A Life Reinvented

February 26, 2010

To review or not to review…wait, what was I saying?

Filed under: simplicity — Tags: simplicity — Jesse @ 5:39 pm

I’m in a bit of a quandary folks. On one hand, I guess you know your blog has “made it” when others in your niche send you free eBooks. On the other hand, I didn’t know I was in a niche and since I don’t plan on “monetizing” ALR I don’t want to start down a road I don’t intend to follow. I’ve received several eBooks recently, with information on how to set up an affiliate link so I can share in the proceeds from any purchases generated by my link. In exchange, all that was asked of me was to review the books.

The first thing I said to myself was, “aw, they respect me and want my opinion.” Then it was “my little blog has limited reach and really can’t be of much help.” The next comment was, “why am I staring at the wall talking to myself?” But that’s neither here nor there.

I blog as a way of sorting out the often conflicting thoughts racing in and out of my head. It’s my own sort of therapy. I don’t have any affiliate links. I don’t plan on adding them either. I can handle the cost of maintaining my little slice of the intertubes, it’s cheaper than a live therapist.

That said, I’m not comfortable posting reviews of others work. I will say this, all of the works I’ve received I am most grateful for, and if anyone wants my honest, personal opinion of them I’d be happy to start an off-site email thread with you where you can ask whatever you like. But as I’m not a professional… well anything at this point, but mainly I’m not an editor or writer my opinion isn’t worth too much on this topic.

Since I’ve already received these, I will say a brief word about the most recent arrivals. Again, I’ll spare you a rambling, semi-coherent pseudo-review and just give a basic rundown:

Simply Car-Free by Tammy from Rowdy Kittens – Loved it. As I’ve been car-free for 9 months now I can relate. I can’t say what will happen upon my return to the car-centric west coast…but I’m enjoying it while it lasts. Tammy does a great job of laying out the steps she and her partner took to ditch both of their cars. I really like the MicroAction Steps she includes and there’s a great resource section at the end of the book.

Project M-31 by David from Life Excursion and The Minimalist Path – loved it. One of the best step-by-step guides to getting started Simplifying your life I’ve seen. If this had been around a couple of years ago, I may never have had the issues that led to my starting this blog!

I would heartily recommend either of these eBooks to any aspiring Minimalists or anyone interested in living as lightly as they can. The above links go straight to the authors sites for purchase. Incidentally, I also heartily recommend the above blogs.

OK, I’m done reviewing things now, I’m spent.

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February 23, 2010

Ode to a bowl

Filed under: simplicity — Tags: simplicity, STUFF — Jesse @ 10:13 pm

No, not that kind of bowl – get your mind out of the pipe.

I’ve been having a really hard time finding topics to write about here, in case you hadn’t noticed the +- week long gaps between posts. There’s probably a good reason for this block, but I’m just not up for rallying a posse to go out searching for it. Right now my day are filled with meditating, walking around town, reading, writing (mostly for myself obviously), and watching movies. This is nice, don’t get me wrong, but I’m the sort of person where once I have a goal or target I want to be able to get to work. I don’t like being in a holding pattern. And that’s where I am right now. So I’ll apologize now for the long gaps and promise that once I’m stateside and making concrete progress I’ll get the posts to a suitable level.

Now for that bowl -

Years ago, I think about a decade now, I picked up this really cool glazed pottery bowl from a vendor at a fair. It was sized perfectly for pretty much whatever I wanted to put in it (generally whatever soup I whipped up for dinner). This bowl came with me when I moved into the city from the ‘burbs and it made the cut again when I purged in anticipation of my move/sabbatical. I’ve been using it pretty much daily for the time I’ve been here. I even made a rule with my roommates, if they found a pottery bowl or cup (I brought a couple of them too) they knew not to touch it.

That bowl broke today.

As it slipped out of my hands while I was washing it (after really enjoying my fried cabbage and broccoli) I was initially horrified. Now that may have been partly because I’m out of band-aids and didn’t want to cut myself – but I’m choosing to think it was because of the history I have with that bowl. Then as I looked at the pieces sitting in the sink, surrounded by the detritus of my lunch and the soapy water I had another simplicity epiphany:

It’s just a bowl.

