Where to begin?After a couple of decades of chasing my tail, I knew something just wasn’t right. The feeling was so overwhelming at times I could….feel it. Something was out there, just beyond my reach. The answer. But I wasn’t even sure what the question was. I had the ideal suburban upper middle class existence. The house, the cars, the toys, the money. Pretty much the American Dream. I learned to stifle the feeling and chalk it up to something that just came with my success.Then the bottom started crumbling away. The economy tanked, so did my lifestyle. First the savings, then the toys, the house, the relationships. I was staring at fifty with the entire vision of my future wiped out. After a few torn and tattered months of self-pity and analysis I realized something that shook me up. With the future wiped out, I had a clean slate. That’s when the question hit me: What do you want from life? (If Fee Waybill is reading this, sorry for the plagiarism). With the question now wholly apparent, the answer shone through like a lighthouse beacon cutting through the fog of my mind. Peace.But how to achieve it would be elusive. I had been truly enjoying Zen readings for a couple of years, but was having difficulty grasping it on an intimate level. Poking around online one day I stumbled across Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits and began not only reading it, but absorbing it. The fog lifted, enlightenment took its place. To achieve peace I needed balance, to realize balance I needed to simplify. I started reading every minimalist blog I could to plan my simplification and dive into a minimalist lifestyle.There was one dilemma that prevailed through all the blogs and web pages (at least the ones I liked). These were kids writing them. What they all wrote made great sense to me, but I was screaming up to a half century on this planet. I was twice the age of some of these astonishingly gifted writers, so our point of reference was not the same (with the exception of Courtney Carver). I had a four bedroom house worth of stuff (now partly in storage), a son in college, a thirty-year career, and impending mid-life crisis. Definitely not the same point of reference.

Which brings me to today. I am going to share my jump into the fire with you. It will take time, it will not always be pretty, it could actually be uncomfortable. We can learn together. If you are in a similar frame of mind as yours truly, I sincerely hope it can help. I do promise to share the things I read and run across that are helping me frame my journey. First thing that comes to mind is fromGeorge Carlin (warning: strong language).

We all desire the tranquility that comes from inner peace. If you look deep within your own soul you too will find the path that will take you there.