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Thursday, February 8, 2018

#ThursdayThoughts Guest post from Tyndale Author, Carla Laureano

Good Morning Friends,

As you well know, I'm always excited when I introduce a brand new-to-me and my blog author and today's guest is no exception.

Tyndale Author, Carla Laureano, is the RITA® Award-winning author of contemporary inspirational romance and Celtic fantasy (as C.E. Laureano). A graduate of Pepperdine University, she worked as a sales and marketing executive for nearly a decade before leaving corporate life behind to write fiction full-time. She currently lives in Denver with her husband and two sons, where she writes during the day and cooks things at night.

Find out more and connect with Carla on Social Media by visiting her website.

Now let's see what thoughts Carla has to share with us....

When Less of Less is More 

Like everyone else in the Western world, it seems, I was enchanted by the new wave of minimalism sweeping the blogosphere. I’m one of those people who juggles a dozen projects, both personal and professional, and I want to do them all well. So whether you call it “making space” or “finding joy” or “choosing less,” the idea of a simplified life massively appealed to me. I quickly jumped on the bandwagon. I pared down my clothing to a capsule wardrobe. I minimized the toiletries in the bathroom. I rehomed books I wasn’t going to read again, scanned and recycled paperwork, and gave away supplies for abandoned crafts.

Yet somehow my life didn’t feel simplified. Don’t get me wrong—it feels great to live in a less cluttered space. It’s wonderful to know that my unloved items will be appreciated by someone else. But that promise of more time, more mental space, more emotional freedom remained elusive.

And then I realized that downsizing and minimizing had just become another task that I wanted to excel at. I wanted to be the best minimalist, in whatever way I defined it at the moment; in doing that, I’d made the pursuit of less “more.” One more stressor, one more thing to achieve. Funny thing—turns out that it wasn’t my stuff that defined me as a maximalist; it was my mind set.


A year later, I’ve stuck with much of what my minimalist experiment taught me. It’s made me more mindful of what I buy. It’s made me appreciative of what I do have. It’s even had a positive effect on my sons’ attitudes toward their stuff. But I’ve stopped looking for it to make psychic or emotional space in my life. Turns out the best minimalist is Jesus, and the best solution to my overstressed life is contained within Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Oh wow, Carla definitely thoughts we should all consider! Thank you for sharing....

Carla's newest release, The Saturday Night Supper Club can be purchased at Amazon in all formats!

Hope you enjoyed meeting our guest today and the thoughts she shared and that you'll drop by each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God bless.
PamT

20 comments:

Carla Laureano said...

Thanks for hosting me today, Pam! I love any chance to talk about my minimalism experiment. :)

Liz Flaherty said...

I love this post--and can identify with it way too well!

Ruth said...

Yes, I get this!

Barbara M. Britton said...

Hi Carla,
What a great interview and cover! I love the food images.

Jacqueline Seewald said...

You are right. We can go to extremes with any good idea. Moderation in all things is necessary.

Carla Laureano said...

Thanks for your kind comments, ladies! Glad you enjoyed. :)

LoRee Peery said...

Thanks for sharing, Carla. The Lord meets us where we are and speaks to us when we need Him. He reminds me often the bottom line is all I need is to focus on Him and everything else falls into place. Often, I don't need to "do" a single thing. He fulfills all our needs in His time.

Jody said...

Beautiful thoughts. Thanks for this thought provoking and inspiring article!

Raquel Byrnes said...

I love the idea of a calm, contentment. Congrats on your release!

Emily Conrad said...

I'm pretty good at turning any project into "more," too--another thing to do, even if it's supposed to help lighten the load. I love your point about how physically decluttering won't make the difference unless we also let Jesus declutter our mindsets.

LiteOfTheNite said...

Nice interview! I love your blog. Congratulations on the book! :)

Alina K. Field said...

I'm so guilty of the pursuit of perfection in all things! Such lovely insights in your post.

marilyn leach said...

Carla, I really appreciate the paring down aspect of our age. I'm aware, that's the modern Celtic Christian thought as well. Simplify. I have a tendency to "more" things that are "less" too. So, thank you for your insights. Cheers

Kelly Goshorn said...

I chuckled at "I wanted to be the best minimalist." BAM! So me! Great post!

Kara O'Neal said...

Everything we take into our lives we seem to want to be the best at. It's hard to let go of that need to be revered. I appreciate the post and the way you wrapped it all up. So right.

Marissa Garner said...

Very insightful. Thanks for sharing.

Diane Burton said...

Your post reminded me to let go of things. I had to do that when we moved. When it came down to "do I want to pay to haul this to our new house?" Many, many things were recycled via the library and different charities. I'll never be known as a minimalist, but I'm trying. Best wishes.

Alicia Dean said...

Great post, beautiful sentiment. One of my favorite bible verses. I have never tried the minimalist approach, but it sounds fantastic. I have way too much clutter in my life. Thank you for sharing...best wishes!

Carole Price said...

Beautifully said, Carla. I totally agree.

Mary A Felkins said...

As I'm in the midst of de-cluttering and minimizing...perfectly... THIS hit me...."And then I realized that downsizing and minimizing had just become another task that I wanted to excel at."

LOL! So true! When we make attempts to simplify, somehow it's easy to boomerang and excel at the thing we're trying to do less of. Thanks for honesty, Carla.