Want And Need less from Life

I’ve decided to give up a few more things that I really don’t use. Nothing major, but each little bit helps. I’ve also decided to get rid of my magazine collection. I hang onto magazines for way too long. I keep telling myself that I’ll want to refer back to articles in Backpacker for a hiking trip one day or that I’ll want to reread something in a photography magazine one day… so I hang onto the whole magazine. So I’ve decided to get a bind and just clip out the relevant information and keep only that.

This is about satisfaction. Learning to be happy and content with a simple life. I’ve been doing a lot of reading as of late about Voluntary Simplicity and Voluntary Frugality. I can’t help but look at my life and the world and think, “this can’t be right” or “things haven’t always been like this”. I’m not saying everything about my life or the world is bad… but I think we (or at least I) put too much focus on the wrong areas. We really don’t need all the crap we have, and we really really don’t need to be as busy as we are.

I’ve read a blog about one couple that’s been living a lifestyle of Voluntary Simplicity and Voluntary Frugality for many years, and they say it like this, “Time isn’t money, time is better than money.” They purposely live in a way that puts free time over money. When they buy something, they ask, “is X amount of hours worth spending money on this (because it takes time to make money)?” This couple lives in a way that makes a lot less money than what most people would currently be comfortable with, and they do it on purpose because they’d rather have the free time than the money (and no, they aren’t a retired couple). I don’t want to emulate someone else’s life, I want to find my own path, what’s right for me, but I can’t help being inspired by the choices some people make.

I want to learn to live with less. I’m not talking about being poor or anything (though I think that has more to do with a mindset than with the amount of money you have). But I do want to learn to be happy with less. It’s a very interesting way of looking at things… one that deserves some thought, I think.

So many ups and downs. There are so many things I want in life… and yet what I want the most , is to want less…if that makes any sense at all.

I want things to be less complicated, and more clear.
I want people to stay true to their word, and live as honestly as possible.
I want to know there is a cushion of friends and family to fall on when I can no longer stand on my own.
I want hate, racism, and violence to crawl back under the rock from which it came.
I want to change into the person I know I can be.
I want to only blame myself for any unhappiness felt.
I want to know every thing’s going to be alright.
I want the courage to move froward without looking back.
I want to stop wanting.

If I could achieve the last on this list, then perhaps I could save myself from much disappointment and heart ache in the long run. (Though I know I will aways want some of the other things on my list as well , no matter what stage of life I am at)
Give more, want less. Fill myself with the positives in my life, not the negatives that weight so heavily on my heart at times. Be clear with my intents , and stay strong and true to myself.
And eat lots of ice cream.
_{definitely eat lots of ice cream}

needed too much from life. Maybe that’s why I’m never completely satisfied.

To be upset over what you don’t have…
is to waste what you do have.

Ken Keyes Jr.

There is no calamity greater than lavish desires.
There is no greater guilt than discontentment.
And there is no greater disaster than greed.

To have little is to possess.
To have plenty is to be perplexed.

Why am I having such trouble on this one? I’m not the type to try and keep up with “Jone’s” , or the “Smiths” , or any other family on my block for that matter… and yet it seems that if I don’t have a big “Yellow Sticky Note” pasted to my forehead, telling me to ” Need and Want Less”, it’s completely forgotten the minute I hit the “Sale” section of the store !! ( Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to accomplish that goal of mine to “Design my own Tattoo”?)...And the worst part of it is it doesnt matter what “Kind” of store I am in , as long as there is a “Sale “on , I am instantly sucked into the “Vortex Vacuum of Discount Shopping”, and the “Bliss” I momentarily feel while on the “Hunt”...it’s when I get home that it really hits me…..like where am I going to put those six cases of “Sauerkraut” I got “on sale” at “Schneider’s German Green Grocer”, or the “Three Legged Bed ” I got in the “As Is Isle ” Of ” Bodacious Bed’s”, or the THREE “Amazing Weasel Wonder Wheel’s”....(thing is,... I don’t have a “Weasel” ...let alone three!)...then there is the glow in the dark toilet seat ( great for all you guys out there who don’t feel the need to flick on the light in the middle of the night …let alone lift the lid….. ), large roll of “Astro Turf”, “Electric Heated Long-Johns” for all those outdoor “Spectator Sports”...only I can never get a seat close enough to an ” outlet” to plug the Damned thing in…..,Then there is the life size “Dancing Lawn Easter Bunny ” ( with one ear missing)....NEED I SAY MORE ?? !!!!... Forget about keeping up with the Jones or the Smiths,... they won’t even want to know me if they knew about half the “Junk” I was hauling Home !!!....There has got to be some kind of “Support Group” out there for ” Bargain Hunters” much like myself….But what section of the yellow pages should I look under?....I have got to get this under control,.... I am seriously thinking of climbing to the top of the nearest mountain , and chaining myself to a large tree,and throwing away the Key,... and finally setting my spirit and my mind free from all this “Materialistic Mind Clutter” once and for all !!!....but first I need to pack my bag with my “Lip ” shaped blow-up pillow, my “Sequined Sleeping Bag” , and my….