3 Ways to Reduce the Clutter

One way to help yourself to feel more relaxed and peaceful at home, is by reducing the clutter that surrounds you. It's not the easiest thing to do and does require effort, but you can do these three things to reduce the clutter and feel better mentally when you're at home.

1- Donate

Donate unneeded or unwanted items to relatives, close friends, Goodwill or other charitable organizations. Some of the items may have sentimental value to you, or you may be handling household belongings after the death of a loved one. Understandably, that makes it even harder to part with certain items. [Read more...]

Joshua Tree National Park

Here is some of my photographic art from a recent trip to Joshua Tree National Park in California. Definitely worth a trip if you are in the Coachella Valley area of California! [Read More...]

Live Smartly- Don't Pay More Than You Need To

My Live Smartly series is really all about not wasting money, and retaining more in your pocket so you can put it towards experiencing life to the fullest with your loved ones. So today, in the third installment, I'll give you some ways how you can buy the things you need and not spend more than you have to.

1- Promo Codes and Online Research for Lower Prices

When purchasing from online retailers, many times you can find promo codes for a percentage discount off of your purchase. Websites including RetailMeNot and others, have promo codes for possible discounts of 10, 15, 20% or more. [Read more...]

Live Smartly- Only Buy What You Need

Last week's Live Smartly post was focused on reducing the amount of food that we we waste. This week's post will help you to reduce your waste of both money and space in your home. It will help you to live smartly in the present and will set you on a good course for the future.

To start, in regards to things we buy, we need to differentiate between things that we "need" versus things that we "want". There is definitely a difference between the two.

The things we want, are the ones that would be nice to have, fun to have or just a pleasure to have. There are times when we already have enough of something already but we still want to buy another or a few more, "just in case". [Read more...]

Live Smartly- Reduce The Waste

Have you ever thought about how much food people waste every day? All around us, food is trashed for one reason or another. Whatever way it happens, wasting food is just not a good thing.

To start with, one area where people waste food is when we dine out. Sometimes people order way too much food at a restaurant, don't eat it all and don't take the leftovers home to finish the next day. Countless times, I've seen people ordering a huge salad or entree made for a giant but then eating like a bird and leaving 90% of it on their plates and walking out empty handed. I wish that were an exaggeration, but it isn't. [Read more...]

What Does Success Look Like To You?

Success surely has its own meaning to many people and the meaning has surely evolved over the years. With that said, what does success look like to you?

The most common meanings for success revolve around wealth and/or a high paying high profile career. Because of this, a lot of people over the years have been striving for success from an early age. Many parents have pushed their children to be competitive in school and/or in sports and to attend the best schools. Once they get into the workplace that feeling of having to be competitive continues in the workplace and beyond. [Read more...]

Don't Let The Destination Make You Lose Sight of the Journey

How many times have you been so focused on reaching a goal or getting something done, that you didn't even enjoy yourself in the process? Have you ever driven somewhere on vacation and were so focused on getting to your destination by a certain time, you left no room for fun on the way? Maybe you were so stressed on your way there that your trip was not as fun as it could have been.

When you think of your school years, do you have fond memories or is it just a blur? Perhaps, you put so much pressure on yourself to excel, that you left no time for any enjoyable times. Maybe you even are still doing that to yourself today! [Read more...]

Inspirational & Self-HelpTJJuly 28, 2016destination, journey, vacation, pressure, excel, life, positivity Comments

Aspire To Be Better

Aspiring to be better leads to one growing as a person. As one grows, a person becomes more self aware. With more self awareness, you can experience life better and expand your horizons. When you expand your horizons, you enjoy life more and you feel more joy.

When you aspire to be better and adopt its various inter-related elements into your life, you create a positive continuous cycle for yourself. Keep in mind, this cycle is an ever changing dynamic one and you will revisit various stages of the cycle. Also, the order of the stages will change as you go through life. [Read more...]

It's Not What You Have But Who You Have That Counts

Many people spend years and years, sometimes their whole life, acquiring materialistic possessions. Sometimes they feel that the more they have the better. There are some that even have a hard time getting rid of the things that are no longer working or are useful to them.

