Sharon R. Paavola

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Overwhelmed – How to Quiet the Chaos and Restore Your Sanity – Outstanding, Practical, and User Friendly!

January 15, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Overwhelmed: How to Quiet the Chaos and Restore Your SanityOverwhelmed: How to Quiet the Chaos and Restore Your Sanity by Kathi Lipp
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever been so overwhelmed you didn’t know which air to breathe next? That’s where I’ve been the last few months! It’s not pretty and makes the people around you wish you stayed in your room all day.
Well, I have a book for you….and me! Kathi Lipp and Cheri Gregory hit it out of the ball park again with their newly released, Overwhelmed: How to Quiet the Chaos and Restore Your Sanity. I committed to join their book launch team back in the summer. I didn’t know the depth of my need for their words right now. In fact, I’m late in getting this review completed and posted for them. I read it from front to back underlining and noting in the margins with big exclamations marks.
Here’s the thing – I’m drowning and not sure how to keep my head up any longer. Sound familiar? How did it get this way? I don’t have time to figure that out but that’s exactly what we need to do. Kathi and Cheri unpack the “how’s”, the “why’s”, and the “whats” by sharing their own stories in each chapter. Yet they don’t leave you there. After the unpacking, they line up the ways to carry your tidy, useful, and manageable suitcase from here on out.
The chapters end with effective questions for yourself or to do with a group and a prayer to reinforce the practices given. Corresponding Bible verses throughout the book aid the points made and are pertinent for memorizing.
Cheri shares; “Most days, I feel as though someone threw my heart in a blender, and added all the feels, and hit puree”…”We can still be blindsided by how draining even basic decision-making becomes when life gets complicated. Research shows that our fluid intelligence-our general ability to think abstractly, reason, identify patterns, solve problems, and discern relationships- drops significantly when we are overwhelmed.”
As aids to this situation, Kathi adds, “When I start my day well, the rest of my day doesn’t feel like one long rush to catch up.” She creates what that looks like by talking about “Early Evening Kathi’, “First Thing in the morning Kathi” and “Daytime Kathi”. She states, “Our most important evening job is to get set up for the next day.” “Our routines help us become better versions of ourselves.”
Kathi, also analyzes in the last chapter what Sabbath is about and how our whole week should be about preparing for that day, instead of Sunday becoming the catch up day. She shares we all need a day of rest. It might not be on Sunday but “you get focused about completing your work in six days instead of seven.”
They discuss “safe” and “unsafe” people and strained relationships that drain you.
I loved this quote, “In the time I spent debating whether to do something, I could have done it. Living without structure isn’t freedom; it’s a free-for-all that turns into chaos.”
You will find help in writing your own manifesto allowing you to know who you are and make choices accordingly. Step by step instructions in accomplishing tasks with micro-steps and placing them on your calendar are included.
This read is fun, correctional, and spiritual with abundant guidance. You can identify with these two women and learn from their study and experience.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, confused, and lacking in decision making in your life, pick up Overwhelmed!
Now my review is written and I can begin to apply the principles I appreciated and learned!

I was given a book by the authors and am writing this review to get the word out about it but I also, bought 8 books hoping for a small group discussion and accountability plus for gifting. The authors have included online aids that can be printed, manifestos as examples, and questionnaires for self-clarification. You will also, find coordinating videos.
Bravo, Kathi Lipp and Cheri Gregory!

View all my reviews

Clutter Free in 2015!

December 31, 2014 by admin 2 Comments

If you know me well you know that clutter has owned me for a long time. If you don’t know me well, clutter has owned me for a long time. I say it has owned me because my life has been dictated by it, planned around it, and lost in it. Granted good progress has been made. The piles are shrinking. The boxes are minimal and I can even use my desk from time to time.

Currently I am reading Clutter Free by Kathi Lipp. Motivation collects as I read each page. Could it be possible to live clutter free? Marcia Ramsland, the Organizer Pro has been very instrumental in helping me find a more organized way to live, yet I still haven’t conquered the clutter. This month Kathi Lipp asked me to join with her and numerous others to launch her new book, Clutter Free. I couldn’t refuse!

Five chapters in and I see clear space in my mind. I see my creative sanctuary (my office) becoming a reality. It will be a place of peace. Clutter definitely costs me peace of mind. Here is a quote from the book that really hits home for me.

“God knows our tendency to fill our lives with stuff instead of what matters…But God is clear that when we surround ourselves with less stuff, we can have more of the things that matter: his presence, peace, contentment, and joy.”


Would you be willing to come along with me and be clutter free?
Even if it is just one room or closet in your home that needs help? We have a 21-day Challenge going on at http://www.kathilipp.com/clutter-free-21-day-challenge

My list is at 235. Two hundred and thirty-five items gone from my house! Whoopee!

AND would you like to win her book in my contest? Send me photos of your before and after of a drawer or your three boxes – one for donating, one for throwing away, and one for needs to go to another area in the house with items in them. Count your items that are going out of your house. Who will have the most? I will pick a winner by Sunday, January 4th.

AND if you want to buy the book now and take advantage of receiving Kathi’s book The What’s For Dinner Solution in your package at no charge go to:
http://www.kathilipp.com/clutter-free
Use coupon: 4DINNER
We will include The What’s For Dinner Solution in your package at no charge!

Just do it!

August 7, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

I finished reading The Cure for the “Perfect” Life last night. Oh, my, do I need to read over, digest, and implement several of the chapters.

These concepts I’ve learned before but the way Kathi and Cheri put them together sits right with me. I get it, now.

