A Practical Action Plan for Living More On Less

I have heaps on today including a trip down to Brisbane and back to see my surgeon, and two other appointments.
So rather than a full post I thought I would share an article I really enjoyed.
Here is a taste of what it is all about.

Beyond  our  basic  material  needs for  food,  clothing,  and  shelter,  how  much  is  enough?  
In particular, how much money and how many possessions do we really need to live well and to be free? 

These are not questions that many people ask themselves in consumer societies today, but they are some of the most important questions of all.  Instead of  confronting  these  questions,  too many  people  today spend  their entire  lives  desperately  climbing  the  endless  ladder  of  consumerism,  seeking more and more income  to spend on more and more stuff. 
But at the end of life these  people inevitably discover  that  they  had  not  really  lived,  that  they  had wasted their only chance at life inside a shopping mall. 

A free and meaningful life, it turns out, does not actually depend on having all the latest consumer products or having the nicest house on the street. On the contrary, working long hours just to  ‘keep  up  with  the Joneses’  leaves  people  with  less  time  for  the  things  that really  matter  in  life,  like  friends,  family, community,  and  engaging  in  peaceful, creative activity. This is the stuff that makes life worth living, and the interesting thing is we don’t need to be rich to enjoy it all. 

The best things in life really are free.  Abundance is a state of mind.

The Simpler Way - A Practical Action Plan for Living More On Less

Stories Of Simplicity

I had scheduled this post for while I was in hospital but for some reason Blogger decided it not to post it.

This is a compilation of individual stories from a wide range of people living in different situations and their take on what it is to live a simple life.  It even includes a story from Liz over at 8 Acres.

It may take a while to open but be patient because it is worth the read, and once you have downloaded it you should be able to save it to you computer.

Stories of Simplicity - Re imagining the Good Life

The Reason for The Silence

So I have been a bit quite on the blogging front.  This is because I am getting ready for a big operation and will need some time off work to recover.  What this basically boils down to is that I am cramming a lot of extra work into each day.  Plus lots to do at home.
I have an assistant holding the fort while I am away but the reality is that there is much of my job that she cannot do.  In the future this is something I intend to remedy by training her up so that when I take time off I can really relax.  I know that I have a bad habit of thinking that I am the only one who can do it all, but if I want to have relaxing holidays in the future I know I have to change my thinking.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Since I will not be blogging for the next couple of weeks I have some posts planned and scheduled.  I have been reading some interesting articles over the last few months so I thought I would share them with you.

They are quite long but I found them really inspiring and informative.  Enjoy reading them.

Here's the first one.

Mindfulness - The Doorway To Simple Living