And just as the word ‘bowl’ was forming in my mind, the anxiety melted away. And I felt fine as I collected the pieces and placed them in the bin. What you can’t know is the major progress this reaction signifies. On so many levels. From the obvious – I was able to see it as a thing, detached from the emotional connections of having been with me for 10+ years – to the less obvious: I have been quite stressed out for months now and would until recently have had a breakdown at the site of that broken bowl. I’ve been so on edge that breaking a bowl would quite easily have sent me tumbling.

What this tells me is that my shifting towards a simpler life, where one component is detachment from STUFF, is indeed the right direction for me to be going. It also tells me that I’m going to need a new bowl, but that’s for a different post.

Anyone out there have stories of Simplicity Epiphanies? I’d love to hear them in the comments, and I promise I’ll be present and respond to comments in a timely manner!

Comments (3)

February 14, 2010

100 Thing…wait, 100-whats-now?

Filed under: simplicity — Tags: simplicity, STUFF — Jesse @ 6:28 pm

There’s been some confusion floating around the Simplicity/Minimalism Blogosphere recently. This confusion revolves around the idea behind – and the implications of – The 100 Thing Challenge. I would like to clarify my stand, and at the same time hopefully clear up some of the general confusion.

The 100 Thing Challenge was started by Dave over at GuyNamedDave. He originally saw it as a challenge to himself to live for 1 year with 100 personal possessions. that number does not count shared or family items such as couches, dining tables, TVs in the family room, etc…but only personal items owned and used by the participant. Needless to say that year taught Dave quite a lot about himself, possessions, and our consumer culture – but I’ll let you read more about that in his FAQs.

Since the original challenge, there have been a TON of others following suit and combining the 100 Thing Challenge with their own notions, some have made it a life commitment, some are living out of backpacks, others have recently cut the number of items to 50, and still others are using it as a jumping off point to make their own…well points. For me the idea of the challenge is what matters most. That we as a culture are obsessed with the newest and greatest – the biggest and best of everything – is a given. The question that remains is what can we, as individuals, do about it? We can start by eschewing consumerism and focusing our attention on our loved ones, friends, and enjoying our time doing what we love most (as long as that’s not shopping!)

For me, 100 is an arbitrary number. My point in counting up my belongings was to see how far I’d come in my Minimalist journey. I know how much STUFF I got rid of in anticipation of my now-sabbatical and to have less than 100 things left is positively mind-blowing! Do I think I’m going to always have this few belongings? I hope so. Will I be counting every month to be sure I’m keeping the number down there? Not likely. The point is to know what you have. And to know where what you have is. As long as I stick as close as I can to the one-in-one-out rule, I’ll be fine with whatever the number ends up being.

So no, not all “minimalists” are trying to live forever with 100 things. Some of us used that as an impetus to take careful stock of our belongings before they took over completely and owned us. Others took it to heart and followed in Dave’s footsteps. Yet others took it even farther and are living out of a suitcase or backpack. And I say bravo to each and every one of these people! Make your minimalist journey work for you. Just like the definition of Minimalism itself, 100 Things should mean something different to every person who seeks to better themselves by shedding the consumer mindset and living their lives to the fullest.

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February 7, 2010

Tangents, ramblings, and why I’m not changing my writing style

Filed under: simplicity — Tags: simplicity — Jesse @ 2:43 pm

What’s with the obsession with 5-best, 10-best, or 42-greatest posts? Is it only in the “lifestyle design” world where these are so prevalent, or is the trend taking over the blogosphere as a whole? I really only follow 3 categories of blog/website:

1) Voluntary Simplicity

2) Paleo/Primal diet

3) barefoot/minimal footwear

There are others that don’t really fit, but for the sake of this not turning into a “greatest ways to…” post, I’ll shoehorn the rest into one of those 3 categories. Now, where am I going with this, and have any of you noticed my propensity for rambling posts? Is this a problem I should address or do I eventually get around to the point in a reasonable length of time? Your thoughts?

