My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions,
but in the fewness of my wants.
J. Brotherton
Thought for the weekend …
Posted in Quickies
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On Being Logical
Let’s go back in time.
Think back to the time in your life when you were the happiest. Moments in time – like your wedding day or birth of your children – don’t count. I’m looking for an extended period of time where you were happy about life and all its possibilities. This was a time when you woke up in the morning and just couldn’t wait to eat from the buffet of fun the world was offering.
If that time is right now, congratulations. You are my hero.
For me, and for a lot of you, that time was somewhere in childhood. Especially summer break. A time of few responsibilities, not many possessions, and time to burn. Every day held wonder and excitement in the palm of its hand, and all you had to do was snatch it and run. Burn daylight like there was no tomorrow.
But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, responsible, practical.
Thank you, Supertramp, for the theme song of my adult life.
Statistics will tell us that most people classify themselves “unhappy” about either their jobs, their marriage, or their life path. That seems utterly staggering to me. As a society, we have to get off the live-to-work-so-I-can-pay-my-bills treadmill. We deserve happiness. The same happiness we felt way back when.
If you read back in my previous posts you will see the common denominator of simplification. For most of you, I’m betting that the time you were happiest was when your life was a lot simpler.
Fun and happiness are waiting.
Go snatch them and run.
Posted in Ramblings
Tagged dreams, exercise, freedom, healthy lifestyle, journey, Minimalism, minimalist, peace, simplicity, tranquility
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An Offer You Can’t Refuse
I’m going to make you an offer.
I would like you to do something before and after work. It is very dangerous. In fact over 35000 people die doing it – or related activities – every year. It involves using highly technical machinery that many people consider deadly weapons. To add insult to injury, you are going to have to pay for the privilege of doing this activity. You will actually pay a lot. If you are lucky, it may only take you a few minutes. Some estimates indicate that for around 3 million Americans it could take an hour or more every day. The stress of this activity can cause health problems and has been proven to contribute to depression. I can promise you that it will not be pleasant.
Interested?
You don’t have to be, because you are more than likely already doing it.
It’s called commuting.
We spend hours each week in cars we can’t afford driving to jobs we don’t really enjoy so we can live in a nice suburban house away from our job. Seems a little odd to me. Quite frankly, it seems downright stupid.
Now for getting around it.
Give up the notion that success means you have to live in a suburban ranch-style house with the fenced yard. If it’s not your dream, don’t live it. Live in a 400 square foot minimalist apartment if that suits your desire.
Find a home that lends itself to walking, bike riding, or using public transportation to fill your needs. Odds are that many of the reasons you have for owning a car are based on poor location use by urban planners. Be smarter than your average commuter by finding ways around developer’s short-sighted use of land. If you look carefully, you will find the locations that are sensible. Commuting takes on a whole new feel when seen from a bicycle.
If you have to commute, rideshare or carpool. You would be surprised how much stress is relieved when you don’t have to drive each and every day. And good company always starts the day off nicely.
If possible, get creative with your employer. Telecommuting or modified work schedules can save stress and lead to happier employees.
Or you could sell everything you own, quit your job and live on the goodwill of others.
Not likely, but it is a thought.
In between all those options is a better path. Simplify your life so you don’t need that stressful big-city job. When the McMansion and the BMW no longer seem important, the stressful job loses its luster. Without a mountain of debt, the commute seems idiotic. Without the commute, you have time to truly live.
Not just work.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged consumerism, dreams, freedom, healthy lifestyle, Minimalism, minimalist, simplicity, tranquility
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Thought for the day
To always be intending to live a new life,
but never find time to set about it -
this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking
from one day to another
till he be starved and destroyed.
Walter Scott
The energy of Screw You
Alright class, lets see a show of hands. Who out there has wanted to scream “Screw You!” to a supervisor or workplace manager at some point in their life? Maybe even the more profane version?
Wow, that’s a lot of hands.
I’m actually holding up two hands.
I’m willing to bet it took a tremendous amount of energy to hold that phrase in. Bite your tongue kind of energy. Heart pounding, sweaty brow, I gotta go have a smoke kind of energy.
I have a grand idea. We can channel that energy into something more useful. Like finding a way out of those situations. Permanently.
Jump on this thing called the internet and take it for a ride. Not only are there jobs out there, but there are other ways – legal ones – to produce income. Notice I didn’t say get rich. I said income. The key, however, is making a lifestyle adjustment that can be supported by that income. You may have to give up the BMW. You may have to cancel the satellite TV. Weekly retail therapy will have to go.
