I've had a bit of a mental struggle with the term "living simply" for quite some time. As any of you who have trodden the path to greater self-reliance and away from the rampant consumeristic society many of us live in today would know, it often seems anything but simple!
Life can become complicated and challenging and it can also be intensely satisfying and rewarding. To master a skill like bread baking for the first time; to know that YOU have been responsible for such a wonderful feat as growing food for your family; to make an outfit for your children when you've only ever before purchased clothes from a shop; to stand back at your home and know that you built it - nothing and no-one can take those things away from you and you can go on and further build on those skills, and others. A little step here gives you the confidence to attempt a bigger step over there, and so on...
To achieve such things is not simple. It's far simpler to go down to the corner shop if you have one and buy a loaf of bread. It's easier to buy a dozen eggs every week than to have a flock of hens to feed and tend and clean up after. It's certainly simpler and easier to have someone else build your house, BELIEVE ME!!
But the easy-come, easily-discarded sort of lifestyle that so many people live is none-too-satisfying. We've all read books and blogs and newspaper articles about how we're working more, living in bigger houses, buying bigger TVs and other toys - but have less contact with our families (all those bedrooms with people of all ages squirrelled away in them, hunched over an electric machine of some sort - we often don't even have to share a bathroom any more) and are not very happy, so I won't rabbit on about that again here today.
It was nearly a month ago when I "awoke with a start about 4am with a couple of words emblazoned in my head," (here) and those words were living consciously.
Nothing new or too startling, but those words mean a lot to me.
It's all sort of Permaculture-ish actually.
It doesn't mean a boring life, shunning authority, having no fun or laughter in our lives or having to walk away from friends and family who don't share our values and outlook. It means, in part, standing firm in our own-ness, able to love others who walk a different way, and living the best damn life we can on this beautiful, beautiful planet.
Yes the planet is ailing. I'm not suggesting you go out there and pollute the Earth. Live well and leave as little footprint as you possibly can on the Earth and the people you come into contact with.
And no, I'm no expert; I'm still getting all this together too! But know that if I fall a step backwards, I'll be working doubly hard at regaining and surpassing my position, upwards, on the ladder once again.
Edited to add, as it seems to have disappeared, that I'll still be using the term living simply however living consciously, or living more consciously, means more to me at this point!
Hooroo.
xxx
5 comments:
Hi Mumchook, Good post, it is hard work and constant decication to keep at it. But very rewarding in the end. Sometimes I feel like an island on my own but then just return to the folds only there are so many new members, which is a good thing.
regards to all
Rina
Hi Rina, good to hear from you. Hope you are feeling much much better these days. Feeling like an island is right but the little islands seem to be joining and it won't be lonely for too long! Keep at it, you're doing a great job there...
Ree
What a wonderfully written post, such valid pints you make. The joys of living more consciously, is certainly not simple by any means, but indeed most rewarding! And such a wonderful path to be on... :)
I agree, it doesn't always seem simple as in easy, but simple as in plain living or ordinary or humble or unpretentious, without all the trappings of a consumer driven life.But I do like the term living consciously as well and it's really all about what sits right for you, doesn't it? As Ro Morrow once said to me She has to know that on her death bed she knows that she's done the very best she could.
Welcome, Gooseberry Jam, and thank you.
PP, I'm all for simple! And the older I get, the more simple and ordinary I like it. Living more consiously, to me, encompasses more than a lifestyle choice or becoming more self sufficient and is more about how I want to interact with the world.
xxx
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