So, that point I mentioned…

Why do bloggers think we need them to list things? Why can’t you just give suggestions, tips, tricks, etc? OK, so lists are a convenient way to organize your thoughts, but then how about a bullet point list? We don’t need a count…it’s not a competition. If it were, the guy who’s lists tend to have random numbers (36, 57, 23) of items would will simple for not conforming to the idea that lists have to have a nice even number of things on them (20, 35, Top 10). And come to think of it again, why does this bother me? I’m thinking it’s the global thinker in me. I don’t mean global in the environmental-type meaning, it’s global as opposed to linear in terms of how we process information and reach conclusions. Think of it this way, some people make lists, others ramble semi-coherently and come around to their point by the end of the page. Or think back to school: one teacher (probably math or science, for me it was my senior physics teacher) will always have their notes on the board before you even get to class, listed out neatly, numbered, maybe even in the form of a well thought out outline with sub-headings and everything. Other teachers will have to erase their scribbled notes from last week in order to make room for todays schedule. Then they’ll proceed to ignore that schedule completely and go off on a tangent based on a question someone asked that actually had nothing whatsoever to do with the topic of class that day.

Yeah, I’m that second guy.

A couple of recent posts drove this discrepancy in styles home. First Sean Ogle over at Location 180 posted “Stop Maintaining and Start Writing Incoherent Blog Posts.” Then, influenced by that same post, Vita Reid of The One Minute Minimalist reappeared on the scene with a semi-coherent and very readable post after a sizable absence. I may have missed their respective points completely, but what I got from these two great posts is that we write how we think. And we may think that people don’t want to try to read what we write. But how will we know unless/until we try. I’m sitting steady at :::cough::: average visitors/day and have been there for months now. But I know that those who are reading appreciate what I have to say, hopefully they’re learning a little something about themselves by reading about what I’m learning about myself (like that one?) and I’m not going to stop writing because I don’t do the “Greatest Hits” or “Top 10″ style posts.

There, I think I brought that one back around to my point in less than 6-degrees. If you want some insight into the brain spasms that caused that to be purged, you’ll just have to wait for the screenplay…

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February 3, 2010

5 Simple Ways I’m Making the Most of my Sabbatical

Filed under: simplicity — Tags: daily living, simplicity — Jesse @ 1:19 pm

5 simple ways I’m making the most of my sabbatical

now that I’m officially on Sabbatical, with nothing else getting in the way like a pesky job, i thought I’d take a minute to reflect on how I’m making the most of my remaining time here in Jerusalem. I only have 2 months until my return flight, and since I don’t know how long it’ll be before I can come back, I want to make the most of that time. Here’s the rub, I have exactly enough money left to pay rent, eat, fly back to Seattle, and pay for my shipment. That’s it. Nothing left over for exotic side trips, weekends on the coast, or for that matter going to a movie. So what am I going to do with my remaining time here on a limited budget of – well nothing?

I have no idea.

There, I said it. I’m really not sure how I’m going to use my time. and that’s the beauty of it. I have some time on my hands. I’m unemployed so that time is my own. but it’s a limited amount of time. I know that on March 28th (at something like 2 am) a shuttle will pick me up to take me to the airport and approximately 24 hours later I’ll be back in Seattle. What happens after that isn’t up to me yet. I’m focusing on the time between now and then. And that’s the #1 lesson I think I’ve learned while here. How to really force myself to focus on the here and now, and leave the future to the future.

I am going to need to find a job. But there’s really nothing I can do until I’m back in Seattle and can show up for interviews. I’m going to need to start planning my move to – let’s say Denver for arguments sake. But again, not being on the same continent makes that more difficult than I need right now, so that can wait too. I’m left with 2 months (am I getting redundant yet?)

Which brings me, in the most round about way I could come up with on short notice, to the topic of this post – 5 simple ways I’m going to make the most of my Sabbatical:

1) Solidify new habits. I’ve been working for some time now on a couple of new habits that I really want solidified by the time I’m working a 9-5 again. These are things that I found really help ground me and get through a long day of work that I really don’t like or want to be doing. They just make it tolerable. Just what these habits are is the topic for several upcoming posts…gotta leave something to the imagination don’t I?

2) Loose at least 10 more pounds. I know, that’s a bit more than the “experts” say to loose if you want it to stay off. However, I’ve lost 35 pounds following this new diet style and have a couple of ideas for ways to speed the process up so I can really wow the hometown crowd when they show up at the airport!

