I hope that you are well and feeling comfortable with the idea that nothing much has changed so far this year. Remember that there are still more than 340 days in 2024. The first few weeks of a year are always a good time to take your time. 

I have followed my own advice and spent a lot of time in silence instead of having an audiobook, a film or series on, or a podcast. I am dedicated to honouring my needs and I needed to hear myself. I also needed calm. So far, it’s proved really helpful in many ways: I am getting clearer about a few issues, I feel calmer and positive and I have read four real books. 

What I noticed is that I needed to cut a few things from my life, not just the noise. I am letting go of my website and I am probably  going to move to Substack which doesn’t change anything for you, my letters will just come from a different provider. I feel like I am pruning a plant and I hope it will invigorate my life.

Silence allows me to pay attention to my needs and slow my pace, and also pay attention to what is, loving what is.

3 QUOTES

• The habit of shutting doors behind us is invaluable to happiness; we must learn to shut life's doors to cut out the futile wind of past mistakes.” 
  ― Marjorie Holmes

• ”Be a curator of your life. Slowly cut things out until you're left only with what you love, with what's necessary, with what makes you happy..” 
  ― Leo Babauta

• “Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on." 
  ― Eckhart Tolle
   

2 IDEAS

• Something I had to do was cut my book buying habit because I just don’t have any more space for books — with more coming from my parents’ house — and there are so many that I still need to read. I can’t shake my craving for new books though, so I go to my library for the pleasure of getting new books in the house, knowing that they will not clutter my home. Is there a habit you could cut out and replace?
   
• I am trying to cut down on inspiration sources and classes so that I can focus my attention on just a handful of people and cut out the rest, not that I am not interested but I need the time to create. As John Cooper says in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, “One must be serious about something if one wants to have any amusement in life.”

1 QUESTION

What do you need to cut out of your life? Make a list now.

Valerie 

http://valeriemarsh.com