Live More With Less

How Many Backpacks are Enough?

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If I have one ever-present material weakness—and I think a lot of minimalists struggle with at least one—it’s the persistent desire to purchase backpacks and messenger bags. 

If I’m in a shop that carries them, I’ll eventually find my way over to the display and evaluate them. I can’t help myself; I’m drawn to shopping for new backpacks and messenger bags like some women are drawn to perusing new purses even though they have a dozen or more already.

I’ve worked to understand this need, want, OK… let’s call it what it is…a compulsion that I clearly have to find the perfect backpack or messenger bag. Like any form of materialism, it’s linked to my desire for control.

As humans, we are addicted to control. As one who leans toward living as a Practical Buddhist, I know that I don’t have control over anything. I tend to say yes to life, but when I confuse life with retail sales, I can falter and say “OMG, YES!” [Read more…]

What Makes Our Life Meaningful Isn’t the Stuff We Accumulate

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What is it about your life that makes it meaningful? 

It’s not an easy question to answer. There are numerous factors to consider, including the people that impact our lives on a frequent basis, the roles we play in the lives of others, how we conduct ourselves on a day-to-day basis, how we treat wait staff, even our attitude toward those who find themselves without a home. 

Whatever the right answer is for you, one thing should be clear… [Read more…]

30 For 30/30 #27 – How to Get Clarity Around “Your Dream” by Starting With “Why”, Part 2

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This is the 27th post in my 30 for 30/30 series where I am publishing a new post each day for the next 30 days within a 30-minute window without much of a plan. You can read about why I’m doing this by clicking this link. 

In yesterday’s essay, I urged you to begin work on the “why” that backs up your dream. We often focus too much on the “what,” worry about the “how,” and not enough time on the “why.”

The “why” is critical to understand as it’s the reason behind you having your dream in the first place. It’s the “why” that will carry you through times of challenge. The “why” will pick you up when you fall.  It’s the core belief is at the core of your dream.

My dream and the “why” behind it

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to the service to others. It’s in this role that I feel most fulfilled and being in service is where I can act on my most meaningful work. Whether it’s through writing, teaching, or simply showing kindness to another, being in service is where I am most fully myself. [Read more…]

Happy New Year!

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Happy 2019 from me and Karen!

Wishing you the best in 2019!

I have another post that will be published here while I’m in an airplane later today about my 4-month minimalist wardrobe experiment but for now I want to make you aware of yesterday’s post over at Zen-Journal.com, my other blog.

It’s about something you might appreciate, setting a single New Year’s resolution that has the power to influence many areas of your life and it’s called…

My Single New Year’s Resolution and How It Can Change the Rest of “Your” Life

Click here to read it now, or click on the image below and a new tab will open in your browser. 

I really appreciate your readership and I wish you the very best 2019 has to offer.

Everyone on TV is a Minimalist

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Have you ever noticed that nearly every living room on television looks like a minimalist lives there?

Except for perhaps the households belonging to The Conners, ‘Merica’s most popular dysfunctional family, or apartments filled beyond capacity with millennial roommates like the world’s favorite collection of nerds in The Big Bang Theory, most of the living spaces you see on television are minimal in their arrangement, nearly museum-like in their appearance.

There’s open space on every counter, the table tops are clear of clutter, and bedrooms are like the sanctuaries we wish ours were. Kitchen countertops shine, hardwood floors gleam, and dirty dishes are a myth.

Is there something Hollywood knows that the rest of us don’t?

[Read more…]