Gratefulness or Great Full ness?

This gratefulness list is an ongoing project. Set aside, sometimes, but temporarily. Picked up again. Continuing on. Some days, I have to scratch and dig to find something, like a hen searching for seeds, clawing at frozen soil. Those are the days I need to do this the most. That tiny seed, clawed for and found, nourishes my heart and grows in my mind to redirect my thoughts from burdened overload to a light-hearted perspective. Which I need.

The lists in the tabs above are numbered. Now, I don't number. And, I try to think of the whys. Taking the list to the next level of why I am grateful for something. What about that person/item/situation sparks gratefulness in my heart?

My goal, here, is to update this list about once a week. Perhaps, as you browse through, you will find a spark toward gratefulness in your heart, also.

• laughing with the kids (vs. insult = humor)
• responsibility - seeing it in our kids
• awareness/observation - they asked how I taught them that (Guess Who? game?)
• Farming Game - listening to B and N talking money, acres, tractors, cows, fruit...
• cold drink with ice on a hot day
• mini golf fun outing
• fresh corn on the cob, summer treat
• homemade jellies from the Farmers' Market booth - enjoying someone else's labor, glad to pay for it
• trip plans, tickets purchased, looking forward to family visits
• 2B Mindset food plan - wow! 14 pounds down so far, sustainable nutrition plan
• re-reading Four Seasons in Rome - how Doerr distills words to perfection
• from The Book of Mysteries Day 231 "Give thanks today for all your blessings, and for all your blessings in disguise - those of the past and the still-disguised blessings of the present."
• gratefulness or greatfulness? to see that life is full of great ness
• "The brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest light to all the world." -Ann Voskamp
• Day 251 Book of Mysteries " The Miracle World "Imagine if the Red Sea parted at about six every morning...would no longer be amazing...we live in the miraculous...For you are already living in a miracle world."  [eg: sunrise every morning]
• passport applications sent in - trip in September! 
• a new car - wow, amazing! a first!
• one dried bean in a jar - first from crop - a small start, but a start - a literal seed investment and a reminder of the importance of every small step
• a new granddaughter - a life of beginnings for her
• boxes sorted, organized, emptied! relief of empty space
• create a 'smile file' from The Little Book Of Lykke, Meik Wiking Why?...elaborate on how they impact your life in  a positive way. This list is my Smile File
• Denver Botanic Gardens w/ H - wow! flowers - zinnias, amaranth and summer stock - ordinary flowers with far from common impact - absolutely gorgeous! wow power!
• Tiny House Festival - dreams, inspiration, new visuals to think about, plans, ideas
• another Little Book of Lykke quote: "...turn the idea of the pursuit of happiness into the happiness of the pursuit..." Happiness is a by-product of the process.
• boxes sorted and stuff gone! continuing process , freedom and clarity and 'weight-loss' (less burden)
• new backpack - looking forward to many trips with it - family visits and new scenery - plan to travel light
• PRAYING CALM - when worried about family (3 on Pike's Peak in a thunderstorm, 1 recovering from a tough birth)(capitals show how much I needed the calm...)
• A Light So Lovely, by Sara Arthur - new book about spiritual legacy of Madeleine L'Engle. Beautiful, honest - favorite quote..."she showed up..." Powerful words about her life.

Very Little

To write a short story, is, for me, a lesson in traveling light. Condense. Refine. Edit. Simplify. Clarify my thinking. Ask - what exactly am I trying to say? Limit the words. Especially for short shorts, a short story limited to five hundred words: how to incorporate protagonist, conflict, climax, and a satisfying resolution in few words.

Working within a framework, within a given, limited space provides form and structure, like an architect designing a tiny house, including all the necessary elements, excluding anything unnecessary.

Process. Practice. Patience - to write, refine, edit, and do it again, over and over.

Every word matters.

Here is my next five hundred word short story. Not perfection, for the learning process, for practice.




Very Little


Interesting things happen in grocery stores. Anywhere, actually, where people are, interesting things happen.

Brandy and I went to the store for two loaves of bread, chunky peanut butter and bananas. We giggled and talked about something silly - I don't remember what.

An older man walked past us. I thought he looked grumpy. Even that made me giggle. Some days everything is funny. This was one of those days.

