Sometimes we find ourselves in a mental and emotional place that can only be described

as stale.

No zest, little motivation.

Everything seems same old, same old with hardly any flavor to life.

Happily, Charlotte Mason gave us some very practical ideas for refreshing our minds and hearts,

ideas for getting the zest back into our spirits and the flavor back into life.

Let me give you five simple practices to help if you are feeling stale. Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Sonia Schaefer. If you haven't

subscribed yet, make sure you do that now. We bring new encouragement and Charlotte Mason

training for homeschool parents every week. When I think about something that is stale, my mind, of course, turns to food.

I try to eat healthful foods, and my medical practitioner tells me that my diet is pretty

clean, but I must admit to a weakness for potato chips, especially the barbecue chips that my favorite sandwich

shop serves in those little individual-sized bags.

Oh, they're hard to resist.

However, the one thing that will motivate me to stop eating those chips, close that little bag and quietly toss it in the trash can

is if those chips are stale.

Somehow the joy is gone when there's no zest,

little crunch, hardly any flavor.

Stale chips are not pleasant.

Neither is a stale frame of mind, when it seems like all the zest and flavor has gone out of life. So let's look at five simple practices

that Charlotte Mason recommended to help you feel refreshed. These practices are not complicated. In fact, I'm pretty sure you've

probably heard them before. But as with all of Charlotte Mason's methods, they're simple and

effective. They work if you do them. Practice number one to help you feel refreshed is to schedule regular times to get

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