorienting decisions, we have to allow our internal GPS to stop and recalculate the direction of our life. As we do so, we’ll find greater abundance, contentment, and peace of mind. Fully Engaged encourages and equips us to move beyond what Busacker calls an “air guitar life”—a life of furious motion and considerable energy, but in the end one with no sound and little lasting impact. In a culture of random noise and fury, Busacker offers a measured and wise strategy for living that is marked by three key components: 1) Awareness, 2) Alignment, and 3) Action.
· Living with Awareness means that, instead of piecing together random moments, you begin to live intentionally. By doing so, you no longer measure your life worth by your pay check, but by effectively blending all aspects of your life. It is understanding that the moments that make up your life contribute to the overarching story of your existence, and in order for that story to stay fresh, you must add to it regularly. A life of awareness is a life defined by the values that you hold dear rather than by the habits and routines that only lead to more monotony. In the end, awareness means that you stop sleepwalking through life and become fully engaged with the world around you.
· Living with Alignment ensures that what you have and what you do match what you really want out of life. It means that your job is not simply a means to make money, but a calling to be pursued with vigor. It is the realization that your dreams are meant to be lived out, and that your life is more than just showing up. When your life is marked by alignment, you don’t live one life at work, another life at church, and yet another life at home. Alignment patterns all aspects of your life around what you really want so that everything you value and do is interconnected with your dreams.
· Living with Action compels you to move in directions that propel you toward an exhilarating future. This means that you’re not afraid to fail and that setbacks are to be celebrated as progressive steps on the journey of success. It’s the understanding that you must pursue connection with others because community is a necessary component of fulfilled living. A life of action is a life of generosity, because giving back is the natural response to engagement. It is impossible to be fully engaged and be passive.
“You have gifts to give, family to love, and dreams to live,” writes Busacker. “You were created to learn and grow, not to replicate and repeat. What if you could not only live each day, but really live it—and love it?” Everyone desires to be this engaged—to feel connected, joyful, and alive. You’ll begin to thrive instead of survive, to act instead of react. If you’re burned out or rusted out, Fully Engaged can help you find a whole new layout for living!
About the Author: John Busacker is president of The Inventure Group, a global leadership-consulting firm, and founder of Life-Worth, LLC, a life planning creative resource. He is a member of the Duke Corporate Education Global Learning Resource Network and is on the faculty of the University of Minnesota Carlson School’s Executive Development Center.
In 2009, Busacker released his first book, 8 Questions God Can’t Answer, which unlocks the profound power of Jesus’ timeless questions. He annually teaches in a variety of emerging faith communities and supports the development needs of leaders in Africa through PLI-International.
John is an avid explorer, occasional marathoner, and novice cyclist. He and his wife, Carol, live in Minneapolis and have two adult sons, Brett and Joshua.
Fully Engaged: How to Do Less and Be More
by John Busacker
Summerside Press ~ May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-609361150/Paperback/144 pages/$14.99
My Thoughts:
Can you see why I wanted a look at this book? Sounds like it has some wisdom for some of the struggles we all face on a daily basis. How do you plug along successfully when life offers so many squeaky wheels that need a drop of oil? This book is a quick read and it contains some introspective and helpful thoughts. However, this is a book that is not NEW thinking just a new way to look at complacency and ruts. If you are missing the life in your Christian living, or know you are deep in a rut and want to get out. Fully engaged is a resource that could really help. It would make a terrific study for small groups or individuals. There are sections in each chapter for personalization and introspection to help clarify what needs to be done to make some changes.
Here is the link to the Amazon reviews . I can't believe non of my bookie friends have read this one. Guess I better get it read soon. You can go here and scroll down to read the first chapter on-line..
I got an e-mail from one of the blogs I subscribe to that says that June is National Reinvent Yourself month. Not sure where that came from or who started it....but why not?
And since I've been on the subject I might as well continue blathering on and on about why, and maybe add a few practical suggestions that I've tried and that have worked their way into my psyche, schedule, routine or brain.
I've heard 21 days (and 30 days) can slowly starve old habits and awaken and give life to new ones. Not sure if that's totally true. We can all be stubborn, can't we? I am. I will hang onto things so, so past the emotional or mental expiration date that the situation can become embarrassing to look in the eye and assess. I hate that, though. I don't want to stubborn myself into an early grave or stubborn out healthy relationships.
So. I declare stubbornacity to be a tool I will use to continue to reinvent my life into a better one...to suffocate the parts of me that I know aren't good, healthy or sweet to anyone around me...and to water and weed and offer light to the areas that I want to grow tall, healthy and to bear fruit.
So. Step two in baby steps.....and now baby steps to reinvention the old-fashioned, elbow grease kind of way....
2. Move differently. Choose far parking spots. Walk or bike to places that are close enough to do so. And speaking of moving....Go to bed and sleep when you need to...regularly.
