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.