Outlets

We all have our outlets. You know, the things you do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to get away from everything – escape the stresses of everyday life. There’s typically that one thing that at some point in the day we just crave. Sometimes this can be an addiction and sometimes its a healthy escape. Its the one (or many) thing(s) that help us calm down, to catch our breath, and give us an objective point of view on our circumstances. Some people smoke, drink, use drugs, gamble, sleep around, or on the other side of things, exercise, read, write, go to therapy, meditate, etc. There are many ways of just “letting go” of all our cares.

Personally, I have a few forms of “letting go” – some healthy and some not so healthy (but who doesn’t right?). I have three favorite outlets: writing, reading, and climbing (and yes, these are my healthy ones… we won’t go into my not-so-healthy ones now).

I started climbing a few years ago with a few friends. The first time I placed my hands on the rock wall at the gym and tried hard to align my feet in a way that would assure balance and stability, I was terrified. I had never in my life relied on myself that much for safety, support, or strength. I can remember getting so frustrated when I wasn’t able to grab the next hold. But the second I did, and the second I finished the problem and made it to the top of the wall, I was addicted. I had never had such confidence in myself. If I could climb a wall, what else could I do? So I went on to the next problem that was a bit harder, and so on. Before I knew it, I was going everyday and couldn’t stop. There is something so releasing about climbing. When you are on the wall, thats all you can think about and concentrate on. You can’t be thinking, “Oh my gosh, I have so much to do,” or “I wonder what so-and-so is thinking,” or “I’m so mad at so-and-so,” or “I’m so stressed out because ____.” None of that comes to mind when  you’re hanging on the wall. If you do stop to think about any of that, you will fall, I assure you. So instead, you concentrate; you clear your head of all your worries and just climb. Afterwards, a calmness comes (along with the rush of energy) that gives you a strength. You walk out of the gym with your shoulders held high and feel like you can concur anything.

Two of my other favorite things are reading and writing. There’s something that is freeing about someone else’s words and also about seeing your own on paper. There is this beautiful clarity that comes. When reading, your mind is stripped from all its own thoughts and is replaced with someone else’s. When writing, there is a clearness that comes; before writing your emotions and thoughts can be foggy, but the second you are able to see them on paper, it reveals so much – bringing clarity.

Outlets reveal things to us that we didn’t recognize as obvious. They open doors into our soul that we may have never known were shut (and sometimes locked). To me, outlets are like lanterns. Its as if someone were standing inside my body and revealing things to me about myself that I had overlooked or hadn’t noticed before.

I haven’t climbed in a while and haven’t been very good about reading or writing for personal reasons. So I am deciding to make a promise to myself (and to you): I will climb (at the very least) once a week, start and finish at least one book each month, and write about it. My plan is to bring you on this journey with me. I will share book reviews (like I did in the previous post), personal lessons I’m learning through those books, and personal lessons I’m learning through other areas of life. All in all, my hope is to share what I find in the light of the lantern with you. I hope to encourage you in your own life journeys and to hopefully encourage you to start finding an outlet, so that you too can experience the things that are hidden inside of you.

What are your outlets? How do they help give you clarity? What kind of lessons have you learned and what qualities have you noticed about yourself through your outlet?

Choosing the Right Path

I’ve recently started college and let me just say, high school does NOT prepare you. They may prepare you academically – teaching the mathematical formulas, proper spelling, grammar, scientific theories, and the names and dates of historic events. But in terms of the things that you actually face in college – dealing with living with people you don’t know, trying to find direction in life, learning how to meet people (and choose friends wisely), how to stand up for yourself and your beliefs, etc – high school definitely doesn’t prepare you.

It has definitely been a crazy first month living away. I’ve met a lot of new people, am getting used to studying and writing papers again, and I’ve been getting used to my new roommates. Its a hard trying to find my way. Trying to learn how to find where I fit and learn more about myself. Everyday is a new lesson learned

The most intimidating part about college is the fact that I am creating the rest of my life, today. Its an extremely scary thought. Whatever I choose to do today, effects the rest of my life and the experiences of tomorrow. This may seem a little extreme to most people. I mean come home, if I screw up today, isn’t tomorrow always a new day? And in the Christian mindset, aren’t the Lord’s mercies new every morning (Lam. 3:23)? Well yes, all of that is true, but that doesn’t change the fact that “my decisions today DO effect my experiences tomorrow” (Stanley, Andy. “The Principle of the Path”). And the truth is, those decisions effect the rest of my life; what path I choose will effect the destination I find myself in

