Simplicity: Part 1

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The word simplicity was jingling around in my head all day while at work at the Tibetan Shop. While CD's of chanting monks played, I made phone calls, haggled with the cable company and tried to track down the automatic payment trail of my gym membership. I was making deeper cuts into my lifestyle. I kept telling myself that this is all good - I am leading a simpler, more authentic life.

Well into the second year of my reinvention,  the bank account was yelling for me to put my brakes on. So back went Sadie, my lovely sexy convertible.  My gym membership. That wasn't too hard as I never had time to work out there. But it was a defeat that I wasn't pumping iron or spending an hour on the elliptical machine.  My drink and dinner budget shrank to a once-a-week "starving artist"  late afternoon meeting with my business partner where we get a slider and a local mud beer for 9.50. I have no clothing budget, and I am grateful that I have a husband who saves his lunch money to buy me a new shirt or sweater for my birthday,  Christmas, or anniversary. I have decided to let me hair be its natural color, a mixture of red and the ever growing grey that is creating interesting patterns and texture. As I find creative ways to shave off our expenses, I keep convincing myself...this is a simpler life.

Yet my life is by no means simple. I work 6 days a week from when I get up until I go to sleep. Though I may be leading a more authentic life it is not simpler. I am not taking time to sit, to listen, and to watch. I am not taking time to read the wise words of others, or to take action in things that can make a difference.  I am not making the body of work I promised myself, being too distracted by the 10,000 other things I have to do.

 I am fooling myself, and  others in preaching that I am living a simple life.  So what do I do, where do I start?

I googled "How to Live a Simple Life"....and then life dictated a drastic change... (Part 2)

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