Saturday, April 28, 2012

My Dream Hut

I came across this hut while Kieth and I were walking through the dunes of Cape Cod:


For some reason it had such curbside appeal to me. It seemed to say: Step inside. Take a rest because there's really nothing to do here. Toss your Kindle Fire and LED TV aside and discover the wonder of calm and solitude. It told me, to be creative, to write as long as I wanted without interruptions and why not take a long walk on the beach. No reason to rush back. It told me that, this is a place where a simple life could happen.

A simple life--it sounded so appealing and that's what this shack represented.

What is simplicity?

According to the blog, My Super-Charged Life (http://mysuperchargedlife.com/blog) "Simplicity is choosing to live without excess. It is about eliminating the noise to find the essence of the good life." And oh how much excess we tend to carry in the contemporary world. For example, I currently own a laptop and a desktop computer. Lately, I've been learning more about iPads and have come to believe that I need one. I mean, I don't even own a smartphone, so don't I deserve an iPad. Then, of course, I'll need a case to store it, and the apps available are amazing. iPads are relatively expensive, but I won't have to buy another one anytime soon. They're already on the third version, so it must be perfected by now. But wait, Apple is on the verge of introducing a lighter computer, smaller than the iPad, but not as small as an iPhone.

What should I do?

That hut told me to let it all go--that I had plenty. That true happiness can't be found at the Apple Store. It comes from the beauty of the world, our relationships and working toward our dreams.

Marketers depend on us to be insatiable, always needing more, impossible to satisfy. It's the opposite of simplicity. According to Jeff Nickles, author of A Super Charged Life, simplicity allows us to:
  • Unclutter our lives
  • Have more time to relax
  • Spend less money
  • Achieve better life balance
  • Lighten our footprint on the environment
  • Eliminate the time and expense required by things
  • Focus on what is really important to us
  • Reduce busyness
  • Be more more creative
  • Appreciate the beauty of our surroundings
Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? No wonder that shack in the dunes drew me in. It held a treasure of a message that we often forget in the confusion of our materialistic modern society. Please share a simple thing that brings you joy, but can't be bought in a store.

KICK BACK SONG OF THE WEEK:   
A Simple Love by one of my all time favorite singers, Alision Krause. It represents what so many of us truly want as we hustle through the busyness of our days. I absolutely fell in love with this video:




KICK BACK BOOK OF THE WEEK:
The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware. Bronnie, a nurse, spent several years working in palliative care. As she tended to the needs of the dying, her life was transformed by what her patients revealed to be their life regrets. She blogged about this and the post was read by more than three million people around the world. Bronnie's personal story is now available in book form.

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA:
The five regrets people have before dying according to Bronnie Ware (Clues: It wasn't that they didn't have a greener lawn or more jewelry):
  1. I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
  2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
  3. I wish I had the courage to express my feelings.
  4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
  5. I wish I had let myself be happier. 

16 comments:

  1. @ Peggy - Well-written article. Uncluttering our lives can allow us to enjoy the simplicity that it involves. I also enjoyed the video by Alison Krause.

    Thank you.

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    1. Thanks Daron. That video has to be one of my favorites, if not favorite!

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  2. This is so true. We don't 'need' half of what we have let alone what we still want. The more we have the more we have to keep track of. I love the photo. I think there might even be a story in it. It speaks to me of silence and I love the silence. I don't get enough of it living on a very busy city street. Simple is good. I have never even owned a cell phone or a laptop and since I don't have cable I don't get any channels on the TV either. I'm really from the dark ages. :-) And it doesn't bother me a bit.

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    1. I think there is something to living in those dark ages. It seems like the more we accumulate, the more miserable we become. Good for you!

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  3. I would have been lured in by that hut too. For years my mantra has been 'anything for a simple life'. I'm still trying to get there! Thanks for the share.
    Gwynneth

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  4. It does take effort to keep it simple. I'm right there with you, Gwynneth.

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  5. Thoreau:

    Simplify, simplify.

    I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

    Belanger:

    Keep it simple, stupid. (KISS)

    It takes great intelligence and effort to keep things simple.

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  6. Thanks for the quote, Steven. You're right. It takes a great deal of effort to keep it simple. I know I have to remind myself about how it important this is to achieve authentic, satisfied living.

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  7. You're tapping into my wavelength today. This is good content in this post.


    Lee
    An A to Z Co-Host
    Tossing It Out

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  8. Good stuff, Peggy. I know it would do me good to follow the advice here. Thanks.

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  9. I'm enjoying your beautiful blog, especially today's post. Lately I've been getting rid of things I don't need, and with every discard I feel lighter. It's a slow process but definitely worthwhile.
    By the way, I found you through LinkedIn's "New Authors Need Marketing Ideas" group.

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  10. What an awesome posting! Really makes you look at things along life's highway with a totally new perspective. Thank you for sharing:) Just joined as a follower. I invite you to visit http://awakenings2012.blogspot.com/ and http://catnipoflife.wordpress.com/

    Perhaps their content would interest you in following:)

    Sharla

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  11. Beautiful! We are getting ready to move and I've discovered the simple joys of giving away things we could use but don't really need. Just as I began gaining momentum, my cousin called to tell me that her childhood friend's house had just burned to the ground and this young couple was left with nothing but their cat and the clothes on their backs. My kids and I scoured the neighborhood and came up with a whole slew of household items to get them started and I can't tell you how good we all felt after that. Simplicity is a quiet thing, but so rewarding!

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  12. Love your post and that's exactly what I'm trying to do! We just gave a "truckload" of things to Disabled Vets and I love trying to "simplify" both my life and our home. I'm pretty much ready to join Thoreau at Walden and just sit there and watch the ants with him!

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  13. I really want to read Bronnie's book! Thanks for the reminder. Loved the video. We have swans who we've passed for years in a pond near the beach. They are so beautiful!!
    The hut? Reminded me of the teeny beach houses that line the shores. I've always wanted to live in a house that small. But with all of our kids (at one time there were 9 at home) it would be chaotic. So that's my later-in-life dream house!
    Lovely post! Thanks.

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  14. Hi Peggy. I really enjoyed reading this. I'm still struggling with the networks but managed to get on to your site via the picture on my own site. Anyway, I've requested email notifications so hopefully will be able to keep visiting. Thanks again and all good wishes.

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