When I let myself get stressed and down, this is my new motto: alive and trying.
I have a lot to be grateful for, I am more than alive, more than surviving. I am generally very happy.
And I am trying which is all I can do. There is no need to beat myself up, all anyone can do is try.
It might sound a little negative and stark, but it’s simple and for me effective.
Alive and trying.
Simple: alive and trying
July 5, 2012 at 10:07 am (minimalist, simple)
Slow: spiralling
July 3, 2012 at 8:07 am (slow)
From a slow, beautiful holiday visiting friends in Austria
Conscious: and feeling guilty
June 29, 2012 at 10:09 am (conscious)
The conscious part started for me as I came to the end of uni and thought about what my adult life would look like. It’s easy to slide into doing exactly what is expected and usual with no consideration of why. One of the main things I decided was I really didn’t want to own a car. So my current flat is within walking distance of a train station, bus station, the high street, a beautiful park and most other things I want on a day-to-day basis. Which is great.
But the more I read about green/simple/minimalist/blah blah blah living, the further my current life seems from ideal and it makes me feel guilty. Which contradicts some of my hopes for living more simply.
Being aware of failings is good in that it pushes us to improve but for me it’s hard to find the balance between motivated and beating myself up.
Simple: my aims
June 27, 2012 at 7:20 am (simple)
Tags: food, lifestyle, simple
Live simply that others may simply live
Ghandi
My biggest personal aim in living simply is to make it easier to be unstressed, in control and content. With a wider perspective I think the current Western lifestyle is unsustainable, particularly if the whole world desires it and tends to towards it (which seems to be the case).
The above quote from Ghandi often runs round my head, as does Jesus’ exhortation to “go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor”. I cannot claim to live simply or to have sold everything I have and have given the money to the poor, but this quotes motivate me to reassess things.
Areas I am trying to simplify:
possessions – I’ve always been a saver and not much of a want-want sort of person but I do have an inner stuff-monkey which can get quite loud at times. Currently it’s clothes and kitchen items. I try to wait and really consider purchases, first looking at freecycle and ebay/preloved.
food – this sounds a bit of an odd one to simplify, basically I like to try and avoid processed foods (relatively unsuccessfully currently). As I like to cook and experiment I often try to make new things from scratch.
everyday life – through habits I am making my everyday life more simple, stupid things like always putting my keys and coat in the same place means leaving the house is easier and stress-free, it’s amazing how lost things can get in small, fairly uncluttered space!
So that’s my current take on simple. I’ll look at these in more detail later.
Slow, simple, conscious; new beginnings
June 26, 2012 at 7:09 pm (Uncategorized)
Restarting this blog to organise and collect my thoughts which are far from simple at the moment.
I find slow goes well with simplicity and with consciousness, for example walking more slowly allows me to notice more. But simplicity and conscious do not go well together for me, the more I read and am aware, the more confused and stressed I get! I hope to find some clarity here.
Plan is 3 weekly posts along these lines:
Monday: Slow – photos, because photography forces me to be slow and in the moment
Wednesday: Simple – changes I am making to simplify various parts of my life
Friday: Conscious - discussing topics I’m mulling over and books I’ve read