I never said it would be easy. It is, in fact, very hard.
But it will be worth it to never have the words “screw you” stuck in your throat again.
Posted in Quickies
Tagged consumerism, journey, Minimalism, minimalist, simplicity, tranquility
2 Comments
My Death Sentence
People tend to wait for “defining” moments in their lives before they truly change. The act of saying “I do”, the birth of a child, or a major purchase such as a house will cause people to change their outlook and behaviors. Hopefully for the better.
How many people do you know that changed because of the death of someone close to them? Do you know anyone that grabbed life by the horns only after having a heart attack or serious accident?
The “big one” is of course finding out you have a terminal condition. Cancer, major organ failure, any number of diseases that come with terrifying initials all can change your outlook. The stuff nobody wants to talk about.Some people fold up, but many decide to do the things that they always wanted to before they ran out of time. The “bucket list” if you will.
I was given some sobering news on Thursday. I’m dying. There is no getting out of this one folks. I have a common terminal condition called human life, and it’s coming to an end way sooner than I want. The doctors are telling me I have around 35 years or so if I’m lucky. If not, it could be way sooner. Maybe tomorrow. They just can’t predict how this condition will turn out. 
There is sadder news. You, my unlucky reader, have the same condition. You are going to die much sooner than you realize. Maybe 20, maybe 50 years. Maybe today.
I would like to ask you some questions. If I was your doctor and told you that you had one year left, what would you do? One pain-free year. You have a limited amount of income.The only treatment that will prolong your life is to eat decently, exercise regularly, and get good rest. Avoid stress as best as you can. Your condition will start to deteriorate after that. How would you celebrate your life? Would you just give up and watch reality television from the comfort of your bed? Or would you live?
I have a prescription that will make your final days much better.
Step one: Take every possession you have and carefully examine them. Take every item that is non-essential and sell what you can. Burn the rest. If it doesn’t burn, recycle it. DO NOT buy any replacements. You just added time to your life not worrying about stuff.
Step two: Love as hard as you can. Be the person your dog thinks you are. Treat everyone with dignity and respect. Help people whenever you can. Make love to your significant other with passion and fire as often as possible. This step is critical for the treatment of the condition you have.
Step three: If you treat someone using the guidelines in step two, but they cause you continued grief, dispose of them. See step one. You again just added time to your life.
Step four: Get outside and see the world. It just might amaze you what is in your own backyard. If you live someplace that brings you down, see step one then move. If you can’t wake up each day and be happy where you live, get out. There is always a way.
This is only part one of the prescription. I would like you to follow these steps and get back to me then Doctor Brian will continue the treatment .
Thanks to Tracy for the conversation that inspired this.
I’m going to go outside and smile at the world now.
Posted in The beginning
Tagged consumerism, current-events, death, decisions, dreams, exercise, freedom, healthy lifestyle, journey, live, middle aged, Minimalism, minimalist, peace, simplicity, tranquility, travel, true happiness
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Spring Cleaning – Minimalist Style
I sit here on a beautiful Northern California day with the sun shining and the wind howling. The pollen count is high, dust is swirling. What a great day for some good old-fashioned spring cleaning. Time to get all that accumulated winter clutter out of here.
But wait, I’m a minimalist. I’ve already eliminated a houseful of stuff from my life. What more could I possibly get rid of?
Turns out there is plenty.
I have followed minimalist writing and blogs for a while now. I kept reading how minimalism is an ongoing thing. It’s a journey they say , not a destination – and they say it a lot. It’s not about how few things you have, it’s about what is essential. Blah, blah, blah.
Turns out they were telling the truth.
In what is becoming a frequent habit, I took another personal inventory. Many of the possessions I have kept through the agonizing reappraisals are gifts from other people. Other items are objects that represented memories of a person or place that means something to me.The funny thing is that most of the objects don’t mean that much to me – I kept them out of fear. Fear of offending the people that gave them to me. Fear about letting go of an already infrequent relationship. Fear of not having something that may or may not have meant something to me at one time.
Fear should never be an emotion that rules your decisions. Fear causes people to do things they normally wouldn’t. Worse yet, it can cause them to not do something they should. Like tossing that trinket a friend got you years ago, then calling that friend up to rekindle your relationship.
Looks like Goodwill and Craigslist are on my agenda for the next couple of days.
Posted in The beginning, Uncategorized
Tagged consumerism, decisions, freedom, journey, Minimalism, personal observations, simplicity, tranquility
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