ONE GOAL MET!

At the end of 2007, I challenged myself to read 15 non-fiction books during 2008. http://walkinglightly.blogspot.com/2007/11/2008-year-of-non-fiction.html

Well, I did it! I didn't record all of the titles, but I did it. Those books challenged me, supported me, and made me grateful. They also planted many, many seeds which have yet to produce fruit, but are definitely not dormant.

Christmas Countdown day 1

Yesterday, the kids wrote their letters to Santa as part of our Christmas Countdown/Advent celebration. It's funny because my kids do NOT associate behavior with presents from Santa. I don't make a big deal of it; for us, Santa's presence is not based on behavior, it is a magical gift for a special time of year.

I am sure this will come back to haunt me one day, but I give my kids a fair bit of direction in terms of writing their letters. We talk about how the items on the list are suggestions and we don't always get everything/the exact thing on the list. I also help them think critically and meaningfully about what they write down. Reminding them, for example, of that thing they really wanted (that I think is appropriate/affordable/already purchased) and having them include that on their list.

L used a wonderful tactic this year--he let Santa know that even though he was the one asking for one item on his list, it was really a gift that would benefit the whole family.

home again

I have decided to begin blogging again. I just read my previous entries and I fell in love with myself and my life all over again. I keep on trying, even when I fail. I really needed a reminder of this today. I have begun the processes of decluttering and greening my life again. I resigned from my weekend library job to spend more time with my entire family (and also to not go crazy arranging child care for when R has to travel).

One Less Weekend

This weekend, the first school-free weekend for me in 2 years, was wonderful! It was a great kick-off for the One Less challenge.

A sampling of what we did:

• cleaned garage (two less items cluttering the house)
• walked to grocery and drug store (two less car trips)
• played in the neighborhood (no driving, spending $ unnecessarily)
• ate meals at home
• spent time (38 hours) computer free (internet and computers powered down)

One Less and Radical Simplicity

Liveblogging Radical Simplicity...

In Chapter 3 of Radical Simplicity, Merkel talks about sharing the earth and how the easiest first step is to take less. I read this 6 hours after creating my one less challenge. How fortuitous!

I am lost with the calculations.

One Less

In addition to the Bookworm Challenge, I am also instituting a Spring/Summer Challenge for myself: The One Less Challenge.
This can mean many things:
one less helping of food
one less car trip
one less hour in front of the computer
one less thing cluttering my house
one less thing out of place in our home
one less meal eaten out
one less trip to a chain store

and many more I am sure to think of.


Today's One Less: This morning I walked to an appointment to which I would have normally driven. This afternoon I did not give in to my desire for a Jimmy John's sub, and instead ate lunch as home. I also shopped at a local market because we were already on that side of town.

reconnecting with time

Something I realize as I shift away from my car is that I need to relearn how to gauge time and distance without my van odometer. I have no sense of how long it takes to walk somewhere which causes me to just jump in the car for fear of being late. I have also gotten myself so accustomed to being able to get there quickly that I push myself to the very limit.

Time to library--pushing M in the stroller: approx. 12 min.
Time to L's new school--pushing M in the stroller: approx. 18 min.

Two things to note: When walking by myself, the times will be shorter. AND As I get fitter and stronger, the times will be shorter.

Challenge Drop Out

But, a chance for redemption!

Well, I majorly flunked the Buy Nothing Challenge. I won't recap or make excuses. I just failed.

But, the chance for redemption starts now. I am joining Green Bean Dream's Bookworm Challenge. This is right up my alley. I found one book through my library's electronic books catalog, so I am reading at my laptop. (I can even highlight passages for later.) The book is Radical Simplicity and 15 pages in, I am already riveted.

Truthfully, I have been sort of an intellectual environmentalist, a green armchair quarterback. I know what I should be doing and I do do many things (reusable bags, clothesline, thrift store shopping, instituted cloth napkins and reusable cups and plates at my daughter's preschool, unplugging phantom appliances, shop at co-op/farmer's market/local independent grocery store, member of local meat co-op, joined CSA this year). BUT, these things are easy for me. I have not yet taken the next steps--reducing/eliminating car use, reducing/eliminating eating junk food, losing weight, growing my own food, and most importantly (as I'm learning from the blogging world) SPEAKING OUT. I have also not taken my beliefs and ideas into my son's public elementary school.

