thinking thursday.

July 19, 2012 in General

MIND

I was intrigued by this story about the lure of the fairy tale. “In the Grimms’ time, industrialization was starting to simplify or eliminate certain domestic chores. For that reason, among others, the oral tale was beginning to disappear. Intellectuals considered this a disaster. Hence the many fairy-tale collections of the period, including the Grimms’. They were rescue operations.”

John and I are having this very conversation now.

BODY

I am ready for radical simplicity. Clean, simple food, closed loops, owning less, living on a smaller footprint. I’m ready to shed: weight, stuff, to-do lists. I’ve been talking about this for a while. It’s time. I’m uncluttering. I anticipate giving away half of what I own by the end of 2012. Five boxes of books left the house this week. My clothes are dwindling away to Goodwill.

We all need to go to the quiet place.

Someone reminded me of this blog focusing on real food.

According to a recent study released by the UCLA Center on the Everyday Lives of Families, U.S. families have reached “material saturation.” “The inflow of objects is relentless. The outflow is not. We don’t have rituals, mechanisms, for getting rid of stuff.” Have you any rituals for getting rid of stuff? For having less stuff to begin with? What could you give to someone else today?

SPIRIT

I am humbled and deeply touched by the stories people are submitting to The Geography of Loss. Feel free to leave your own story of loss there. For what or for whom do you grieve?

My brother is an Eagle Scout. I was a First Class Girl Scout. We have scouting in the blood. And I have friends who work for the Boy Scouts. I’ve done work for them myself. What a narrow path they have chosen.

As a vegetarian since 1976, Chick-Fil-A has never been on my radar. Now it is, and not in a good way.

VOICE

“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” -Mark Twain

YOU

How about you? What have you read or seen of interest this week? Leave a note in the comments below so we can all learn from one another.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

8 comments to " thinking thursday. "


Carolynn

July 19, 2012 AT 1:06PM

On materialism – my mother is a hoarder, so I see this over saturation and neverending desire for more on a first hand basis. Naturally, I’m nearer the other end of the spectrum. Not a minimalist, per se, I do need clutter free space in order to feel at peace. One technique I’ve employed is the 24 Hour Rule. If I want something, I’ll leave it for 24 hours. If, after that time, I’m still thinking about it and it will genuinely bring me joy, then I’ll go get it. If it’s no longer there, then a higher power has determined that I wasn’t meant to have it. Not much is really as essential as we’re led to believe it is.

Erin

July 19, 2012 AT 2:51PM

I just finished reading Kevin Goodan’s new collection of poetry Upper Level Disturbances . It’s wonderful.

Padma Ayyagari

July 19, 2012 AT 4:02PM

I am a minimalist and am very proud of it too. I only own 1 pair of shoes for each season and generally they last me 2 seasons or more even. Yes, I am a minimalist when it comes to walking too (lol). I try to live by ‘ceiling on desires’ in 4 areas of life – Food, Money, Time and Energy. I have written about this concept of ‘Ceiling on Desires’ on my blog http://www.areyouchanging.org.

“Less Luggage, comfortable travel” is what I remind myself so really there is not much to worry about then. I think the world especially the affluent world need to take this to heart so the not so wealthy parts of the world can survive.

Unfortunately these things cannot be pushed upon people, we just have to be examples for people to want to transform. Change begins with me first and foremost.

Lovely post Patti, enjoyed reading it.

Roxanne Galpin

July 19, 2012 AT 9:20PM

I had the pleasure of meeting Susannah Conway at her book signing here in Vancouver. Simply adore her. Definitely the highlight of my week!

Edie

July 19, 2012 AT 10:09PM

http://explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/service-puppy-cam

Makes me smile goofily when I need it.

Cynthia

July 20, 2012 AT 9:55AM

Have you any rituals for getting rid of stuff?

on the 27th of each month, I get rid of 27 things.

Esther

July 20, 2012 AT 4:52PM

Yoga and meditation helps me reduce the sense of clutter and over fullness. One breath in, one breath out. Letting go of the tensions in my body with the out breath, and breathing in stillness helps my mind clarify, get focused. Letting go of monkey mind – too much scrambling in my head, helps me reduce or fill. I’m thinking is it reducing or filling that I need? Sorting out the desirable, and releasing all the lower priorities. So many competing priorities which seem to cause me confusion. With the breath, I try to re-order, and when I stay steady and keep my vision, my focus then I’m happier and more fulfilled.

Caroline

July 23, 2012 AT 3:55PM

On decluttering – “Clutter Busting” by Brooks Palmer is a great book for this. It’s not really a how-to book, but more a book that helps you to get over the roadblocks to decluttering – the reasons we keep things we don’t use and sometimes don’t even like. He focuses on how the clutter gets in our way mentally as well as physically, and how getting rid of the clutter opens our minds and hearts for new experiences. His writing has a very soothing voice, and reading the book made me actually want to do the work of getting rid of clutter!