Amos Books

Living a quiet life

Ep 103 Time as a container

A Quiet Life
A Quiet Life
Ep 103 Time as a container
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I recorded my talk with Scottie about containers two weeks before I managed to record the rest of the podcast. Let’s just say that my time container was a little full. The magic of podcast time travel has let me stitch it all together and I hope you enjoy the result.

This week I’ve been reading a great book called ‘Decluttering at the Speed of Life’ by Dana K White. It’s a book in one of my favourite genres – the decluttering genre. I talk with Scottie about White’s ‘Container Concept.’

Was this helpful for you? Let me know in the comments, or write to me at ruth@ruthamos.com.au or find me at Ruth Amos Author on Facebook, or tweet at @aquietlifeblog. And please feel free to share with anyone you think it might help.

Ep 102 Avert disaster with a checklist

A Quiet Life
A Quiet Life
Ep 102 Avert disaster with a checklist
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This week I chat with Christopher (not Scottie) about checklists, and how using one would have stopped me making a big embarrassing mistake. (And how you can sign up to my newsletter at ruthamos.com.au)

I also share some personal news – a new grandson, and an unrelated plumbing disaster.

Over the summer I took a break. I prerecorded all my podcasts. I chose old blogs to repeat. I scheduled emails to everyone on my ruthamos.com.au mailing list with the links to the blogs and podcasts. It was all done, completed and ready to go by Christmas, and I took a nice long break. When I came back, refreshed, I got back into it.  I did all the normal things. 

But I forgot one.

Do you use checklists at all? Where have you used them? Where do you think they might be helpful for you now?

If you’d like to receive my newsletter, with links to the blog and podcasts plus a little bit of extra news each fortnight, please head over to ruthamos.com.au and sign up! I’d love to have you on the list.

Ep. 101 Self Talk

A Quiet Life
A Quiet Life
Ep. 101 Self Talk
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Today Scottie and I chatted in person (YAY!) about the words we use when we talk to ourselves. It’s so easy to be negative, but better for us and those around us if we’re positive. I give some strategies for finding more positive words to use.

How you talk to yourself matters. It really does. Even if your top love language isn’t words of encouragement, the language you use when you’re talking to yourself still makes a difference.
And don’t tell me you don’t talk to yourself. We all do. Everyone does.

If you’d like to talk to me you can write to ruth@ruthamos.com.au or find me on Facebook at Ruth Amos Author or on Twitter @aquietlifeblog. Or sign up to my newsletter at ruthamos.com.au.

Ep 100 Start small, but START

A Quiet Life
A Quiet Life
Ep 100 Start small, but START
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This week I celebrate the 100th podcast episode! You can find all 100 on ruthamos.com.au. I talk with Scottie about how doing things in a small way can add up over time and about perfectionism.

This is a milestone worth celebrating! But even though 100 episodes sounds like a lot, it has been accomplished over a few years, just a little at a time.

Just like anything worthwhile.

Please share with me your own success stories, or let me know the project you’re going to start on. You can email me at ruth@ruthamos.com.au, find me on Facebook at Ruth Amos Author, or on twitter @aquietlifeblog. And please share this with anyone you know who needs encouragement to start today.

P.S. Here’s a little extra encouragement: A whole tree!

Ep 99 Are you a 3 a.m. planner?

A Quiet Life
A Quiet Life
Ep 99 Are you a 3 a.m. planner?
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This week I talk with Scottie about an epiphany I had. When you ‘plan’ at 3 a.m. that’s not actually planning. It’s worry. Then I share some of my tried and true techniques to stop myself from worrying and allow myself to go back to sleep.

I wonder if you have the same planning/worry mixup that I had. Have you ever got the two confused? And how do you put yourself to sleep? Or is this never a problem for you and do you sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow?

Write and tell me at ruth@ruthamos.com.au or find me on Facebook at Ruth Amos Author or Twitter @aquietlifeblog. I’d love to hear from you.

Ep 98 Twisty Turn-y Journeys

A Quiet Life
A Quiet Life
Ep 98 Twisty Turn-y Journeys
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This podcast episode is one of my special summer series. I thought that, as we are heading into a new year and all wondering what the year will hold, I would share some stories about how some of my friends got to the jobs they got to. The stories are full of twists and turns and interesting things that God has done.

These stories are all from interviews I did in the early days of A Quiet Life, and if you want to hear more from these wonderful people you can search on ruthamos.com.au for their name and the interview should show up.

We’re going to start with Catherine. She is an actor and a voice actor from the USA. And I started by asking her what a voice actor was. The arts and story telling are very important parts of life.

Next I thought I’d share some of the interview I had with my Dad. His name is John Langlois and he has done so many things in his life – you’ll hear that he started working as a telecommunications technician, then he joined a faith community, after that he worked as an administrator of Clarendon Children’s home, a radio station president, the head of a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base, a spiritual director at Christian Performing Arts Fellowship, and an Anglican minister. But if you’d asked his social studies teacher in high school, he would probably have predicted that Dad wouldn’t amount to much at all.

I think that Dad made decisions differently from a lot of people. His story is about hearing God’s voice and about sacrifice. And also about God’s provision and generosity to him.

Finally we’re going to talk to Ruth. Not me, but Ruth Pinkerton. Ruth’s journey is full of so many twists and turns that I had to take some short cuts for this episode. But I so wanted to share how it all came together in the end.

I hope these stories have been encouraging for you. And that whatever you’re doing in the new year that you invite God to be there with you. Amazing things can happen when we let him take part in our adventures, as you have heard.

I don’t think we all have to be grand and awesome entrepreneurs or world-changers. But I think that we all have our own part to play in this world, as Ruth says, God can take whatever we do and use it. 

May this year be a year where you see his hand in what you’re doing.

Next episode we’ll be back to normal with more productivity tips and thoughts about living our own quiet lives. I’m looking forward to chatting to Scottie and chatting to you all soon.