Brandy said, "A loaf of bread. Mom didn't say what kind, and I have no idea. Shelves, thirty feet long, five shelves tall, six feet high. We could feed two whole schools with all this bread. Shandia, what do I get?"

"What looks familiar?" I asked Brandy. "What does she usually buy?

"Whole-wheat, I guess. This looks familiar. Yeah, this looks good."

Three little girls ran around us. One grabbed Brandy's jeans, to hide behind her. We giggled, they giggled.

Their mom scolded, "Really, girls, can't you behave? Leave her alone. Isn't it enough you smacked into that man?"

"It's okay," said Brandy. "She's just having fun."

"All day long she's just having fun. Nothing serious, ever, for her," the mom complained.

We couldn't help giggling. Brandy squatted down to be eye level with the girl, who gave her a sheepish grin. "You are mischievous, aren't you?" Brandy said. "I think you have a pretty smile, and, I think you should listen to your mom."

The girl glanced up at her mom. The other girls drew closer, drawn by Brandy's friendliness.

"Do you know what my mom tells me?" Brandy asked them.

The three shook their heads.

"'It's good to laugh,' in fact, she quotes some famous guy, 'The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.' And she quotes another famous guy: 'Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.' So, listen to your mom. She knows what she is talking about. Okay?"

Brandy held up her hand, and high-fived them.

"Not bad," I told Brandy. "You quoted a poet and a Roman Emperor to three cute little girls who probably didn't understand a word you said."

"Nonsense," said Brandy. "They understood perfectly. It will give them something to think about while they look at bread and pickles and bags of apples."

The older man turned toward us, a loaf of bread in his hand. "Please, excuse me. I overheard you. My grandmother had that plaque on her wall, 'Very little is needed to make a happy life.' She loved that, she always had it to remind her. Sometimes she didn't have much, but she was happy." He smiled, "Thank you for reminding me of her."

Brandy and I thanked him, then went to find the peanut butter.  I told her, "Even a very little encounter with someone is interesting. Because people are interesting, and they do interesting things."


"And every day has a reason to smile," said Brandy. We giggled.



(In case you are wondering, the quotes are from e.e. cummings and Marcus Aurelius)

Useful and Beautiful

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

- William Morris

This is probably a familiar quote.  I have a version of my own that I attempt to apply.

Have nothing in your house that is there because it was put there six months ago and never moved or that you do not know where it is (like what is in that box or drawer).

Intentional is the key word here. Choice. Did I choose to put [that] there or is [it] there by accident?

More wise words (bear with me, here). The best way to organize and clean an area - drawer, cupboard, shelf - is to completely clear it out. Empty. Nada. Then, clean it, and replace only what you use, love, appreciate, enjoy or think is beautiful enough to adorn your house.

So, I sit here at my desk, surrounded by piles, and That Voice says, "So, Miss Phoney Baloney. What do you know about cleaning things up and organizing? Look at this disaster! You call it productivity, creativity. I call it a mess. What a joke!"

And I have to admit, That Voice is correct. Insulting, intimidating, but correct.

Act Two: The Nester, for the month of June is going au naturel - sans accessories. Nada. She cleared off all her surfaces, plunked all the stuff in their guest room, and will go without for thirty days. With the one rule, if they are using it, it can be out, like candles, computers, a book you are reading, plants, things alive. Her boys were not relegated to the guest room for the thirty days. They all still live there, and whatever is involved in that busy family life is good. But not all the deco, pretty, cute stuff.

So, I sit here at my desk, surrounded by piles, and That Voice says, "Why don't you do this with your desk? Clear it off completely, except for what you really truly handle and use every single day, keep it bare and maintain it that way for thirty days?"

And I have to admit, That Voice is correct.

My desk is my personal disaster area. Much in need of a drastic diet. A fast is in order. A clutter fast. A time to be honest with myself. Instead of calling it creativity and productivity, call it what it is. A disaster, a mess. I have cleared up and organized much of our house, but my desk - sigh.

The Nester is doing a linky party, so others can share their progress, demise, fears, successes. Perhaps my desk is more about the amount of stuff on the surface. Way too much. The challenge to go without. To begin with the minimal basics, for the rest of June.

Life is not about stuff. What freedom to sit at my desk and not be afraid to knock over a pile when I reach for the coffee. I am thinking this will give me inspiration to focus on one project at a time. That it will give me more productivity and creativity.

