When I started this side quest, I knew I had digital and physical clutter and I suspected I would be happier if I could clear some of it out. Two months in I am still finding myself curious about the ‘extra’ that it turns out is all over my life. What has become clear is that getting rid of 100 things a day is far too often just holding steady on the number of things I have. I delete 100 pictures and somehow, I take 100 more. Donate some things only to turn around to packages by the door.
The power of accomplishment is real. That sense of completion is powerful, it can land as relief, joy, spaciousness and a million other things – yet all offer a rush of feelings. And lately I’ve been wondering if perhaps we’re all a little addicted to it. I love to check an item off my to do list and recently my lists got very overwhelming. It happens to us all, even when we’re deep in things we love doing it is still “doing” all the things in a finite amount of time.
To know me is to know I have an affinity for what I will refer to as minimalism. I love blogs, books, and shows on how people live with less. Tiny houses look like magic to me and I absolutely want to touch every item and see if it sparks joy. And yet I live in pretty big house with a lot of stuff that apparently sparks joy, so I try to do so with an eye to wards the excess and a vision board that may or may not include living in a shack on the sand with a lot less of all of this stuff.
I am afraid of a few things. Snakes for sure. Failure for sure. And most recently I realized I have spent much of my life desperately afraid of forgetting things. I’m knee deep (and 26 days in) to my “100 Items” challenge and while there has been a fair amount of stuff moving out of my life, it is hard to ignore the prevalence of things I’ve kept as markers of memories.
I recently led a thought session on nonattachment (or nonexcess), a common translation for aparigraha which is the fifth yama. The yamas are the first step of yoga (the shapes you may think of as yoga are the third of the eight steps) and are yoga philosophy’s first five guideposts for living. Yama translates as […]
I spent the first 28 days of January rising and shining in my online community space to guide the 1969 book “Richard Hittleman’s 28 Day Yoga Exercise Plan”. It was a fascinating exploration of yoga as presented over 5 decades ago, and a brilliant reminder of the timelessness of yoga. Each day offered an assortment […]
On November first, while everyone else was perhaps recovering from their Halloween sugar rush, I came in overjoyed and announced to my 8:30am yoga class that we had finally arrived in my favorite month of the year. A curious “why?” was the response and my answer is easy. I love November because Thanksgiving isn’t commercialized […]
It’s been a busy summer bringing new things to light. I love creation and have been thinking a lot about how creativity is a really long process that gets most of the attention at the end. It’s so easy to honor and celebrate the finished products and hard to see the months and years of […]
There are a million studies, articles, and people shouting from the rooftops that the collective we need more sleep, more quality rest. I know this. And yet. As I was reading Soulful Simplicity it became clear (again) that this was a space I was slipping on. Hand on my heart (a practice from the book) […]
This is the magical little surprise I brought to my yin students a few weeks back, and served at a party I had. I love it in small cups with a little coconut whipped cream on top to feel a little fancy. ¾ cup vanilla almond milk ¼ cup chia seeds ½ cup full-fat coconut milk (not coconut cream) 1 teaspoon matcha (green […]