3) Meet 1 new person per day. That might sound cheesy, or actually I could see it sounding kinda creepy, but living in a non-English speaking country leads to a self-imposed insulation. I don’t want to be that insulated. I want to try out my limited Hebrew, make someone laugh, and hope they speak some English. I find people with dogs work well for this, dogs like me.

4) Walk. A lot. I was walking a minimum of 2 miles every day while going to my internship and brief paid job. I’d like to keep up that amount and try for 5 at least once a week.

5) Smile.

That last one is more important than I ever used to give it credit for. You just try to fret, or worry, or pout with a smile. It just doesn’t work.

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January 25, 2010

More thoughts on being present

Filed under: simplicity — Tags: daily living, simplicity — Jesse @ 9:53 pm

“I don’t really have anything to write about today.”

That’s the first thought I had after opening my writing program. Generally I go with that, but I’m trying something new: Writing something everyday. More on that in a future post.

OK, here’s another thought I had today, “why am I utterly incapable of NOT fretting about things yet to happen?” In words that will make sense to anyone not in my head, why can’t I just be present? I posted about being present earlier this month, and I stand by what I said, it sounds trite. Actually the part I stand by is that it’s applicable in so many situations. Take me right now, this post is all about me after all. My life is once again in a holding pattern. I know I’m going back to Seattle for awhile, and I know when I’m leaving. at the end of March. it’s nearing the end of January. that leaves me, let’s see – carry the 1 – 60 days! just over 2 months of not being able to move on. of not being able to make progress towards that elusive end goal of…actually I don’t know what the end goal is just yet, still working on that.

Why can’t I just enjoy listening to the birds while I walk to work? Actually I know the answer to that one, too busy staying upright – have I posted about the scooter drivers in this country?!?!

I will – assuming I live long enough.

Here’s my plan: continue meditating 2x a day. It’s only about 10-15 minutes, but I’m finding that it really does help keep me centered and alert to my surroundings. I seem to be more able to just enjoy that walk to work, rather than spending the entire time worrying about paying rent when I get back to Seattle. Or whether or not my guy at the placement agency is really going to be able to find me something that pays as good as what I had last year.

Twitch twitch BREATHE…

How do y’all deal with this? Am I the only one who can’t seem to reel in my overactive forthought?

Pre-publish update: Opera just crashed as I was literally moving the mouse to the “Publish” button. Deep Breath. Thank you Wordpress! Gotta love the Draft Autosave feature.

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January 21, 2010

100 Thing Challenge, sabbatical edition

Filed under: Reinventing myself, simplicity — Tags: reinventing myself, simplicity, unclutter — Jesse @ 5:19 pm

I’ve been agonizing over post topics for the last week and finally realized that the one issue I hadn’t returned to for some time now is STUFF. Clutter. Things. Possessions. Belongings. You get the idea…

I read about the 100 thing Challenge while already in the midst of my Great Purge back in Seattle. At the time my reaction was “well isn’t that nice, but I like my [blank].” Just as I’m sure a lot of you will say to the idea of living with just 100 personal possessions. As time went on and I continued to purge, I went back several times and read that page, I also did some strategic googling and found others who had taken up the challenge (notably Leo, and Leo) and started to rethink my initial reticence. I wasn’t prepared to take a full inventory at the time, what with packing, purging, and plunging (that would be into a new life here in Israel) – but I stored it away in Evernote to be readdressed at a later time.

Well, it’s a later time now and I decided to take the time to inventory my current list of belongings. Even knowing how much STUFF I had purged it was still a little daunting to think about counting everything up. I’m not sure what the sticking point was, I mean I had already tossed a good 2/3 or more of my STUFF, what was so hard about counting what was left? Still working on that – anyway, on to the count!

