Tsh Oxenreider Quotes & Sayings

I'm convinced that parents are the most essential key to unlocking the next generation's curiosity, creativity, and innovation. So much can be said for providing a home full of books, art supplies, open-ended toys, and freedom to wander outdoors. Being stingy with screen time and generous with our attention to a child's natural interests can translate the message to him or her that learning matters better than any standardized test. And for parents like myself, this may require questioning the same method by which they were educated. Not only has our modern method of education continually declined in its success since we ourselves went through the system; it has left us wanting more - more education for ourselves, and definitely more for our kids. — Tsh Oxenreider

Holistic living means that your spiritual, relational, emotional, intellectual, physical, and financial lives are working together. — Tsh Oxenreider

I wanted to sink into the unpredictability of a cross-cultural life, yes, but I also wanted a bona-fide home. This was a season of refinement, of acknowledging there were multiple sides to me that were equally true.

I was infected with an incurable sense of wanderlust, but I was also a homebody. I matured into adulthood when I acknowledged this truth. — Tsh Oxenreider

Do whatever it takes to increase your sensitivity to the little things in life you wouldn't otherwise notice, much less savor, if your autopilot setting is hurry. You've got to power down frequently enough to enjoy the effects of intentional living. — Tsh Oxenreider

guiltlessly kick up your feet and rest in your armchair, enjoying the few things you do have because you truly enjoy them all. You will physically feel better when you get rid of those things you don't need. — Tsh Oxenreider

Life on earth is far too short, and we were each created with such notable talents that it'd be a travesty to while them away on work we don't love. — Tsh Oxenreider

I know, in my soul, that a love for travel is a gift and not a hindrance. It feels like a burden when the bucket list is bigger than the bank account, but a thirst for more of the world is not something to apologize for. Denying its presence feels like denying something good in me, something God put there. Wanderlust has a reputation as the epitome of unrequited love, something the young and naive chase after because they don't yet realize it's as futile as a dog chasing its tail. Turns out, ever-burning wanderlust is a good thing. — Tsh Oxenreider

If I could, I'd take the food and art of Italy, for example, couple it with the quiet, understated personality of France and the orderliness of Germany, the cinematic and literary wit of Britain, and blend it into one utopian, and ultimately dystopian, probably, civilization. — Tsh Oxenreider

This world is huge; it is majestic; it is worth exploring just for the sake of knowing it. — Tsh Oxenreider

We have also always maintained an open, age-appropriate dialogue with our children, reinforcing to them that we know more than they do, that we know more than their friends, that we're their biggest advocate and supporter, and that we'll tell them the truth when others won't. They know because we've proven that we love them without condition, we believe in and applaud their strengths, we don't think they're defined by their weaknesses, and they have the potential to change the world. And we've remained influential because they find us to be credible, reasonable, non-overreacting parents. — Tsh Oxenreider

We weren't living the way we wanted because we weren't making the choices it required. Like so many in our generation of thirtysomething parents, we spoke of a slower, more intentional life, but we expected it to just happen. — Tsh Oxenreider

I want to see a thousand tiny places, smell their flowers, and taste the sauces made by their people. I want to feel the difference between the textures of grit in Sri Lanka and Morocco. I want to meet the woman who bakes the best bread i n the smallest town in New Zealand. I want to find the best vantage point to see Bosnia from Croatia. What do the Grand Marnier crepes taste like in Rouen? In Paris? There are untold numbers of tiny places and extraordinary people who occupy them. We will perhaps see a hundred of both. — Tsh Oxenreider

Do the choices I make line up with how I really want to live? — Tsh Oxenreider

but sometimes not being caught up is okay, — Tsh Oxenreider

I've never been a hoarder but I love nesting. — Tsh Oxenreider

We were made to live slower than our fast-paced Western culture deems normal. But it means paddling upstream through strong currents. — Tsh Oxenreider

Simplifying your life is meant to make things better, not worse. It's about choices - about saying no to the things in your life that aren't the best so that you are free and available to say yes to those things you truly want. — Tsh Oxenreider

People are willing to be brave when they admit their smallness within the enormity of the world, and the best way to understand our smallness is to leave our comfort zones and start exploring, one foot in front of the other. — Tsh Oxenreider

Two opposing things can be equally true. Counting the days till Christmas doesn't mean we hate Halloween. I go to church on Sundays, and still hold the same faith at the pub on Saturday night. I shamelessly play a steady stream of eighties pop music and likewise have an undying devotion to Chopin. And perhaps most significantly: I love to travel and I love my home. — Tsh Oxenreider

It truly is ironic that we don't have time to enjoy the gadgets and luxuries we can afford on a large income rewarded from long working hours. We spend much of our weekends catching up on laundry, running errands, and cleaning the neglected bathroom. It's a chain-link downward spiral: We want stuff, so we work hard; our hard work allows us to buy stuff, but our hard work takes all of our energy, so we can't enjoy our stuff as much as we would like. — Tsh Oxenreider

The items in our homes that we feel we absolutely "need" are downright extravagances within the global landscape. — Tsh Oxenreider

boredom is the impetus to creativity. — Tsh Oxenreider

Tea drinking is a liturgy of comfort, and we partake of it everywhere in the world. It's a ceremony of simplicity, nourishment for both the nomads in foreign teahouses and homebodies in their beds. — Tsh Oxenreider

A home that nourishes life embraces the little moments and appreciates the rhythmic seasons of life, including the time necessary to cook real food from scratch...It doesn't have to take too much time, however, with efficient menu planning and wisely planned trips to the grocery store and farmers' market.
The payoffs are astronomical - better health, good stewardship of our environment, and setting a good example for our children are just a few of the benefits. It also fosters an appreciation of the ebbs and flows of seasons because you'll be using fresh ingredients that are more readily available (and of higher quality) when they are in season. If you feel too busy to cook from scratch, then I argue that you're too busy, period. Reevaluate your priorities and commitments. If you want to live a healthy, long life and to pass the same luxury on to your children, then you MUST take the time to cook real food — Tsh Oxenreider

Perhaps none of us were actually made to live a hurried life. Perhaps a desire to live slowly and intentionally resonated deeply in the core DNA of just about all of us. — Tsh Oxenreider

For all the jokes and complaints about the aches of air travel, it's pretty marvelous, if you think about it. — Tsh Oxenreider