My dad, Michael Hyatt, recently gave me the book The Principle of the Path by

Andy Stanley. Incredible book. I started reading it, but was extremely skeptical at first – was this just another self-help book providing steps to get the “best life”? But what I found inside the covers of the book, was an astounding truth. “Direction – not intention – determines your destination.” It doesn’t matter how good our intentions are we will never end up at the destination we want without direction. I can sit all day and have best intention to do well in my classes, but if I don’t actually get out my books, a pen, and paper and study, I will not succeed. While trying to figure out where I want to be in 10 years – possibly happily married, financially stable, being a journalist for a food magazine, surround by incredible friends, all while maintaining a lasting relationship with God – I can have the best intentions while setting those goals, but so long as I don’t take the steps to get to those destinations, I will NEVER end up there.

Direction – not intention – determines your destination.

If you haven’t been convinced already, this book is extremely profound. I’m usually not one to read these books, but I was astounded at the evident truths inside. If your at any point in life where you are trying to make decisions (i.e. every single person on this earth), this book is for you.

Needless to say, I am learning the art of making the right decision. And in the words of Pastor Steve Berger of Grace Chapel, “Life is not about making the right decision, its about managing the right decision.” Its easy being a freshman in college being faced with multiple decisions everyday, but I’m slowly but surely learning how to make those decisions and manage them.

Questions to ponder:

• What decisions are you trying to make?
• How will you be sure that it is the right decision for you and your life?
• How do you plan to manage those decisions?
• Are you living in a way that recognizes that today’s decisions effect your experiences tomorrow and that direction – not intention – determines your destination?

How to Receive $20 OFF Your House Cleaning!

I am looking for cleaning jobs and have figured out how to help both the client and myself with money!

IF YOU RECOMMEND ME TO A FRIEND I WILL GIVE YOU $20 OFF YOUR HOUSE CLEANING!**

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO!

1. Hire me for at least ONE house cleaning

2. Recommend me to a friend

3. Your Friend MUST hire me for at least ONE cleaning (make sure to tell friend to mention your name!)

4. Schedule your next house cleaning with $20 OFF!

Below I have listed some prices. I charge according to square foot. If you need a specific price email me! Also I have listed what that price includes. I am also flexible with times so please let me know what works best for your schedule and we can figure out a time! Thanks so much.

Price by Square Foot:
1,500 sq.ft. = $45
2,000 sq.ft. = $60
2,500 sq.ft. = $75
3,500 sq.ft, = $105
5,000 sq.ft. = $150

Pricing Includes:

• Straightening all rooms
• Dusting all furniture
• Cleaning the kitchen: counters, sinks, stovetop, microwave, dishes
• Cleaning the bathrooms: sinks, counters, toilets, tubs, mirrors
• Sweeping floors
• Vacuuming floors
• Mopping floors

Optional

• Change all sheets
• Change out all towels
• *Clean all windows
• *Clean all baseboards
• *Clean all blinds
• *Dust all fans/light fixtures

*Not included in price above. This is considered “deep cleaning” which is an extra $10 per item.

Make sure to forward link to your friends!

**Offer EXCLUSIVELY for house cleaning in Williamson County, TN and surrounding counties.

Email me at: marissa.hyatt@gmail.com for specific pricing and details!

Client Organizational Survey

I promised an organizational survey. This is a survey that I have built myself to help me get to know my clients – to understand how they work and how I can better help them personally. Enjoy!

Client Survey:

1. Home many people live in your home currently (please include ages)?
2. Describe normal activities that occur in your home on an everyday basis.
3. What rooms are needing organizing?
4. What is your overall goal for each room?
5. How often are the prospective rooms used?
6. Please describe what activities normally occur in the prospective rooms and what activities you would like to add.
7. Describe what you envision the rooms to be like when they are finished.
8. Are you emotionally attached to anything in this room that you would not be willing to sell or throw out? If yes, please indicate which items.
9. Are there items in the rooms that you want to get rid of? If yes, please indicate.
10. On a scale of one to ten (ten being the highest) how hard is it for you to get rid of items in your home?

Organize Your Home

Most people get extremely anxious when talking about the organizational status of their homes/offices. Whenever I go to meet with a client at their home to see their prospective rooms, they immediately get very overwhelmed. They look at the tons of piles of junk and start getting hot, breathing hard, and shaking their head, saying, “I have no idea where to start. How are we going to get this room in order? There is NO way it can happen.” That is when I come in!

