polarunion

I received a hand written letter in the mail yesterday. I can’t describe the feeling that I got from opening it. A personalized letter with well written, well thought out content is about as connected as you could get with someone. It’s something that can be kept forever in a box, that will eventually be uncovered. Not to say that a personalized email has no feeling or personalization to it, it just doesn’t possess the soul that the pen and paper can provide. There’s a certain sense of feeling, personalization, that comes out of the paper, that can’t be derived from a computer screen.

I wonder about this. Is it the ability to hold, and smell something that has been held and manipulated by the other person?

I guess you could say that I get the same satisfaction out of a meal prepared by a friend. The friend who shops for the produce, and other ingredients and puts in their efforts to make something from nothing.

I think it’s the humanistic approach to things that I feel as though I’ve deviated away from, and that I’d like to come back to. It’s a life with a more feeling, emotion and compassion. Slow life down a pace, and then all of a sudden things become brighter, clearer, and less cluttered. It’s the simplicity of having 5-10 really great friends vs 500, as my Facebook dictates I have.

It’s about live shows and less downloads, travel vs travel tv, books and magazines vs the internet. It’s about taking an hour for coffee instead of a text message.

I came across this site the other day by accident, and I was inspired. Within, there was a list of “43 Simple Ways To Simplify Your Life”

I’ve cut, pasted, and added to it to bring it down to a certain number that would reflect on me best. It goes a little something like this.

1. Work a fixed schedule
2. Be realistic with time lines and place space between obligations
3. Process email only twice a day.
4. Be rested.
5. Focus on quality.
6. Create a weekly meal plan.
7. Automate finances
8. Purge unneeded clutter
9. Prepare the night before for the following day
10. Prepare lunches, the night before.
11. Make time to catch up with an old friend.
12. Just say no.
13. Ask for experiences not things for birthdays and Christmas
14. Tell the truth.
15. Consolidate debt.
16. Schedule everything and be on time
17. Enjoy the present moment
18. Take time for people.
19. See the little things in life.
20. Don’t feel the need to be constantly surrounded by others.
21. Get outside.
22. Create morning, daytime, and evening routines.
23. Do things at home or at other peoples homes as much as possible (eat, date nights, entertain etc.).
24. Talk only of positive things and silently digress from the negative.
25. Let go of the self-imposed need to be perfect.
26. Relax.
27. Prepare more home cooked meals and eat out less.
28. Learn to delegate tasks to others and trust their abilities
29. Reduce your wardrobe to a few versatile items and donate the rest.
30. Be positive.
31. Pay gratitude, where gratitude is due
32. Finish old tasks before taking on new ones.
33. For every new item that enters your home set two free.
34. Want what you have not what you don’t.
35. Focus on one thing at a time.
36. Wear your shades
37. Keep a trip fund and fill it once a month for the yearly escape
38. Heed your inner child
39. Take more photos and love your blog
40. Learn horticulture. Plant things and let them grow.

Here’s a short series I enjoyed watching this morning over coffee. This takes care of #38 for the day.

See the rest of the series on the Tube.