My 100-ish things:

Vaude backpack (daily use and hiking)
handmade leather satchel
notebook (moleskine)
leatherman tool
lockblade pocket knife
nylon messenger bag
luggage (duffel)
luggage (eagle creek)
luggage (carry on)
yoga blanket
sleeping pad
sleeping bag
sleeping bag (summer/travel)
sheets*
bed*
tent
hiking poles
staff
camp stuff*
toolbox*
meditation bench
small notebook/calendar
strap cap
summer flat cap
wool flat cap
linen flat cap
sun hat
sunglasses
VFF (Vibram Fivefingers)
VFF
Sanuk Sidewalk Surfers (hemp)
Sanuk Sidewalk Surfers (leather)
Keen sneaker
Keen boot
jeans
jeans
khakis
brown khakis
sweatpants
shorts
shorts
socks*
underwear*
undershirts*
t-shirt
t-shirt
t-shirt
t-shirt
ls t-shirt
ls t-shirt
ls t-shirt
hoodie
shirt (solid)
shirt (solid)
shirt (solid)
shirt (white)
shirt (white)
shirt (stripe)
shirt (stripe)
shirt (short sleeve)
shirt (short sleeve)
shirt (short sleeve)
vest (hemp)
vest (wool)
Sport coat
rain coat
softshell jacket
external harddrive
airport basestation
iPod
Speakers
Headphones (studio)
Headphones (in-ear)
portable harddrive
Macbook
sleeve
case
cables/chargers*
cell phone
camera
video camera
Kiddush cup
Shabbat candle sticks
small Shabbat candle sticks
travel Shabbat candle sticks
Hanukiah (Menora)
buddha
pushka (charity collection box)
books*

* means that I’m grouping multiple things into on item for the sake of this list. In some cases it’s because I’m getting rid of some of them, and in some cases (like the toolbox) it’s because I treat it as a single thing with multiple parts.

There you have it. My official (as of 1.21.10) 100 Thing list. I’m pretty happy with that number, means if I end up getting anything new before I leave I’m still under the threshold. My plans for now are to do everything in my power to keep the personal items under that magical number for the forseeable future. Look for updates as my return trip becomes imminent and even better ones once I’m back in the land where the consumers roam wild…

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January 13, 2010

How barefooting helps me be Minimalist

Filed under: barefoot, simplicity — Tags: barefoot, simplicity — Jesse @ 4:42 pm

After a very nice, slow, intentional walk to work yesterday morning I was ruminating on the various ways trying to go barefoot whenever possible has really helped me in my journey into minimalism. Seems kind of wonky to me too, bare with me (pun not intended, I swear!) and it’ll come together -

There’s one fundamental truth underlying all of the changes I’ve made in recent years. And it’s the foundation for all of the changes I see myself continuing to make in the years to come.

Be Present

Seems so simple, yet it’s something that’s lost on most people in these days of social media, SMS, IM, crackberries, and web2.0ish. When you take the time to be present in each moment, you will think about each step and where it’s going to land. You’ll think about each car that doesn’t stop to let you cross the street, and maybe give a moments thought to why that person didn’t stop. You’ll think about whether or not you really need that widget before you spend the money. You’ll think about how each and every thing you do and say will affect not only you, but those around you as well. And there’s the connection with minimalism. I can’t speak for y’all, but I know that for me, minimalism is partly about minimizing my impact on the planet as much as possible. Folks, we’re running out of resources. Like quick. I don’t want to be personally responsible for any more of that destruction than necessary and I sure don’t want my lifestyle to influence others to be more destructive.

I’m not delusional. We all need to buy STUFF from time to time. We may not be able to set our lives up in such a way as to not be dependent on fossil fuels (I walk everywhere now, but once I’m back in Seattle I know I’ll end up buying a car again, eventually). But every little thing we do DOES HELP. And all it takes for me to remember that fact is to Be Present. And one of the best ways I’ve found to remind myself of that is to take a barefoot walk, which I do nearly every morning or evening. Nothing big (my work commute is a mile each way), but even 1/2 mile around the block is enough to remind me of what I need reminded of, and it’s invigorating as well! There are something like 20,000 nerve endings in the soles of your feet. But that’s for another blogger…Figure out what it takes to remind you to be in the moment. It may be walking barefoot, it may be meditating some other way. Whatever works for you…if you take anything from this -

Be Present

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January 8, 2010

Do No Harm vs Do Good

Filed under: simplicity — Tags: Do Good, simplicity — Jesse @ 9:33 am

I know this is sort of a side rant of a topic, but I had a bit of a revelation the other day that I want to share. I was walking home from work, minding my own, trying to find some shade (the sun can be brutal here!) when for whatever reason I started thinking about the concept of Do No Harm vs Do Good.

