Simplicity takes planning and effort...

A few weeks into the process of downsizing and reducing and I am only just beginning to realise what a HUGE job this is. Yesterday I managed to pack my entire wardrobe (including shoes) into one suitcase. I feel like I have too much still, but have a month of practice 'suitcase living' coming up that will help me settle on the final items.

Today I began the task of planning my 'medium-sized' suitcase. This one is not as easy to figure out as it involves decisions about my leisure time and what crafty pursuits I can take with me. For someone who once made it a goal to learn something new every year, to choose those worthy of this next semi-nomadic lifestyle is not simple at all!

This week has been more difficult for my husband as he is hit with the reality of our choices, sorting through his beloved mancave and shed. Simplifying will cost him a lot... I pray the benefits will be worth it eventually.  

I also spent hours standing near the scanner in order to preserve memories and documents in digital format. It was not a romantic or glamorous occupation! My feet are sore, my nerves feeling a little frayed and I am ready to have a break from it all... and yet impatient to complete the task. 

Of course I had to finish the garden I had newly started before our the crossroad of our circumstances caused us to take this route. In a way it offered its own solution to my stash of collected shells and natural items.A friend reminded me recently, that it is in the process of creativity that we find ourselves. This embryonic garden bears the marks of my love of bush and beach and all the treasures to be discovered on a nature walk. If this is the last garden I create, I'm satisfied that it bears my true-self signature.                                                                              

“We are all in search of feeling more connected to reality—to other people, the times we live in, the natural world, our character, and our own uniqueness."

 

" Our culture increasingly tends to separate us from these realities in various ways. We indulge in drugs or alcohol, or engage in dangerous sports or risky behavior, just to wake ourselves up from the sleep of our daily existence and feel a heightened sense of connection to reality."

" In the end, however, the most satisfying and powerful way to feel this connection is through creative activity."

 "Engaged in the creative process we feel more alive than ever, because we are making something and not merely consuming, Masters of the small reality we create. In doing this work, we are in fact creating ourselves."

Robert Greene