I don’t look at the room as a whole but as spaces. My method put simply is: start with one space and work your way around the room. I have a spacial brain, as opposed to a universal brain (which most people have). A universal brain looks at the room as a whole; the big picture – the starting and the ending points. A spacial brain looks at the process; how are we going to get from point A (starting point) to point B (ending point).

I am in the process of starting my own home organizational business. I get such a thrill out of starting with a room that otherwise looks helpless, working through the challenges, and ending with a beautiful, organized room as a result. There is nothing more  fulfilling than seeing a home owner walk into a room in their house that was once drowning in clutter and being completely speechless because they have never seen it so simplified and put together. Below I have put together a few organization tips.

Tips for Organizing Your Home:

1. Start with ONE area of a room (In an office start with the desk; in a kitchen start with ONE cabinet at a time; etc.).
2. Begin by sorting all items into three piles: KEEP, TOSS, SELL.
3. After throwing away all “TOSS” items, begin deciding where to sell your “SELL” items (Examples: eBay, CraigsList, Amazon, consignment stores, etc.).
4. After selling the “SELL” items, begin sorting your “KEEP” items into categories (Examples: Clothes, books, files, holiday decorations, dish ware, home accents, linens, etc.)
5. Buy appropriately sized containers to accommodate the categories of items. Choose plastic tubs in garages or storage rooms to be able to see clearly what is in each box. In offices, kitchens, closets, etc. choose fabric boxes to match the decor or your home and to look neat.
6. Label each box by the items in the box. For instance: you may have four boxes that hold holiday decorations so rather than labeling each with “Holiday Decorations,” label boxes more specifically: “Ornaments” “Christmas Table Decorations” “Easter Decorations” “Halloween Decorations”.
7. Install a shelving unit that is appropriate way for the room you are working on (metal racks are inexpensive and sturdy for attics and garages. A book shelf is a great place to store fabric boxes in a living room or home office).
8. Arrange boxes in a way that is most logical to YOU and that will give you easy access to the the items you use the most.

And boom! An organized room in no time! Typically I have found that for an average size room it takes about 1-2 days of organizing until the room is completely finished. The key to having an organized home is keeping it organized. This is why labeling is SO key. Just like we all learned in kindergarten: once you take something out, make sure to put it back in its place. So, remember to label so that everything in your house has a “home”.

I will be posting a new post very soon that is a Home Organization Survery. So stay tuned!

“25 Things I Hate About Facebook”

It is pretty clear to almost everyone who has subscribed to my blog that I have not written in a VERY long time. Needless to say, my life has been moving so fast I can hardly keep up. I have, frankly, not had the time or energy to write a post, but have decided to start again. With something small and light-hearted. 

In today’s world most everyone we know has a Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or just a plain ol’ blog (And lets be honest, most of us have at least two out of the four listed). Even though we all have most or all of these, there are just those times when you want to throw your computer out of the window and say “Forget it!” There are always those little tiny things that just get on our nerves and make us want to delete our profiles all together. Although we feel this way, most of us will never sit down and take the time to think about every single thing that we hate about each of these websites, but thankfully Julian Smith has taken that time. He is a young professional producer that has compiled the 25 things he hates most about Facebook and made a video out of it. So enjoy it:

If you have laughed at any point during this video or nodded your head in agreement, post this video on your Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, or Blog site. And if you’re interested in seeing more of Julian’s work, subscribe to his blog (He releases a new video every Friday).

Question: What did you think of the video? What do you hate most about Facebook, Myspace,or Twitter?

Ramblings about November

Every year November is a time for me to reexamine my life, myself, and my hopes and dreams for the future. It is a time when I look at the past year and say, “What did I accomplish?” “How have I grown?” “How would I have liked to grow more?” “What things do I wish I could have done differently?”.  To me November is the perfect month to do this and ask myself these questions. For one, November is when the leave start falling, things become bare–the limbs of the trees become visible. Also November is a time of joy and relationships. We get to embrace our families and our friends in this colorful scenery. November is also a time for thanksgiving. We get to look back at the past year and say, “I am thankful for…” This is the most beautiful month… not to mention my birthday is this month!

Unfortunately somehow November always creeps up on me and it always comes with things that I can’t explain. Whether that be circumstances that I don’t understand or decisions that don’t have answers. Regardless, this month is my favorite.

I have realized that in the past few months I have become extremely disconnected with myself. I have lost sight of many of the things I always dreamed and aspired for my life. Its hard for me to verbalize what has been going on inside of me. But I know that the leaves are falling away and that the branches are now starting to show. Things that I had forgotten about or had tried to cover up are finally making their way back into eye’s sight.