For some of you, this may come naturally. Not me. This is a process. The Nester is taking on her whole house. Me, just my desk. This is my Everest.

Breathing room. I did leave my calendar, my computer and my devotional books.  And my coffee.

The pile that was on my desk - embarrassing.

I want what is on my desk to be useful and beautiful.

Traveling Lighter, not buried in stuff.

Switch it Around

We have lived in this house for eleven months, almost. A few months ago I felt like the kitchen arrangement just wasn't working. The kitchen isn't that big, but there were a lot of unnecessary steps. For several weeks, I thought about how I used the pots, the baking stuff, the pantry goods (we don't have an official pantry space here). How could I make it better, more efficient, more practical?

The end result? I turned the kitchen over on its head and switched around the contents of  the cupboards, drawers and cabinets. The silverware went into the drawer closest to the table, reversing spots with the measuring cups and spoons, moving them into the drawer on the island. The pots and pans went into the deep corner cabinet with the turny thingy. The pantry goods moved from the turny thing (I'm sure it has a better name), to under the island where the pots and pans had been and where my smart husband added metal wire shelves supported by blocks of wood on either side. Impermanent, flexible, made from pieces we had in the garage, cost, zero. And it doubled the storage space in that cabinet. The cereal drawer switched with the flour and baking supplies.

 The next few days I heard lots of, "Where did the coffee go?" "What did you do with the cereal?" We all settled into the new placings quickly, showing how much better organized it all was. Once in awhile we do still go to the island drawer for the silverware. Old habits die hard.

Every time I open the corner cabinet for a fry pan or a pot, I smile and think, yes, this is where these should be. When the cans and boxes of macaroni and jars of whatever were in there, something would fall off when I spun it around. This is much better.

What things in your life could benefit from switching them around? Maybe the stuff on a closet shelf would work better somewhere else. Or, even better, thinned out and headed out the door. In the months we have been here, I have enjoyed the results of all the thinning out we did when we moved. But the time has come to go through things again, eliminate, clear out, and enjoy more empty space. So much better to have space to breathe, space to grow. What could you switch around?

Trailer Travel

I have a new fascination with trailer travel. Recently, a friend sent me a link for tiny trailers. Not sure I could go that small. But that led to links about restoring vintage trailers. Which led to links about other trailer options. I was off in a world of imaginary travels.

We used to joke that when our kids were all grown and in homes of their own, my husband and I would get an RV to live in and visit them around the country. We are not at that point yet, but someday?

Have you had a trailer? Any thoughts? On our recent road trip I was impressed by the variety and quantity of the trailers out there. My theme song of traveling lighter could be well lived in a cute little trailer...

Your Light

"Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me..."

Psalm 43:3

joining the quiet Sunday community



and Still Saturday

Acceptance and a Quiet Heart

Amy Carmichael, a missionary in India, wrote,

"In acceptance lies peace."

Accept [even this]. We (at least I do) immediately start a list of qualifiers. But not [this] or certainly not [that]. Nope. Accept [even this].

One of our daughters compared this to a making a fist, or the contrast of an open hand. She wrote,

"I did a study on acceptance and that really helped my outlook on life. The opposite of acceptance is resistance, and resistance consumes a huge amount of energy. Someone compared it to when you clench your fist, how it takes strength and energy to clench your fists. But, if you open your hands and relax them (let go), it takes no strength and no energy. Acceptance, letting go...it means you stop using your energy on things you have no control over so you have energy for the things you do have control over (mainly yourself). It's a wonderful thing!"                      -Ginny

 Remember in the Charlie Brown Christmas movie when Lucy is telling Linus why he has to get rid of his blanket? She says, "I'll give you five good reasons." Holding her open hand hand in front of his face, she tucks in each finger, counting, "One, two, three, four, five," ending with a tight fist, a fighting stance.
Linus says, "Those are very good reasons." And with what we know of Lucy's character, she was not one to back down.

An open hand is relaxed. Turned upward, it is able to receive.  A peaceful stance.

The contrast of a smile or a frown illustrates this concept, too. A peaceful, calm, relaxed smile. Or, a tight-lipped, jaw-tensed, scrunched-up forehead. Ask my family which I wear more often. My goal, a relaxed, quiet smile.

