Minimalism – How my kids benefit from spending their weekends off the grid
In a previous post I talked about my family’s intention to spend more time in nature, living off the grid. Since then, we’ve spent a lot of time at our small piece of paradise and I’ve observed a number of developments in my two daughters since they’ve had ‘more of less.'
Minimalism – The art of furniture weight loss
The process involved in losing furniture weight is actually pretty simple and comes about through a few easy steps:
Minimalism – Food, Mindfulness & The Dalai Lama’s Cat
I think the answer lies in a more minimalist and mindful approach to food like the monks in the Dalai Lama's Cat. If I begin to consider food as something that should fit in with my values and beliefs, my mindset starts to change.
Intentional Living – 5 4 3 2 1, then move forwards
If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know that I’ve struggled a bit with motivation this year and have been slowly working to overcome this. Today I came across what […]
Minimalism – Eight days of silence
As the days passed I started to notice a pattern of the things I was using regularly in the house; bathroom, bed, dining table, couch, kettle, a plate, a few cups and so on. This led of course to realising all the things one person doesn’t use when living alone. The expression, ‘rattling around’ suddenly became real to me. I was ‘rattling around’ our downsized house
Minimalism – De-cluttering the ‘Hidden Items’
From the outside looking in, the whole concept seems simple. And yet, there I was on a recent rainy weekend, surrounded by a pile of random crockery, struggling to let it go out of my life. The reality is, handling items that have been part of your life can bring back memories and the emotions that arise can make it hard to let go.
Intentional Living – Breaking free of a results driven life
Plagued by a vague feeling that I wasn’t achieving, but with no proof available either way there were only two choices. I could stick to the plan, find ways to motivate myself and focus on moving forwards in blind faith or I could choose to do nothing, knowing I was making a deliberate choice not to move forwards. Without external feedback, there is no false hope that by some miracle, changes would happen. There is only following the process, or not.
Intentional Living – Focus on process actually requires focus…who knew?
If it wasn’t for this two month commitment to focusing on process, it is unlikely that I would have come to this conclusion. I would have measured my results, found them wanting, reset and just carried on and on, not getting into the details of why I wasn’t succeeding.
Marshmallows and Woodsmoke
Our family recently took a big step on the path to living a more intentional life by purchasing a small piece of land in an out of the way town […]
Intentional Living – Why Why Why?
Without a strong Why for change I believe it’s easy for the part of our brain that prefers comfort, rest and a lack of discomfort of any kind to convince us that our need for change is much less urgent that our need to eat, sleep or watch TV.
Intentional Living – Motivation Lost, Patience on the Horizon
Motivation is constantly slipping away from us. Sometimes staying motivated is as difficult as picking up the spilled jelly my four year old has dropped on the dining table. You just can’t seem to get a grip on it no matter how hard you try, it just slides through your fingers.
Lean Minimalism – Twelve chairs and a whole lot of surfaces lighter
What’s interesting is that on a regular basis we have found that the solution to achieving better flow and simplicity in our house has often been a piece of furniture leaving our possession.
Lean Minimalism – Have you got the right stuff?
Whether it’s at home or at work, having lots of stuff does not necessarily mean its the right stuff. In fact, too much stuff leads to all kinds of inefficiencies […]
How pursuing Minimalism has helped me gain perspective
Suddenly I was looking at the things I’ve been holding onto in a different light. Now these things were getting in the way of the path I’ve chosen. It became easy to make the choice to let them go. I stopped seeing things in terms of how much I spent on them, or how an item was useful once and might be again. Things I thought I could not let go of have suddenly become little more than an obstacle on the path to a more intentional life.
Minimalist Irony
It’s ironic that when you’ve publicly declared as a follower of minimalist principles, the second you make a purchase people say…”Oh, well that’s not very minimalist.”
Intentional Living – Diet Soda
It’s both encouraging and motivating when the people around us support our vision and goals and want us to succeed on our path, even if it differs from their own. It reinforces our own commitment and can actually help in solidifying our determination to succeed.