There are people that put materialistic possessions over their relationships with others. They're constantly working and striving for more and more...possessions. They work and work just to keep up this lifestyle of acquiring things. It becomes a never ending cycle because they've allowed it to become one. They want more and more possessions, so they have to keep working harder and longer hours. [Read more...]

Be Grateful For What You Have

Have you or someone else you know, ever felt like nothing in your life is going right, or you've really missed out on having true happiness? How about wondering what you did wrong to have the life you have? Or even, why is it that everyone else has everything and you don't?

Well, it just might be that you haven't really given yourself the time and or opportunity to realize what you do have in your life to be happy about and grateful. [Read more...}

Springtime in Paris - Part 3

Hope you enjoy the final set of my photographs from my Spring trip to Paris. What a fun time we had exploring this beautiful city, snapping photographs and enjoying the many delicacies and sights. We walked over 30,000 steps per day and enjoyed every step. [Read more...]

Status Doesn't Make You Better Than Others

Should a person's status make them feel superior to others? Is a CEO superior to a Landscaper, Bartender or Housekeeper? Is the Royal Family better than the rest of us? If we are poor, are we inferior to a billionaire? Should people be treated differently because they are of a different status? [Read more...]

Stop the Hate

This weeks tragedy at Pulse, a Gay Nightclub in Orlando, saddens me on many levels. It also brings back many of the things I've personally had to deal with and handle as a person and furthermore, as a gay person.

People are speculating and have so many theories and opinions about this tragedy, that can make ones head spin. However, when you think about it on a deeper level, the root cause of this horrible tragedy and many other horrific tragedies and world violence is Hate. Whatever way you like to say it, whether Hate or Hatred, it's the cause of so much negativity and violence existing in the world. [Read more...]

Springtime in Paris - Part 2

Sharing some more of my photography from my recent trip to Paris. I even captured an unsuspecting person resting like a live statue. Was he unsuspecting or not? You decide. Hehe.

If you want to fund more trips for me to capture more photography from other exotic destinations, let me know! ;-) [Read more...]

Travel & PhotographyTJJune 8, 2016paris, france, louvre, notre dame, statue, catacombs, hotel, flowersComment

Springtime in Paris - Part 1

This is Part 1 of a series of photographs I took on a recent trip to the beautiful city of Paris!

It is one of my favorite cities, and I was fortunate to be able to go there again, for a week long trip! [Read More...]

Travel & PhotographyTJJune 2, 2016paris, france, photography, art, tour eiffel, louvre, travel Comments

Give Thanks

A simple "Thank You" is naturally a sign of good manners, but it's also a powerful way to make someone feel good. Giving thanks rewards positive actions and behaviors and motivates someone to continue them. It also reinforces and strengthens relationships. [Read more...]

Forgiving Yourself Is Important Too!

We all can be really hard on ourselves at times. Some of us can be so hard on ourselves that we keep beating ourselves up over something that we did in the past that we truly regret and feel great remorse. We may have hurt other people's feelings or have done hurtful things to others, with or without intending to do so. It happens sometimes without us being able to prevent it. [Read more...]

The Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness has a tremendous impact on your ability to experience True Joy in your life. Now, you're probably scratching your head right now and wondering how that can be true? Here are some things to take into consideration about Forgiveness if you want to increase your chances for True Joy. [Read More...]

Inspiring People- Audrey Nethery

There are so many inspiring people in this world. They help us to look at ourselves and reexamine various feelings, behaviors and attitudes we have and change for the better. They give us a reality check on how fortunate we all are in one way or another. They also help us to realize there is so much joy and beauty in this world to experience- and not waste.

I saw Audrey on television the other day and it brought tears to my eyes. She is a 7 year old girl suffering with Diamond Blackfan Anemia. [Read more...]

Springtime in New York

Sharing some photos with you from a recent excursion to New York City, where I was doing two of the things that make me happy: exploring the world, and taking photographs! [Read More...]

Travel & PhotographyTJApril 25, 2016New York, NYC, Spring, Spring Time, Art, Artwork, Photos, Central Park, Manhattan, ExcursionComment