Like a surfer catching the waves, the goal is to stay on top, loose, fluid, and relaxed. Balanced. A surfer doesn't control the waves. But s/he can accept the strength and power of the wave and it becomes a tool, a means of travel.

Traveling lighter. Let go. A quiet smile. Acceptance. Balance. An open hand. The strength of  a quiet heart.

I Want More

Does this seem an odd title when my theme is traveling lighter? When I wrote last week about minimalism?

Dissatisfied isn't always about things. Sometimes it is discontent with me.

When I lie in bed at night, I think of all I should have/could have/ shouldn't have/said/done. (Take your pick. There are always regrets to mull over. This girl is far from perfect.)

I want to be more awake, more aware to each moment.

In this moment, what do I want more?
          This cookie, this second helping? Or, more health, more strength, more energy?

In this moment, what do I want more?
           The satisfaction of a caustic reply? Or the emotional confidence to love and give? Do I want more strength to give up what I want to gain more love, or do I choose to snap back a "smart" retort?

In this moment, do I skip daily Bible reading and turn on the computer to read emails?
           Or do I want more, the deep satisfaction of quiet moments with the Lord, preparing my heart and mind for the day?

In this moment, our son returning a painfully slow answer (that takes Forever...) do I show patience and kindness?
         Or do I bleat a hasty, impatient response that is all about me and my time, not understanding or acknowledging or meeting his needs?

In this moment, I want more. More awake, more aware of others.

In this moment, the setting sun fading the air to peach, to gold, to navy, do I see it?
           Am I aware of the beauty of the deepening day?
            Or am I too absorbed in dinner preparations, clearing up a daily load of clutter, or fretting over all that didn't get done that day?

In this moment, do I see the amaryllis bulb unfolding a tiny bit each hour, soon to explode in a firecracker of blossom?
           Or do I settle in the secure familiar of haste and hurry of anxiety over [anything] [everything]?

What do I want more?

I ask a lot of questions.

The answers are a process. Part of being awake, aware, realizing I have a choice.

And the calm beauty of the season is there. Here.

If I look for it.

More love.

More kindness.

More patience.

More strength.

More beauty.

I want more.


Emily Freeman, "Chatting at the Sky", is hosting a series for December, "Tuesdays, Unwrapped."
"Celebrate the lovely, the messy, the unexpected."
"Unwrap the small, secret gift of the everyday."
Linking with her, today, to unwrap the beauty, the gift of this Tuesday.

Simple Christmas Links

Traveling Lighter.

 I haven't written much lately with this theme. Since we moved five months ago, getting rid of over half our stuff, perhaps I have relaxed and lost a bit of focus.

There are some very good blogs I read about minimalism. These writers live far beyond my meager efforts at living with less and they give me courage to renew my efforts.

This post, by becoming minimalist includes seventeen links to other posts about simplifying Christmas, focusing on the important things, not on things. This is a post to browse over the next few weeks, with lots of  information and ideas to absorb.

I appreciate the variety of perspectives in these blogs. There is not one formula, not one way to live with less.  Each writer, each family, each home, makes their choices based on a process that changes with life's circumstances. Sometimes with more, sometimes with less.


http://www.becomingminimalist.com/simple-christmas-links/

A Clean Pan

It happens. I burn the food in the pan. Probably because I was distracted doing something else. Even with soaking, this will take a lot of scrubbing. I would much rather do something else. Most anything else.

One of my projects, a gradual process, is to get rid of all the cleaning products that use harsh chemicals and switch to natural cleaning products, using baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and borax. I haven't made the complete switch yet, but making progress.

Okay. The burned, black encrusted pan. I sprinkled baking soda, a generous layer. Then, I sprinkled drops of water, just enough to barely dampen the soda. And left it overnight. Time to go do something else: read aloud, write, go for a walk, play a game with the kids, read...

In the morning, the hard layer of black crust peeled right off the pan. I rinsed it out, swished it with dish soap and voila, clean and shiny, with hardly any labor.

Nice. I can go for that type of cleaning! Less work, simpler, with fewer cleaning supplies cluttering the shelves.





Another way to travel lighter.
And have shiny pots and pans.

Balance

At one of the houses we lived in in Colorado, I sat at our dining room table in the late afternoon, sketching the pine trees and the deck outside the window. Although I am not an artist (of the drawing or painting variety), sketching is a tool for seeing details, really looking at something in order to define it, a way to describe the details without words in order to find the words.