I am at the point where the changes I need to make are no longer invisible. They will require confrontation and explanation with my world. And that scares me. I need and want the support of the blogging community, but to get that I have to join not just as an observer, but as a participant.

New Challenge

I am joining Crunchy Chicken's newest challenge--Buy Nothing in April. Since I am already doing the Compact, you would think this is a no-brainer. But no, I gave myself too many exceptions on the Compact; this is hardcore. I am eliminating purchases for quilting/sewing (ok under my Compact).

Day 1--so far, so good.

2008 in 2008

112/2008

The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne

This book challenged me in ways I am still working to digest.
It is forcing me to really look into my core and decide if I am living the life I truly believe.
How much courage and conviction do I have to live life the way I believe it should be lived?
I do not identify as Christian, but reading quotes from the Bible in this context have made me rethink my relationship to Jesus and Christianity. I am not sure where this is leading, but it is interesting to ponder.
Some quotes...
147 For us, belief is only the beginning. What really matters is how we live, how what we believe gets fleshed out...
149 We need converts in the best sense of the word, people who are marked by the renewing of their minds and imaginations, who no longer conform to the pattern that is destroying our world. 150 Conversion is not an event but a process, a process of slowly tearing ourselves from the clutches of the culture.
163 Simplicity is meaningful only inasmuch as it is grounded in love, authentic relationships, and interdependence.
167 The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away.
What I am struggling most with in all of my readings is the need for community. Claiborne's whole premise is that life is based in community, that we will only all prosper in community. Right now, I do not have a community engaged in these thoughts or work. I am unsure how to find it. I guess if I begin to live the life I want, the community and I will find each other.

2008: Year of Non Fiction

I have been a reader my entire life. I love escaping into other worlds, getting glimpses of how people live, think, love. I love ingesting the artful, delicious language of writers, allowing their words to transport me across time and space. I love being a part of the creation of new worlds, partly based in reality but focused on the characters' specific needs.
I have always been a fiction reader.

As I spend more time with non-fiction texts, however, I am learning how they can serve the same purpose. They are telling a story; they are creating a world for me to enter into.

My reading goal for 2008 is to read 15 works of non-fiction.

• Pankaj Mishra's An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World
• "I wholeheartedly recommend the two books by David Hilfiker that find reference in this program: Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen is an extended version of his early booklet that caught my imagination. It has a long and helpful bibliography in addition to all the information it contains. Not All of Us Are Saints: A Doctor's Journey with the Poor is an eloquent and moving account of his family's experiences. "
• 
  
  Memories of God: Theological Reflections on a Life Roberta C. Bondi Abingdon Press, 1995 ISBN: 0687038928
  
  To Pray and to Love: Conversations on Prayer with the Early Church Roberta C. Bondi Augsburg Fortress, 1991 ISBN: 0800625110

I learned of these from Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett, my favorite public radio show!

I want to choose works that will make me uncomfortable, works that will force me to enter into the worlds of those who are suffering. I want books that will strengthen me and give me guidance on my path. I want books that will challenge me--challenge me to work harder, be better, do better, live better. I want books that show me the world, not through the beauty of a created person and landscape, but through the beauty and ugly of the world already created by God.

Me, by the Numbers (odd version)

1--pets I have had (? the best cat EVAH)
3--college degrees (undergrad and grad) I will have when I'm done with my MLS
5--days we will spend at Disney World
7--years until I turn 40
9--years since I taught my first class

Me by the Numbers (even only)

2--number of children I have (L and M)
4--number of countries I've visited (France, Belgium, Chile, Canada)
6--number of schools I attended K-12
8--number of grandparents my kids have
10--number of miles I completed last week (walk, elliptical, stairmaster)

Only one thing to say...

GO BLUE!

The Real Impact of Simple Living

The New Friars is an insipiring and historical look at people living Jesus' hard teachings, the ones about the poor and outcasts. The people profiled are not serving the poor from their comfortable homes; they are living with them, building relationships, and serving them as sisters and brothers.

Usually books like this make me feel bad that I am not doing enough, whatever that means. This book was different, though.