The other day I was reading in Genesis and the 4 P’s (Perfectionism, performancism, people-pleasing, and procrastination) were on my mind. Adam and Eve were perfect, had the perfect relationship with God, and lived in the perfect place. Nice! But, a serpent came along and whispered lies, deception, and half-truths to Eve. She listened and acted on those lies. Adam went along with her and the perfectness ended. Their first acts were to hide (fear) and then to cover themselves with leaves (shame).

I feel fear and shame when I listen to what these Ps whisper in my ear. These are lies I learned early on in a pastor’s home; to be perfect, to perform, and to please. The same deception continues today as in the garden.

Isn’t wanting to be perfect or thinking that what I do must be perfect trying to be like God – the same lie Satan wanted Adam and Eve to believe? My belief that my writing or my speaking or my parenting should be perfect paralyzes me to the point of not doing it at all.

Just what that serpent in the garden wanted. Destroy God’s plan.

If I don’t do what God has called me to and I wait until I can do it perfectly then I am not affective in reaching out to others with the message of hope, healing, and restoration. My game playing, researching endless topics, and keeping up on Facebook only serve the P- god procrastination.

So, one step, even 5 minutes toward my goal kicks that P to the curb. What’s that commercial say? “A body in motion stays in motion”.

Quoting from the book:

“I think a lot of people feel like they aren’t burying talents when they are just putting them off, but the truth is that if you aren’t using them now, you aren’t using them.
God is telling us not only to stop ignoring our talents, but to stop postponing our talents. Stop waiting until you are fearless – you never will be- but do as much as you can with what you have. That’s brave living.” – Kathi Lipp from The Cure for the “Perfect Life”

So here’s my brave act for today – my imperfect blog.

Just do it!

About the Book:

Website Link: http://www.TheCureForThePerfectLife.com

FREE download of Chapter 1: http://www.thecurefortheperfectlife.com/downloads/chapter1.pdf

Facebook Page (aka “Braver Living Rebel Headquarters”):
http://www.Facebook.com/TinyActsOfRebellion

Braver Living

July 29, 2014 by admin 4 Comments

 

Two weeks ago, my son, Matt, 40, sat me down to chat. He lives in Walnut Creek, California and I dwell in San Diego so our opportunities to talk face to face are few. He wanted to know how I was doing, concern etched in his face. Eventually, we arrived at a pointed question, “Mom, when was the last time you were happy with your life? Wow, how do I answer that? After a long pause I proposed that the years I was teaching a large Bible Study at church and caring for my elderly parents simultaneously would be when I was happiest. Of course, he had to ask why? Well, I was using the gifts God gave me. I loved teaching, speaking, and shepherding. I was also needed by my parents in almost every area of their lives. “Okay, Mom so is doing what makes you happy?” I saw where he was going and tried to help him understand that I felt more alive during those years. Yet I knew something was blocking me, now.

Fast forward to today

Only God knew what was headed my way – a divine appointment with a book, two authors, and multiple new friends on Facebook.

I’m now a braver living rebel – a rebel against the 4 P bullies, Procrastination, Perfectionism, Performancism, and People-pleasing. I don’t know where this will take me, but these authors get me. The book is full of pink marker. They know what I am thinking, feeling, craving. The P bullies wreak havoc in my life, my mind, and spirit.

Granted life the last five years have been hard: losing my last parent, a challenging time controlling my lifelong diagnosis of major depression and anxiety, plus dealing with chronic Fibromyalgia pain but I am frozen, paralyzed. Nothing other than myself keeps me from the things that I enjoy, my dreams, and my goals.

I invite you to come along with me on this journey.

Maybe you will relate to my struggles, my discoveries, and my hope? Maybe you seek encouragement on your path? Do you procrastinate, people please, perform for approval, crave to be perfect but fail?

I want to introduce you to The Cure for the “Perfect” Life written by Kathi Lipp and Cheri Gregory, two very brave women!

A book

Here are links to where you can buy the book and also receive the first chapter free:

Website Link: http://www.TheCureForThePerfectLife.com

FREE download of Chapter 1: http://www.thecurefortheperfectlife.com/downloads/chapter1.pdf

Facebook Page (aka “Braver Living Rebel Headquarters”):
http://www.Facebook.com/TinyActsOfRebellion

Barnes & Noble link (we’d like to support B&N as they’ve been VERY supportive to us!)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cure-for-the-perfect-life-kathi-lipp/1118908688?ean=9780736957007

Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Cure-Perfect-Life-Trying/dp/0736957006

CBD.com link:
http://www.christianbook.com/-perfect-trying-harder-start-living-braver/kathi-lipp/9780736957007/pd/957007

Family Christian link:
http://www.familychristian.com/catalog/product/view/id/270248/

About Me

Sharon's passion to release women from their past, from depression, and from pain so they can move on to hope, freedom, and living in the present drives her to speak, write, and encourage whenever possible. Her openness allows women to identify with her own life experiences yet see where they, too can conquer their battles. She is devoted to her home life with husband, Eric and 2 Bichon mixes, PIerre and Stewart. She and Eric have 3 grown children and live in the San Diego, California area.

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Sharon's books

The Sound of Music Story: How A Beguiling Young Novice, A Handsome Austrian Captain, and Ten Singing von Trapp Children Inspired the Most Beloved Film of All Time
Morning's Refrain
Shadows of the White City
Dawn's Prelude
Veiled in Smoke
Forsaking All Others
Appointments with Heaven: The True Story of a Country Doctor's Healing Encounters with the Hereafter
Gentleman Jim
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Into the Wild
No Journey Too Far
The Last Thing He Told Me
My Name is Eva
Between Sisters
Summer Island
The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water
The Record Keeper
The Bottoms
Call Your Daughter Home
The Girl Without a Name


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2022 Reading Challenge

2022 Reading Challenge
Sharon has read 30 books toward her goal of 65 books.
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