As I sketched the branches and pine needles hanging over the deck railing, I realized, saw, that tiny icicles had formed along the branches. Drips had frozen in mid-air, the drop suspended from the branch by an icy thread. As the sun settled lower over the mountains, the sunlight flickered through the icicles as the branch drifted in the wind, creating  a show of colors I could not reproduce with my pencil.

By that time, though, I was not drawing. I sat, struck by the beauty I would have missed if I hadn't been focusing on a small scene, just a small part of the beauty outside our bay window. I doubt I would have noticed the tiny icicles if I was busy around the house, as usual. Taking the time to stop and look, really look, opened a door to unseen beauty, a pause in the middle of life, a window to gratefulness.

In the last post, I said I try not to miss life by interpreting every event into a writing project or photo shoot. On the other side, the time taken to interpret what is going on in life, by words or a photo or a sketch helps me to see and discover the life that is around me. Seeing the details I might have missed completely as I raced by.

Balance. Sometimes one way, sometimes leaning another, sometimes writing and taking pictures, sometimes living in the simple things as I wander through the days.

Traveling Lighter, with balance.

Half as Much

At the beach last weekend they had rules against picking up any shells, rocks or animals (duh!). Driftwood, however, could be collected, with a limit of fifty pounds a day. Fifty pounds??? We walked along the beach, exploring the tide pools, enjoying, appreciating, reveling in the colors and variety and sounds of the crashing waves. Any interesting shells were occupied by some little creature - not too tempting. Toward the end of the curve of the beach where we decided to turn around, I found lots of interesting driftwood. Pieces with color, texture, interesting angles, odd shapes. I started picking up the pieces I liked, thinking I would take them home and add them to the glass jar with driftwood from other beach trips.

I am more of a collector than I'd like to admit. Walking back along the beach with two handfuls of driftwood seemed silly. I had to put them down to take more photos. It wasn't fifty pounds, but still way too much. I set it all down on a rock, and kept only what I could fit in one hand. A fifty percent reduction.

That, I think, will be my theme song for this Christmas. Fifty percent less: less food, less spending, fewer new decorations, fewer plans, less shopping. Probably not an exact fifty percent less, more of an attitude, being happy with less, making choices for the options with less. Traveling Lighter.

The Roots Must Be Pruned

If you are a gardener, you are familiar with the term root pruning. Often, the pots you buy at the nursery are root bound. When you tip the plant out of its small container, the roots are visible on the outside of the soil, running around and around the pot, holding the soil firmly in shape.

If you don't prune the roots by cutting them with a knife or a sharp shovel, or by disentangling the roots with your fingers if they're not too tightly interwoven, the plant will never grow beyond its current size and strength. The roots of a  root bound plant will continue to grow in the known direction--in a tight circle.

I have seen this in pre-planted pots sold in the spring. They are a beautiful mix of flowers and colors that bloom prettily for awhile, but last only a short time. When the blooms die out, I pull out the plants to move them to a new location and find the exact shape of the nursery pot, the roots still conformed to the form of their first tiny container.

To encourage new growth, the roots must be sliced at intervals around the root ball in order to provide room for growth of new root hairs, the critical, fragile part of the root that soaks up the water and nutrients from the soil, transporting it to the plant to provide strength and health and growth and beauty.

When you divide perennials, the roots are also severely pruned. Depending on the plant and the type of root system it has (runners, tap root, bulbs, etc.) the division is done differently; but for each, the roots are cut back, returned to the soil and given room to spread and encourage new growth in the plant.

Some trees respond well to root pruning, a process involving a large tool dug into the ground to sever the roots at points around the tree - again, in order to encourage new, stronger growth.

My roots are being pruned. Being moved to a new location, a new home in September. The good news:

• I have roots, and will continue to have roots, which will grow stronger through this pruning
• The result of root pruning is increased productivity and fruitfulness
• Newly cut, freshly replanted roots will provide abundant growth.  I do want rich, full growth rather than a limited, narrow, confined perspective

Although the sharp edge cutting through the roots seems painful and severe, the intended result is increased beauty and blessings. I am ready for the pruning.

Many opportunities for Traveling Lighter on the horizon.

