Although these days I live a simple life because of the choice, there were times when I lived it out of necessity. My husband and I have created businesses that cover only what we love to do, and over the years we have found that this type of lifestyle can sometimes make you poor.
It was at the time when we discovered that our needs are small - tiny, even. When Tay and I first got married, we rented a small tiny consolidated house in a small tiny town, thirty kilometers from the city where we worked.
On Friday evening, we walked along the gravel road to the video rental store, and we chose our movie of the week, which didn’t quite play right on our hand-held VCR. The picture was scrolling endlessly, but the dialogue was going on, so he kept our attention all the time, to the end. After listening to our film, we went to the tiny tiny attic of our tiny tiny cabin, a few inches from the ceiling and from each other, and listen to the ping sound of rain on our solid metal roof.
My memories of those days and in this house are just as exciting as those that I have been thinking from yesterday and from last week.
More than a decade later, we look back at all stages of our life - those when we lived simply and those when we were too busy were too ambitious - and we strive to achieve the best balance so that we can model it for our children,
In the meantime, we worked to redefine abundance for ourselves, and since then it has become clear to us that we are doing a disservice to ourselves when we think about prosperity and abundance only in monetary terms.
I recently read a tip that asked me to determine what abundance it looked like, smelled, felt, and tasty. This is a journalistic exercise that can bring a lot of insight. I decided that, although no one would ever make him a home decor, the abundance smells like my Labrador when he lies in the sun all day. He knows where to place his limbs to get pleasure from the daytime, so the sun can hit him that way. He is not in a hurry if he does not pursue something just for excitement. And he revels in the joy of work, whether she sticks or breaks the trail for our Nordic skis.
The time when I felt the most abundance was in the early morning when I like a quiet time to work in a quiet house when my family is asleep; when I find time to venture into the forest with the children in the summer, just sit cross-legged and eat raspberries; when my son clings to my finger and takes me for a walk, anywhere.
I think we are best served when abundance is defined as a feeling of abundant goodwill, abundant love and abundant peace. Not in a hurry, but simply, a peaceful procession from one moment of life to another.
Regardless of what your income is, it inspires you infinitely to slow down and see if you can recognize true abundance and prosperity, not in six and seven incomes, but in physical, mental and spiritual experience have a lot: a lot of time and a lot of peace.
I pray that my children enjoy a simple life for the rest of their days. I pray that they continue to appreciate the rest in the campground, homemade dishes made from fresh vegetables from the local farm, and all the other small and simple chuckles that accentuate our days. I pray that they understand and enjoy the pleasure of lying in the sun at noon, as well as the feeling that comes only with hard work, well done.
