“Simplicity is a mindset,” she says. “It’s not so much about what you have and how much you have, but how you think about your life.”
—Kristin van Ogtrop, managing editor of Time Inc.’s Real Simple magazine
I envy the couple in this story as they support each other in making life more simple. They seem to have the same thoughts on what simplicity is. Unfortunately not everyone can be as lucky as they are: there are some couples/families who have totally different ideas on how to simplify their lives.
The standard for living simply could be relative to how one thinks about their lives. This seems true despite how financially stable one is. There are some who live below the poverty line in my country who has a lot of useless stuff crammed in their homes and some who live wealthy in almost empty houses. It also goes beyond educational level: there are those who have never studied yet seem to know what they need over those who are well-educated and have overflowing books in their personal library.
Define what simplicity is to you (or each of you if you decide to include your loved ones) then go for it. Don’t worry about money as that is not a factor here. Most likely you’ll even earn money as you decide to sell off your old stuff. Don’t worry if you think you don’t know much about it, just think what you need in your daily life for the next 6 months and stick with those.
This is a paradigm for non-action: the purest and most effective form of action. The game plays the game; the poem writes the poem; we can’t tell the dancer from the dance. It happens when we trust the intelligence of the universe in the same way that an athlete or a dancer trusts the superior intelligence of the body. -Lao Tzu-
Can we make something complicated into something effortless?
Walking can be considered as extremely simple by most humans. We walk around a lot, not even thinking of which feet we should start and end with. However, there was a time when walking was extremely hard for us: it was when we were just starting to learn how to do it. We would fall, then get up and try again. It would frustrate us most of the time, but we had an instinct to do it no matter what happened.
Come a few decades later, where we end up trying to learn how to do a task at work. At first it would seem to be nearly impossible, but nonetheless we were able to overcome it. Since then it simply has become part of the routine and we hardly even think about it.
If you think it’s worthwhile, just keep on doing it until it becomes effortless.
We’re all wishing to be winners at life. Desperately learning the right skills to efficiently do a task or job, networking with the right people to get an advantage, doing whatever it takes to “win”. We maybe able to win at times, but it will mean some will lose. However, is failing all that bad?
When we lose something we eventually gain something in return. When we give out money: we gain a product or service, when we give up our time for others: we gain new friends, when we suddenly see that we don’t need what we actually want: things become clearer.
Don’t be afraid to fail.
Being anonymous is important to me.
Imagine if Batman admitted he was Bruce Wayne, what would happen to his loved ones? Will his business be suddenly attacked as well? Are people still willing to do business with an admitted vigilante? Probably some would, but most would suddenly change the way they act around him. There’s a reason why Batman wears a mask and uses a secret identity to live a normal life.
This is the same with people on the internet. People may act like “Fuckwads” when they’re anonymous, but that’s not true with everyone. Some people even become more open and willing to discuss when using pseudonyms. Most of them prefer to act behind another identity because of fears of being attacked openly or in public by the government or other sources.
If a service denies people the right to use pseudonyms then I won’t be a part of it. I won’t play that game.
Music is the silence between the notes. –Claude Debussy
Taking breaks is something I don’t normally do at work. I would like to do as much work as I can to ensure that I get good stats and somehow please my manager. However, I’ve noticed that towards the end of my shift, I would suddenly just lose focus and become irritable. At the end of my shift I am totally exhausted and disappointed at the last few calls I was able to handle.
What did I learn here? Take breaks, refresh. It won’t make me look lazy if I take it. It’s more of an investment in my body and mind to ensure that I work properly and with enough energy for the next few hours.
This can also be applied to life. Taking sabbaticals from whatever it is that you’re passionate about can make you even more passionate about it when you come back to it after some time. There’s truth in the saying that, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
I’m taking a sabbatical from doing this now and will return to do it when I feel it’s the right time.
When I write something, it feels like I’m putting a part of me in front of myself. Not necessarily just thoughts and feelings, but the way I talk and read at times. Is it too much or much too little? Am I writing the “right” way or getting off tangent? Do I need to take my reader in consideration or do I just write without them in mind? There will be always writers on opposite extremes of the band that will tell you that they’re right and you’re not. Should I stay in the middle and let it all flow?
Nevertheless, this blog will be what I need it to be at the time I am writing it. Will I end up as a cat blog? Probably. Will my readers be confused as to the subjects that haphazardly come up from time to time? Yeah, maybe. In the end, we’re all a mix of ideas anyway. There’s no “one-sided” person in the world. Everyone’s got their own opinions on a lot of things. And in the end, this is what makes you and I different and the same.
For parents who let their children (kids below 18) use Facebook, you’d better be ok with them endorsing products without your knowledge nor approval.
“Facebook Inc. appears to be continually seeking new ways to use the names and likenesses of its members, including children, for its own marketing purposes,” attorney Lee Squitieri said in court documents.