I have no idea where it came from, but this why I like walking everywhere – and why I don’t wear headphones when I walk – I have ideas. This just come to me out of the ether. Although maybe if I did wear headphones, more of the ideas and thoughts and ruminations would stick around a little longer before leaking out my ear…

Anyway, I promised to try and be more focused with my posts and I have every intent to do so. Do No Harm vs Do Good. That sounds like some sort of religious parable, and I’ll be honest, my thoughts at the time this came to me were mostly religious in nature. However I’m looking at this concept from a strictly secular point of view. How do you define ethical behavior?

Until recently, I would have defined ethical behavior as pretty much anything that didn’t lead to harm coming to others. Those others could be fellow humans, domestic pets, non-domestic farm animals, wild animals, insects, invertebrates, or amoebas. Basically, I defined ethical behavior as Do No Harm. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this definition, it’s just that I found something lacking. You can go through your whole life, from childhood through adulthood and right up until your passing, and do no harm to anybody. Does that make you an ethical being? Or does that make you a hermit?

I don’t want to wake up one day late in my years and realize that I’ve been a hermit my whole life. So what does all this mean and what happened to that fabled focus? here we go:

Do Good

Two little words. They seem so simple sitting there. So obvious. and yet how do most of us miss them?

To be a truly ethical being, you have to mix some Doing in with your Not Harming. It’s active vs passive. And I’m tired of being passive. What action am I planning on taking? Slow down, I haven’t gotten that far yet. Thisis just a recap of the ruminating I did on that walk earlier this week. I’ll begin sorting out my thoughts and see what filters down and what gets stuck in the mesh.

Meanwhile, how do you define Ethical behavior? How do you balance Do No Harm with Do Good?

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January 1, 2010

Old Year…New Year…

Filed under: Reinventing myself — Tags: daily living, reinventing myself — Jesse @ 11:17 am

It seems like everyone’s doing a 2009 wrap up, or a “looking to the year ahead” post. I kinda feel like this whole blog has been a 2009 wrap up, and I don’t have the foggiest of clues what 2010 holds in store for me. So, there you go, there’s your wrap up and your “looking ahead,” all in one little sentence. Beat that for simplicity!

Seriously, this has been one heck of a year for me, starting with making plans for my move to Israel, purging like 3/4 of my STUFF, shipping the rest over here ahead of my arrival, leaving everything I know in Seattle and actually moving here, realizing that my timing sucks and between that and not being able to find work here coming to the hard decision that I need to move back, calling this whole thing a sabbatical (mostly to make myself feel better and less like an abject failure), making return plans, meanwhile having my internship turn into 1/2 time paid work, and still to come arranging a return shipment for my remaining STUFF and actually getting back stateside.

whew

Guess this year has been an adventure if nothing else. And the first thing 2010 holds for me is finding work when I get back to Seattle and starting to rebuild and remake my life. Since I don’t plan on staying in Seattle for any longer than necessary to save up enough to move and start over yet again, I don’t want to think of that as my ultimate “goal” for the year. In fact I’ve decided that I have no “goals” for 2010 except to walk the Seattle Marathon in November, but that’s for another post entirely. I plan on making the most of whatever life lobs at me and enjoying the process as much as possible. I do want to say this, Happy New Year to you and yours, I hope you can look back on 2009 and the first decade of the 21st century and have good memories. And I sincerely hope you can look ahead to 2010 and the upcoming decade with optimism and joy for what’s to come.

Look for some posts in the coming weeks that I hope will start to make some sense, be a little less rambling and just a tad more focused…and if all goes according to the haphazard plan trying valiantly to form itself in my brain, that will include some concrete steps that will help some of you start down a road of Simplifying and Decluttering your own lives. Believe it or not, with all the rambling, hand wringing and soul searching you’ve read on here, I am in fact in a very good place right now, and even with all the questions yet to be answered, I hope to be able to help some of you come to the some realizations about your own lives and situations, and offer some tips for finding your own version of happiness.

Shalom from Jerusalem -

Jesse

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