If you want to exercise you can find tons of different videos on the internet. My favorite exercise routine is 20 minutes every morning -- Jillian Michael’s Shred. It costs about ten bucks and is a tough workout. I feel stronger and leaner and fitter. I hate it, but I go into robotic mindset and just do it.
Or walk. The dogs get a mile or so in most days and we do, too. Walk in place while you watch television. Play on the Wii. I've noticed that regular exercise makes me feel better and makes me think a little bit more about the things I put in my mouth. I drink more water when I exercise and that makes me less likely to nibble, too. A good walk is a good start, and dang it, it can be a super terrific habit to develop. Exercising has made me more inclined to park farther away at stores and at work I park at the top of a hill and take the steps just to get a few more minutes of activity in.
I recently read that a Japanese health tip is to take 10,000 steps every day. That is a LOT of steps. Two and half miles or so. But broken up into smaller segments I think it's doable and a decent goal. Working in a medical clinic gives me a close view into lives of all sorts of people. The healthiest ones come in once a year...and many of them are active. I see eighty-year-old women in their exercise clothes or smelling of chlorine because they just finished up with water aerobics. They seem to be limber and able to keep up just fine.
Not a scientific poll....just an observation. But I think it's worth noting. What do they say...if you don't use it you lose it? And activity is joint juice? I believe that...and am banking on it.
Practical steps to change. One at a time.
1.
Shop differently. Take advantage of the farmer’s market. What grows well locally? Find out, find someone who produces it and buy from them. The product will likely taste better if it doesn’t have to travel miles and miles to get to you.
Read the labels. Avoid genetically modified. Know which products you should buy in organic and which are okay to buy non-organic.
(spinach, apples, potatoes, meat)
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods.
Begin to replace what you normally buy with "better" products. If you buy all purpose flour, try to replace it with spelt or oat flour (you can make your own with a blender and oatmeal). These tend to make less dense baked goods than whole wheat and are closer to the feel of traditional flour. Or buy unbleached flour (less processing steps) or begin to blend your regular flour with healthier choices until you find a blend you are okay with. Buy whole grain pastas and mix those with your old standby if you think your family (or your taste buds) will balk (Vitaspelt and Eden Organics are ones we've tried and liked).
Buy brown rice instead of white. Buy organic sauces, condiments (less chemicals). Basically, take baby steps. You don’t have to toss and conquer in one fell swoop. Use up less healthy ingredients when making items for potlucks or gatherings where you have to take food. It took us months to really see big changes in our cupboards and fridge. I liked to make sure we always had favorites on hand and would buy when on sale and that made things more challenging when we decided to slice and dice our food choices.
Tuesday = farm day. The best weather yet. 80 degrees, sunny, a cool breeze. Glorious.
When 24 and I arrived....after the 20 minute car trip which found us enjoying every beautiful minute ... we found that half the work had been done. Two additional rotating volunteers and a regular who came early had already harvested the lettuces and prepped the boxes.
We just had to wash and sort and weigh and label and place the correct items in the correct boxes.
This sounds easy. Now. The number of boxes total is 25, half of which are full-share, half are half-share. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Half-share boxes are half of the content. This process takes hours. Each item is weighed in ounces and divided into per share or per box ounces and bagged. Lettuces (7 or 8 varieties mixed in together) asparagus, rhubarb, two herbs, kale, chard, radishes, braising mix, arugula and a beet.
Four hours later (which was a record, I might add) we were ready for one more task before heading home. Out to the high tunnel we hiked. The high tunnel is exactly like a greenhouse...a half tunnel shrouded in filmy plastic...but with other benefits like sides that open. Basically, it's a protected area to work and grow in that gives growers more days in the season.
This is where it gets interesting. One of the growers showed us the wheat bits that she'd planted that had been decimated by turkeys. Not a happy grower! But on a positive note, we checked out the baby onion shoots in the ground, and then entered the tunnel to gander at the tomatoes. Each tomato plant was fastened to a nylon cord by rings that clamped, gently, around the tomato to keep it growing the direction the farmer wanted it to grow. Six rows of tomato plants, all of them healthy and happy, so happy and healthy that many even needed another clip to keep them in line. We grabbed handfuls of clips (some of us were more creative in ways to carry lots of clips and others just had to borrow from the clever ones....) and then set out to subdue unruly vines. And there was another task that we needed to do at the same time. Each plant that had bright yellow blossoms also needed a good shaking. Apparently, breeze is important to plants as well as sun and water. In the high tunnel the plants don't get enough wind. They are not able to release the pollen without a little help. So, you have to give them a good, gentle, shake to get the pollinating process going. So we shook and clipped our way through the tomato house. I spied a tiny green tomato start, too. Yum. Just a few more weeks til tomatoes start showing up.
We also met a man who has been an organic farmer for thirty years. Thirty years? Whew. I didn't even pay attention to the word until a handful of years ago. Who knew?