I’m ready to find me. To find what I want for my life. To rediscover my dreams and hopes. To see who I am and who I want to become. I’m excited to become ME.

Needing Feedback…

Hello readers! I apologize for the fact that I haven’t written in a VERY long time. Life has just been crazy.

I am needing your help with something though. As you may know I am starting to apply to colleges for Fall of ‘09. Many of the colleges (most are liberal arts schools) I am applying to are asking for a portfolio of written work. Here’s where you come in! I need help figuring out which essays to submit. Over the next few weeks I will be posting many different essays that I have written (some old, some new). I am asking for your feedback, whether that be negative or positive. I need for you to be VERY critical because most of these colleges will be. If you don’t mind doing the following to help me out:

1. Subscribing to my blog via RSS Feed or another subscription service like Google Reader. (The purpose of this is that you will be notified every time I post a new essay)
2. Read each essay carefully.
3. Commenting back with your feedback of the essay as a WHOLE (look for things like: coherence-organization of thoughts; flow; unity-all ideas relate back to the topic; and completeness-making sure the intro, body, and conclusion meets the expectations of the topic). 
4. Also look for any MINOR details that may need changes like grammatical or punctuation errors.*
    * I am not very concerned with the editing part as much as the entirety of the essay itself. Feel free to skip this step.
5. If your comment leans more towards the negative side, give me suggestions on how to make it better.
6. Please rate the ENTIRE essay as a whole on a scale of 1-5 (1-being poor and 5-being excellent–meets all expectations)

I am needing as much feedback from as many people as possible! So PLEASE help me with this! Thank you so much! Get ready for the first essay to arrive tomorrow! Stay tuned…

New Month, New Beginnings, New Mercies

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
- Lamentations 3:21-23

The Lord is good! The past month has been one of the hardest months. I have struggled with a lot and have felt, at many times, as though I was going through hell. I felt guilt, hopelessness, disappointment, doubt, fear, and anger. I felt that God was untrustworthy; that I could not trust Him with my circumstances. But He has definitely proved me wrong! 

I have now realized that it was necessary for God to allow me to go through ‘hell’ so that I would come to Him. It was necessary that I be stripped down to nakedness, so that God might meet me there. I have realized that I had to hit the bottom in order to bounce back up. It was all a part of HIS plan. 

On Saturday morning, I took my first Qigong (Chi-kong) class with my acupuncturist, Keith Coley. I am learning the art of balancing energy, gaining more energy, and centering myself. The goal in learning Qigong is to protect ourselves from stress and disease. There have been many cases where people who learn the art of Qigong are cured of cancer and many other terminal illnesses. In the class, Keith, who is also a Christian, talked about how Qi (Chi) is the Chinese word for energy. Qi is the life-source for all energy. The practice of Qigong is learning how to draw from the eternal vacuum of energy so that we might be filled with this energy or light. It didn’t click with me until last night that God has me in this class, not just to balance my energy or center myself but to draw from Him, The Eternal Light. That while practicing this, I may receive the Light and gain so much of it that is pouring out of me. That I may have Christ (The Light) live in me and I in Him (Galations 2:20). 

God is working throughout my life. 

Not only am I learning how to partake in this life-giving Light, but for the first time in my life I am being transformed by the Light. I had gotten to such a dark place in my life that when I allowed it, God’s light shined so bright. Even when the light was small and had no yet grown, it was still shining on every corner of my dark place. “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear” (Isaiah 58:8A). It was shining so bright, that I was able to begin to see the dark places, the hidden places of my heart and I was able to begin to start healing. “He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts” (1 Corinthians 4:5). 

I am amazed. No longer do I have to worry about what tomorrow will bring or what will happen with my current circumstances. I no longer have to worry what consequences I will have to pay for my past decisions. I no longer have to be afraid. Christ is living in me. His light is now shining in and through me. He is helping heal me so that His light may shine through me and onto others. “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14). 

I literally sit here in awe at God’s work. Just in the past couple days I have felt more joy than I have ever felt before. Not happiness, but joy. 

God has been pursuing me to the very end. He has followed me to the beautiful places and to the ugliest of ugly places. He is pursuing ME! Just as Psalm 139 says:
“Where can I go from your Spirit? 
       Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; 
       if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” (Verses 7-8)

“If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me 
       and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you; 
       the night will shine like the day, 
       for darkness is as light to you.” (Verses 11-12)

As soon as I finally realized that God was pursuing me, doing exactly what I was longing for, it was like I woke up. I finally collapsed into His arms. He held me so tightly. He has brought me out of my dark place, His light is shining on my life and I am now able to walk with and in Him. I am so thirsty for more and He is thirsty to give me more. It is this beautiful exchange. I am eager to know Him fully, just as He already knows me fully. “O Lord, You have searched me and you know me” (Ps. 139:1). 