Snug in their new home, ready for growth

The Page Turns

"How I Learned To Live A Better Story" is the subtitle for A Million Miles In a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller. The book is about choices, mistakes, purpose and responsibility; about recognizing the brilliance and beauty of life.

Are we aware of the story we are living?  Most of life is not like the intense climax scene when the character runs in slow motion through an exploding brilliance of colors in an imploding crisis of personal desperation.  He storms through the flames and comes through to the other side with courage, confidence, and blood spattered battle burns. The danger is averted, either to himself, the gorgeous gal or his treasure.

Sometimes, for us, the drama is heavy with disappointment or grief, when an hour ticks by in a thousand years.

As we "read" through the story of our lives, as in a book, we turn the pages, we reach the end of the chapter, move on to new parts, and eventually reach the end of the book, hoping our character has achieved his purpose. One big difference: in a book we can go back and re-read the good parts, the words we want to read again. In life, we turn the page and have to move on, unable to go back. We can only go forward.

This week, pages have turned for our family. Changes. Adjustments. Shifts. A room empty, an empty place at the table, the realization of "never again as it has been." From now on, it will always be different.  They will come back, of course, not as guests, still family of course, but different, grown up.

Somehow I always thought the kids would grow up.  Turns out I'm the one who still has to grow up, who still has to work to accept the brief, fleeting, impermanence of life.  I want to hoard them all, to keep them close, to treasure each of them now and forever.

Instead, I find another lesson to travel lighter.  To let them go. To give them wings and trust they will know the roots are always there. We have a family story, but each of them also has their own story to write and live.  Their own character to create, turning the pages as they bring that character to life, beginning new chapters, reading through their own story. And hopefully, none of them will have to run through fiery explosions (we have come close, twice). Just being the characters they are is good enough. Hopefully they will live their stories - with choices and mistakes, with courage and confidence - illuminated by the beautiful brilliance of life.

Trying not to be a basket case

Lighten the Load

OK. So, I wrote yesterday about traveling lighter, and my process of learning to carry a lighter load.  Here is where it gets tough - I have to put feet to my thoughts, and actually do something about it.
I said I love books, and the result of that is having too many.  My family laughs at me when I acquire new books and they groan every time we move. "The weight of all these books does not feel like traveling lighter!"  I justify - I re-read them, we use them with various subjects with the home-teaching, etc. But, they are right, I do have too many books.  I decided today to get rid of fifty books. Ouch.

Two of the blogs I like to read, The Nesting Place, and Small Notebook, both have discussed thinning out, and learning to "loosen the grip of stuff."  OK, OK, I am listening.  Can you tell this is a struggle for me? I wrote a post on January 26, that my word for this year is "lighten."  This is where my feet have to start walking.

Decisions: do I absolutely love this book?
                 will I read it again?
                 could I get it at the library ?
                 is it a practical reference book for our schooling?
                 do I have a duplicate? (embarrassing)
                          
The result: 63 books on their way to the thrift store.

For fun, I decided to weigh them, to see how much I actually lightened.
Today, I lost  41 1/2 pounds!!!
Yes, family, I can hear you cheering.

Traveling Light

     A library sale. The books at a thrift store. A book sale anywhere.  Amazon on-line. If you're looking for me at the store, I'll be in the book section  (or the plant nursery, but that's another story). I do not enjoy shopping, unless it involves books (or plants). I love books, of all different types, with knowledge and adventures and advice and inspiration and humor and vicarious life and wisdom hidden between their covers.  
     I found this little gem, Traveling Light for Mothers, by Max Lucado, at a library sale. It's a cute little book, only 5x5 inches, but don't be deceived by its diminutive size.  It is power packed. This book is the inspiration behind this blog, and behind the direction I've been setting in my life.

     After I'd read the book several times, I took the theme of each chapter and listed them in my journal on the front page.  I listed the spiritual side, like letting go of past hurts and regrets, and the practical side; getting rid of stuff, clearing out the closets and cupboards of hidden stuff.


     For me, this continues to be a very revealing exercise, and it opens up ways to pay attention and put actual footsteps to my thoughts. I have re-copied this into each new journal as I fill up the old ones for several years now, adjusting a few points as I go, but the list has stayed pretty much the same - always new levels, new layers, more progress to be made in the process of learning to travel lighter through life.