Saturday, July 25, 2009

Cut It Out!

This July, in fact this summer, has presented us with weather I associate with Northern Michigan and Ontario at its best. Daytime temps have been mostly in the upper 60's to upper 70. Evenings and nights bring perfect sleeping temperatures of mid-40's to mid-50's. I've been able to be active instead of sluggish during the day and sleep well each night. BIG, BIG Thanks!
While family obligations keep me closer to home than I would like, I've been able to escape twice this summer on fishing adventures. And to add to the great summer temperatures, this has been a notable fishing year. The catches have been more plentiful and bigger than I've seen in several years. 

Cut It Out!

Even though my life is really very simple, I've been thinking again about simplifying, oh, just a little bit more. Yes, AGAIN! I have no debt. I coach through the 3rd Wednesday of each month and then I play through the 4th and occasional 5th week of each month. I live in the woods, where I'm up early enjoying a cup of coffee in the backyard while listening to the creek and the neighbors, all four-legged except the birds. My exercise routine is on my living room floor and the trails through the woods around my home, not at a gym. I eat simply, enjoying what I harvest as much as possible. If you were to invade my freezer right now, you'd find wild huckleberries, moose, wild raspberries, walleye, northern pike, morel mushrooms, chives, rhubarb, jumbo perch, caribou, lake trout, and venison. When I head out on holiday, I leave phone and computer behind. In fact, I leave electricity behind. In fact, I often leave the car behind, in exchange for boat or canoe.

In my 20’s everything I owned was harvested from the earth or the lakes and streams, uncovered at the Goodwill store, a yard sale, or my Mother's basement. In my 30’s or 40’s, I had the money and the urge to collect my own, brand new stuff. In my early 50’s all that stuff, especially the “brand new” stuff, started to wear out and I had no desire to replace it. Now, as I move in to the last half of my 50’s, it intrigues me that just a short time ago I saw every item and activity I'm about to oust as a necessity.

I've learned that the art of simplifying has two steps.

First, we must pitch those things that no longer serve us. It may be an item in our home, it may be an activity we do for shallow reasons, or it could even be a person in our life who at the worst drains us and at the best takes up our time. I will not tell you this is always easy. I will tell you that you already know what needs to go. Admit it.

Next, we must take what's left, those things that we love and enrich our life, and make them less complex. This is the fun part for me. I enjoy taking something important and meaningful to me, analyze it in order to understand the elements that really energize me, and then cut out all the fluff.

“Your Lifestyle should enhance your life, rather than spending your life enhancing your lifestyle.” ~Coach Thomas Leonard