Simple words explaining complex ideas
I’ve spent years advising people to declutter their life because it will enhance their ability to focus. Clear away the nonsense and you’re left with what really matters, right? I started out this pandemic with heartbreak about a writing and yoga retreat I’d looked forward to for months. As I realized it would need to…
In yoga the Sanskrit word sukha is used to talk about the sense of ease. Sukhasana - easy pose - is sitting cross-legged. When I came back to yoga practice after years away, the gentle, kind instructor of our beginner class shocked us one day by saying we wouldn’t start the class lying on our backs…
I used to have a wish list on Amazon, but I couldn't add the things I truly want. They can’t deliver on world peace or solutions to the climate crisis, and don’t seem to have any products to eliminate racism and sexism and ableism and ageism and all the other ways people are told they’re…
Blue Monday!? There's a tradition at my workplace for Blue Monday, where people wear their brightest, clashing-est clothing to fight off the darkness and cold of winter in Canada. I'm not sure the science behind it is solid, but it does mean I get to wear purple polka dot pajama pants all day so I…
So still and grey, it could’ve been the sky, but the lake's small waves lapping on the shore whispered hello. I always feel at home by the water. The campground was full of people and my yurt had little privacy, but I had miles of shoreline to myself. I was confused by the solitude. While…
A funny thing happened as I cleared my house of excess stuff: The invisibility cloak lifted off my furniture. I'd taken it for granted, it was part of the scenery. I hadn't considered living without my lovely living room wall unit, for example, until there was almost nothing left in it and the starkness of…
Resetting My Life I wrote before about the start of my radical decluttering journey (Powerful Books) - it was (officially) in 2015, after years of chaos and trauma in my personal life, when I'd found hope and excitement about the future. (Unofficially, I can trace my first step to a moment of sparkling lights glistening…
People talk about privacy laws and confidentiality requirements with worry and annoyance. I see it differently, and love talking about it in ways that inspire people. I got to do just that last week at a conference in Toronto. I don’t have many specific goals in life - I’ve written about this before - but…
In the video called My Furniture-Free Minimalist Apartment Tour, I was charmed by Youheum Son, an extreme minimalist. I could listen to her soothing voice for hours, but it was the hope of seeing more of her cat, Boru, that kept me glued to my screen. I scrolled through many of her other videos, wondering,…
I’m years into my quest for less, and the more radical decluttering I do, the happier I am. There’s an urgency to it now though, that has nothing to do with the delight I find in simplicity. It’s my children. The earth is on fire, and their future is burning along with it. Our home…