Oh, and we also found out that a very common weed, one detested/hated/reviled by farmers and lawn guys everywhere, is delicious. Lambs Quarters. Seriously. I "harvested" some and brought them home. Rob, the patient trooper, tasted a leaf. He didn't agree with my assessment. Oh well. More for me.
Another box of delicious veggies, some oregano and cilantro, and a bonus batch of rhubarb. Yum. A little rocking and rolling or shaking and clipping adventure....a good day all around.
Continued thoughts on little changes that shape our tomorrows....
3.
Take a deep look at yourself, who you are, who you want to be.
If you remain exactly where you are right now, how do you feel about being in that place in five years, ten years, twenty years?
Reality says that very few become Sports Illustrated swimsuit models. Most of us won't win a Nobel Peace Prize. Many of us will not achieve 100 percent emotional, spiritual and physical health. But could we become healthier versions of who we are right now? With an attitude tweak, or a different way of looking at a situation, or an alternate way of thinking about life? Or simply doing a few things a little differently?
Do you feel stuck in and detest a particular rut? Do you regret a bad habit? Do you wish you had done something ten years ago and have decided you are too late to make a change now?
Steer out of the rut, find a different path. Find out how you can begin to tweak that habit into eventual oblivion. Sometimes it's so hard to take that first step. And chances are very good you'll trip up and slide back into a habit you hate every once in awhile. But if you don't try no one else is going to do that work for you. They can't. For starters, stop thinking that you can't change. There is so much evidence that you can change. It's all over the place. When you think "I can't" change it to "I won't" and then own it. It's one thing to choose not to, it's another to be a victim who in unable to choose.
In ten years, how do you want to feel about the choices you make today? Regret? Disappointment? A sense of accomplishment? A bit of self-respect?
1.
Change the way you think. Just like I mentioned insanity being the (summed up and in my words) inability to understand cause and effect. The realization that I don’t like the way I feel when I don’t take care of myself forced me to choose to change the way I think. The little ugly negative thoughts, the excuses, the whining, other’s perceptions…those have had to change one thought at a time.
The truth is that I do have some control. I can’t change my genes or family disease tree but I can make it really challenging for the family disease tree to fully root in the soil of my life.
With a change in thinking comes change in action. What I believe I will act on. I didn’t like Brussel Sprouts or the idea of rabbit food at every meal. But, I was a vegetable bigot.
Vegetables taste really good when you give them a shot. I ate spinach leaves, cranberries and slivered almonds without dressing the other day. I didn’t know what was in the dressing so I passed. And I once thought a salad without a mound of dressing, cheese and croutons was a waste of stomach space. Nope. It was good. Really.
2.
Make the changes in thinking leak over into the choices you make. This vs. this? That’s a choice. Choose the healthiest one and pretty soon, little choices at a time you are going to have a life that becomes more of what you wished for vs one that you are stuck with. Do you have extra time on your hands? Do you have options? You could use it to walk. You could use it to pray. Or read your Bible or take a class, or learn the hobby you’ve always wanted to learn.
To be continued....after the long and going-to-be-beautiful-in-these-parts weekend.
It’s overwhelming to think about all that you SHOULD do and the changes you should make to become healthier. And then when some crazy person starts blogging about their own journey and throwing out an alphabet soup of bizarre words, foods and techniques, it can be even more overwhelming.
Almost four years ago we decided to start this journey toward better health. In four years we’ve learned a lot. And looking at what’s out there, we have a long, long way to go down the learning path. Some of what we found is contradictory. Really. “Health” is a lot like Christianity with it’s camps and bents and denominational mindsets. From those who swear by exercise to those who say food choices alone are the ticket…to the ones who swear that your blood type determines your metabolic profile and cravings, to those who are raw foodists, there are hundreds of ways to think about what you put in your mouth and what you do with your body.
Two years ago I met my first true blue vegetarian. At the time, I was like, no way, too rigid for me, as I watched her scrutinize menus, and tweak recipes and bring along a dish that she could eat so she wouldn’t starve. She strongly embraces the blood type theory. And she introduced me to the whole idea of raw eating. She had been there, done that, for six months but found it too restrictive (and too painful if she stepped away into cooked food for a meal or two.).
But, I’ve learned that sometimes, your opinion can change with changes in circumstances.
Truth…we are able to choose some of what our life will become, and who we will be, and how we will feel. Not all. But some. And those little choices can add up to a lot in the long chain of little choices.
In a reversal of what I was doing... growing weaker and achier and heavier with each passing year, now making different choices has me growing stronger, healthier and teenily incrementally smaller within each of the past three years of healthier changes.
I don’t really like paying attention to what goes in my mouth, or actively choosing to be active and move. I’d rather sit on my couch and eat bag upon bag of whatever sounds good to me. But. I don’t like the outcome of sitting and eating. Not at all.
So, since I subscribe to the theory that Insanity is making the same choices but expecting different results, I decided to change my choices. Here are a few simplistic but really powerful choices I’ve discovered that helped me further down the path of feeling better.
I'll be back....you know the drill.
