It is possible to have enough and still grow. It is possible to be content and not complacent. Hang with me and I will explain. Last year I tripped over minimalism in a book and picked it up. Since I was raised in a spirit-filled church I get to “claim things for my life” (Amen). So, I claimed minimalism. My efforts in minimalism were spiritual and physical and proved useful because we ended up moving about 8 months later. I wrote seven posts detailing physical changes and their spiritual repercussions, or perhaps spiritual changes and their physical repercussions. However you want to look at it. After I closed, I felt great about continuing this minimalist path with one nagging exception. At 6-years-old I read a book called “If Everybody Did” by Jo Ann Stover. A thought provoking read on individualism as it relates to social health. 10/10 would recommend. This book is a filter for a lot of my value framing. As I began to believe in minimalism I started imagining a free-market, capitalist economy surviving a minimalist epidemic. What would happen if everybody did? Curiosity led to research, and more research and I am still researching. Macroeconomics is never conclusive. In their theorizing some say the service sector can grow, investment will stay strong but may have lower yields, and there is potential for slow-growth, no growth, and de-growth economies to succeed. I was comforted to know some smart people believe we can live on without rampant consumerism and be economically stable and environmentally sustainable. But still, won’t the entrepreneurial spirit key to American culture fall by the wayside? The answer is no. Minimalism leads to growth. It seems paradoxical but Brene Brown, a researcher and author, in her book “Daring Greatly” lent me language surrounding this concept. Brown says, “The opposite of scarcity is enough. . . and if the opposite of scarcity is enough, then practicing gratitude is how we acknowledge that there’s enough and that we’re enough.” What Brown is saying, is contentment, gratitude, believing in "enough" is the path to a growth mindset instead of an anxious, fixed mindset. Believing in scarce resources generates a feeling of constant worry. And this feeling of constant worry is a sure-fire way for a business, or a person to self-destruct and retract rather than sustain and grow. Here is a real life example . I recently needed to book a hotel. Perusing these sites trying to snag a killer deal I was bombarded with messages saying, “this many people are looking at this” “this many remaining” “BOOK NOW and get THIS PRICE”. This tactic is used all the time to drive sales. Advertisers want to trick me in to thinking I might miss out if I don’t buy right now. But the sweet joy of minimalism is believing “there will be enough”. This is the great difficulty of my generation, we’ve got options and lots of fear about choosing the wrong one and advertisers have sophisticated ways to infiltrate our minds. Billions are spent each year trying to convince us we need things. Very little is spent letting us know we have everything we need. Minimalism in my life is all about understanding I may miss out. And that is OK. I have what I need. My wife is my daily inspiration for simplifying my life. The thing I love most about her is her commitment to being. While most look for masks to wear in different situations, she only knows to be herself. Instead of reaching like a lake across a wide expanse with only a few feet of depth, she is a well. She is concentrated and deep, through and through. What claiming minimalism brings me is a commitment to this single line. It is a lifestyle of select depth and root level adjustment. Instead of medicating, it is eating well and exercising. Instead of hacks and tips; it is a lifestyle change. Instead of organizing masks it’s being genuine in each of my roles. The results I hope for are authenticity, focus, and peace. Closing the tabs on the 100 things pulling at my attention to zero in on the things deserving of my time, space, money, and energy. As a wise commenter posted in response to one of my original minimalism posts, “I’ve heard minimalism is saying no to a lot of things so we can say yes to what truly matters.” This is a growth mindset. This is letting go of "I'm not enough" and opening up to depth and vulnerability. This is enough. Dear Reader, to live out my conviction to become more minimal and achieve sustainable growth I have decided to delete all social media during the month of September. My goal is to focus on having better conversations and greater levels of human interaction. My encouragement to you this week is to examine an area where you feel like you are losing control, and instead of trying to regain control, let it go. Let all the little nagging anxieties and attention seekers fall by the wayside and dive in deep with what really matters. If you want stuff like this delivered to your inbox each week click here. And if you think other people would benefit from reading please share.
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Nature is not exclusive or targeted. It's for everyone. Since Earth Day is right around the corner it seems like a great time for a mass appeal post with fun, personal ways to love nature at a grassroots level. Adopt the peace of nature: her secret is patience ~Emerson 1. Go Outside Fall in love with nature and desire to see her beauty persist unspoiled. Fresh air every day, even just 15 minutes of it, improves mood, focus, and physical and mental health. This is one of those things that can be hard to make a daily priority. But, blocking out a specific time to go outside every day, rain or shine, is a medical guarantee for good things in life. I come into the peace of the wild things. . . and am free ~ Wendell Berry 2. Find reliable things During my minimalism shift last summer I came into the realization I had been using at least one Styrofoam cup and one plastic cup every day at work. This didn't fit into my minimalism mindset so I brought a mug to work and eliminated the Styrofoam cup. Then I started washing the mug and using it for water. Then I started using it for oatmeal. Now my mug is a reliable and consistent rhythm of my day. As an added bonus I'd estimate I've saved about 300 cups over the last 8 months, which makes me feel happy. When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. ~ John Muir 3. Know your place Each of us, whether expressly stated or not, has a set of values that shape our lives. This includes our relation to the environment. Nature has this curious ability to make people feel very small and very important all at once. Earth day is a great time to feel that smallness in relation to the size of everything and that importance as a contributing factor to the overall well-being of everything and then use this perspective to write some environmental values. Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ~ Jesus 4. Take Action If you've got a desire and a value and some perspective you are poised to make a difference and show your gratitude. There are so many options it can get overwhelming. Don't join in the noise. Pick one or two small areas where you want to make a change in your lifestyle. Oftentimes you will see your change having benefits outside helping the environment. But whatever the change you decide to make, make it sustainable and attainable. You will love the results. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are ~ Theodore Roosevelt 5. Give grace I've always loved nature but felt a little excluded from most environmental groups by a lack of knowledge or because I didn't hit the criteria on every level. I didn't wear the clothes and drive the car and speak the language. But I've realized environmentalists range from Teddy Roosevelt to Ghandi and in authentic environmental discussions there is an understanding that methods are not uniform but intentions and values are uniform. "Sustainable use of natural resources to promote quality of life for the population of the earth" sounds inclusive, yes? That puts farmers, and businesses, and wildlife viewers, and hunters, and carnivores and vegetarians and pretty much everyone on the same side of the line. This idea made environmentalism personal for me. It's universal, not something for specific groups and types. And when it is personal it is much easier to maintain than when it is something I do so I belong to a group or because I feel like I need to appease someone else. So, my encouragement to you is to give yourself grace for shortcomings and make earth day personal. It is for you. It is for your children and your friends and your neighbors. It is for your earth. In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks ~ John Muir |
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I'm a Hoosier. I like the outdoors. Taxes are my job. I write for a living. This Blog
Writing my way to an adult life of minimalism, sustainability, and joy rooted in Truth. I'm learning, unlearning, and relearning.
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