I am not really sure how to end this post. The only thing I know to say is that God is SO good! I was so discouraged, so untrusting, and so doubtful, yet when I finally opened my eyes and saw the light, He welcomed me with open arms. I cannot wait to see what else He is going to show me! This is a new month. It a chance for a new beginning and a new life. I am eager to live it through Christ.

Unpacking Baggage

I’ve been wondering what will happen to a human if they go long enough without talking about something; what will come out when they are letting nothing out. Through my own personal research I have discovered that what will come out is: anger, resentment, bitterness, sadness, loneliness, and frustration…just to name a few.

Over the past several months I have developed the habit of ‘bottling it all up’. Before this I have been known to let too much out-opening up too much of myself. But here lately, I keep it all in. Even though on the surface I do talk to my close friends about what has been going on in my life, I don’t open up about what is truly going on. I tell them the events, the feelings at the time, and sometimes talk about how I feel about it now. But I never go deep. I never talk about WHY I am feeling that or where that feeling comes from. 

Most of us feel a certain way currently because it directly connects us to a feeling/event that happened in the past. We deal with today, based on the past events of our life. This is why many psychologists ask us to look into our pasts and deal with that before we deal with the present. It all directly links together.

I’ve realized how much over the past several months that I haven’t talked about. I take all the issues that I am ‘dealing’ with and push them to the back. When I feel as though I’m about to break down or when I feel like things are going to come up and start boiling over, I push it aside. I tell myself that I’ll deal with it later. But after many months of doing this and not truly ever dealing with it I feel as if I’m about to explode. Almost anything right now will either (A) set me off or (B) make me cry. 

Looking back just to the month of March, I was sitting in my guidance counselor/mentor’s office talking with her about what I was currently dealing with and she was telling me that I let my emotions drive too much of my decision making and my life. So in return, I took that to the other extreme…not letting myself feel. I thought the solution to not feeling everything, was not feeling anything. So rather than to let myself process things in a healthy way, I took everything that came my way and threw it into a box and put in storage. The result? An overflowing storage unit…and the man I rent the storage unit from is telling me that my rent is late and that I have to evacuate. I have to take all those boxes that have been in storage for so many months, and unpack them; sort through what is really important and what is not so important. I have to decide what things I am willing to put inside my house and what things I have to deal with and through in the dumpster. 

But when you are looking at a storage unit that is packed as tightly as mine, its kind of hard to figure out a place to start. It looks like once I open ALL of those boxes I am going to be left with a HUGE pile of crap that is messy and ugly. And then I have to dive into that and throw most of it out. 

Why is it so hard to sort through our baggage? Why is it so terrifying to know that we are about to unload a bunch of crap? Why do we feel so clueless on where to start? Why does it seem exhausting? My only answer to this is because its scary. Right now I have to throw all the stuff out of those boxes into a big pile (and here’s the worst part), flip on a light and see what I’m left with. Right now its in the dark, its in nice little brown boxes..but once that stuff is out of those boxes and the light comes on, I actually have to look at what is there. And not only that. I have to then, sort through it all, piece by piece. I have to look at each and every event and feeling and deal with it, face to face. 

But I have to trust that that light will shine through it all; that it will shine from the beginning of the process to the end. That when I am dunking my head into one of those boxes and its getting dark…the light will shine there. That when I come out of that box and then look at the 100 more I have to go through, the light will shine inside all of those boxes. I have to trust that no matter what kind of box I go through and no matter how deep and dark that box may be, the light will surely shine there too. This is the truth. That wherever there is dark, once a light is shown upon it, the dark suddenly becomes light. I know this to be true. 

 

“The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” 
-John 1:5

 

“Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will 
quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory 
of the LORD will be your rear guard.”
-Isaiah 58:8 

 

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the 
world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the 
light of life.”"
-John 8:12 

“For it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: 
“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- Ephesians 5:14 

“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his 
light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the 
glory of God in the face of Christ.”
-2 Corinthians 4:6 

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you:
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
-1 John 1:5 

 

The LORD is my light and my salvation– whom shall I fear? The 
LORD is the stronghold of my life–of whom shall I be afraid?
-Psalm 27:1