Bessenecker makes it very clear that this path is not for everyone, and that those of us not called to do this work do not have to wallow in helplessness. There is plenty we can do to support their work directly, as well as impact the communities in which we presently life. In addition to the Franciscan brothers and the sisters of Poor Clare, St. Francis established a third order "made up of men and women living sacrificially and simply in the work-a-day world while supporting and praying for the first two orders". From our lives of relative comfort, we can still live according to the underlying qualities embraced by these new friars. They are:

• Incarnation—tearing down the insulation and becoming real to those in trouble
  
• Devotion—making intimacy with Christ our all-consuming passion {I think this is perfectly applicable to people of all faiths.}
  
• Community—intentionally creating interdependence with others
  
• Mission—looking outside ourselves
  
• Marginalization—being countercultural in a world that beckons us to assimilate at the cost of our conscience
  

 

Bessenecker also provides a list of ideas on simple living compiled by Daphne Eck. Here is an excerpt:

RELATIONSHIP

Cultivate a closeness with God.
Practice regular hospitality.
Help each other, emphasize service.
Always speak the truth. Develop a habit of plain, honest speech. If you consent to do a task, do it. Avoid flattery and half-truths. Make honesty and integrity the distinguishing characteristics of your speech.
Don't judge.
Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others.
Consciously seek to identify with the poor and forgotten. Start by visiting hospitals, prisons, and nursing homes.
Schedule "simple" dates with your spouse.
Teach your children.

ACTIVITIES

Make your commitments simple.
Don't overwork.
Fast periodically from media, food, people.
Elevate reading, go to the library.
Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you. Cut down on the use of addictive, non-nutritional food and drinks such as alcohol, coffee, tea, soda, sugar, chocolate.
Simplify Christmas and other holidays. Develop the habit of homemade celebrations.

PACE AND ATMOSPHERE

Slow down.
Do not exhaust your emotional bank account.
Lie fallow.
Say no.
Restrict/eliminate television watching. Turn off or mute advertisements.
Learn to enjoy solitude.

POSSESSIONS AND FINANCES

Cultivate contentment, desire less.
Resist covetousness and consumerism.
Buy things for their usefulness, not their status.
Learn to enjoy things without owning them. Benefit from places of "common ownership" (parks, museums, libraries, rivers, public beaches).
De-accumulate. Develop the habit of giving things away.
Offer others the use of your possessions.
Develop a network of exchange.
Avoid impulse buying.
Don't buy now, pay later.
Avoid credit cards if they are a problem.
De-emphasize respectability.
Simplify your wardrobe--give away excess.
Learn how to make do with a lower income instead of needing a higher one.

APPRECIATION

Be grateful for things large and small.
Emphasize a joyful life.
Appreciate creation.
Send cards of encouragement and appreciation when others are not expecting it.

good green news

walked to field trip
turned off heat
shopped at farmer's market
carpooled to class
bought flannel sheets at thrift shop

discomfort

Why is discomfort such a central component of change? Is pain always a stop on the road to a new life?

How much discomfort am I willing to accept on my journey? How much am I willing to put my family through?

Discomfort and I have always had a bad relationship. I was never allowed, in so much as I could be protected, to experience it. As an adult, I have run away many, many times when it came knocking on my door. Even when it was the only thing between me and my dreams/goals/plans. I rationalized it by changing my dreams/goals/plans, but since they keep recurring in different forms, they are still there but I am not yet ready to confront and embrace the discomfort on my way to achieving them.

One crystal clear example of this is my attempts at weight loss. I am unwilling to begin a diet because of the discomfort I might experience as my mind and body adjust to the changes. As much as I want the end result, I am not willing to crawl through the muck to get there.

I want to get to where discomfort and I have a healthy relationship with respect, give and take, and acceptance. I want to be able to acknowledge and accept my feelings of discomfort but not let them deter me from the path I am choosing. I want to be able to simply say "This is hard" and move forward.

public service announcement

...and my new philosophy of life

If you can't go somewhere and celebrate without inserting your personal drama and issues into the ceremony, stay the %&$^*#@ home!

totally exhausted

Friday 4:45 am--leave for wedding 10 hours away by car
drive, listen to insipid children's literature, find iPod in pocket, smile, escape the car for an hour, arrive in Sibling City, eat cheesesteak, visit R's alma mater, take kids to see Famous Cracked Bell,
drive to BIL's house, socialize, socialize, socialize
Friday 10:00 pm--put kids to bed

Saturday 11:00 am--go to BIL's house for wedding
Sunday 2:30 am--finally go to bed
Sunday 8:45 am--leave for home 10 hours by car
Sunday 7:45 pm--finally arrive home