a Simple Life for a Time of Excess

Recently I revisited an old friend, the book Simple Living by Frank Levering and Wanda Urbanska. Every once in a blue moon I feel the need to remind myself of what’s important to me, what I want out of life, my ‘grand scheme of things’ goals and part of that for me is reading books by people with similar views/goals/ideals/lifestyles. Each time I re-read my favorites I find something new that strikes me as poignant depending on what has been going on in my life, the world, etc. The following is what spoke to me most this past week…


“Ralph maintained that coffins, as well as funerals, should be simple and inexpensive. ‘Father believed that what money we had was a gift from God,’ Sam once told us, ‘and that we should not waste it on ourselves. There were very many useful ways in which money could be used – that helped other people, that helped make the world a better place.’ “ - page 249 Simple Living


In this time of economy crashes, mass consumerism, and financial crisis it seems that the majority of western culture doesn’t have its priorities right. The whole Robin Hood complex of steal from the rich and give to the poor is missing and I think that’s incredibly unfortunate… not that I would encourage stealing, I think there are better ways, but it’s the principle of the matter. The culture we live in allows, even encourages mass consumption, gorging ourselves on food riches luxury cars… For some reason I was able to avoid that mindset.

I grew up on Long Island. We used to laugh at the idiots with the tricked out trucks, utility tires, 4 wheel drive, the works… also the gas guzzlers… on the best kept, plowed (if it ever snowed more than an inch), flat roads I’ve ever seen. Did they think they were tough? Four years ago I moved to western NY, to the poorest county in the state where people don’t have money for the vehicles they do need, where many roads aren’t paved let alone plowed. There isn’t public transit like there is in the city, the nearest town is often at least 5 miles away, and people make ends meet. Last year I went to the third world country of Tanzania… if moving to a poor rural area wasn’t enough of a wake up this simply shook my world. In American standards the people live with nothing… that’s a rant for a different day… but I have never seen a happier more fulfilled people. Yes I’d give anything to see such a beautiful people healthier, with decent shelter, medical care, and clean water. Oh I’d give everything I have to provide a village with clean water… hmmm maybe I will.

I’m not suggesting that everyone have the same amount of money… and such, but I think that this comes down to a problem with distribution of wealth stemming from a heart issue. You know that saying, ‘you can’t help the poor by being poor.’? I get it. It makes sense. We live in a time where money talks, it’s a necessary evil. Why aren’t people giving then? Why aren’t needs being met? Here’s what I think the deal is… We’re living too large. I didn’t grow up with much, yet I had an incredibly happy childhood. I had everything that I NEEDED, not necessarily everything I wanted, but I was never without. The best part was that when we did have a little more, it was super special and we enjoyed it more than anything. It was a simple life, but a wonderful one. Why can’t we all live smaller? Life with luxury is not necessarily a bad thing at all; it’s the gross excess that is the problem! Let that excess go to bless someone else! Fund a community program, donate to a food-bank, do something personal… anything. One of my most precious memories is finding a bag of groceries on our doorstep as a child. It was just the basic necessities, but it was an overwhelming blessing, I knew even as a little kid that things were tight… we never knew who left that bag, but just think… 17 years later and it still sticks with me.

What kind of impact could you have on a life, just by cutting back a little bit? I’m not talking some radical change. Things take time. Me? Well I work a job that just pays the bills, extra odd jobs to pay for art supplies… but in the next few years I’ll be making more money, but I intend on living on the same budget. That extra money… that will go towards blessing someone else, it’s not mine to keep. If God has given me more than I need to live, well its there for a reason; it’s there to be passed on to someone who needs it. God provided for me all these years through the love of other people, it is my turn to do the same. Maybe I will get that village the clean water… that’s what I can hope for. Care to join me?

little bits

We forget to look down, to turn over, to search under.
We ignore the weeds, the seed pods, the beautiful bearers of life, an inportant part of the ecosystem so demonized.

Me? I love those little buggers! They fascinate me. My favorite? Milk weed pods, no doubt.

Sigh No More

So this is not a writing of my own, but still speaks to me every time I read it. It's got to be quality if I still chuckle even years later... :)




Sigh no more, ladies, sigh nor more;
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never;
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into. Hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, sing no mo,
Or dumps so dull and heavy;
The fraud of men was ever so,
Since summer first was leavy.
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into. Hey, nonny, nonny.

~ William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing

Wednesday Resolution

There are a few things in my life that I absolutely do not like: Habits I’ve fallen into, activities I’ve gotten involved with, and people I have chosen to spend my time with. I have gotten fed up with how these decisions make me feel in the end and I’m honestly mad that I’ve let myself get to this point. I know how I am happiest, I know when I have my joy and right now I can’t find that peace of mind anywhere. How angry do I have to become to actually make a change though? Will I so quickly get caught back up into this unwanted lifestyle and shrug off what may take a little more work, but is vastly more satisfying in the end? Here I present myself with a challenge. I do not like New Year’s resolutions; smaller goals make much more sense to me and seem much more achievable. This is my Wednesday resolution: To pursue my passion, to leave behind what has been dragging me down, and to go out and thrive the way I know best.
I don’t back down from a challenge.

thank goodness for people

People are the greatest blessings in life…

It can be one of those days you just wasn’t to get messed up and forget everything but then that one person stops to chat. The obnoxious ornery nature in you tries to shrink away and continue wallowing, but they somehow got you in a hold and you find yourself emerging from your miserable funk, lifted by someone else’s compassion, caring, and positive energy.

The incredible thing is that this simple conversation will seem to uplift you for days and be the greatest encouragement you couldn’t have even imagined.

People are phenomenal sometimes. I am overwhelmedly thankful for human interaction and that we are such a communal communicative species of being.

rediscoveries

I was reading through old scraps of paper I had written snippets of thoughts on over the past few years, just to gather all them together into one place, and a few really stood out to me.

“Rough bark biting into my back woke me up. The sound of waves lapping on Cranberry Lake (though I didn’t know that’s where I was at the time) was the first sound to meet my ears. Another day without bathing, it had been four weeks without shaving, I had a crick in my neck from sleeping on a stump, yet this was the best time I had ever had in my life! Ahead of me was a day of sitting alone, completely alone. It began fine and peaceful. A quiet stillness broken only by the rain pattering on the pathetically thin sheet of plastic protecting my head filled the woods.”

It took me a while to remember when I wrote that since I’ve backpacked through chunks of Adirondack State Park countless times, but when I did recall this particular excursion, I was thrilled. I wished I had finished writing, but I know that I had to get moving and get a fire started that morning. What a wonderful experience though. I would recommend that everyone at some point in their lives take two weeks off and just live off what you can fit in a medium size frame pack. Bathe in a creek if you can find one, canoe over a few beaver dams down a super windy river, and just live and breathe nature without running into another human being for days on end; it’s a glorious experience.


Another I ran across was from fairly recently from a conversation that I had with a friend who was struggling with feeling alive again. We all sort of lose ourselves in the weights of life sometimes, and in that our joy disappears until we proactively go out and claim it again, wake up with purposefulness (if that’s even a word) and delve back into living life to the fullest. (And please pardon my overuse of ellipsis, it happens when I’m just jotting during a conversation. I often think in fragments and spurts and end up writing the same way.)

“… I was like that [feeling dead] for a while, but I’m such a sensual tactile person… I just get so much life and energy from connection with the world around me. It makes me feel alive. I’m a super process oriented person. I like smoking for the whole act… the feeling… the effects. I like kissing for the same reason… for the human connection… the feeling of skin on skin… seeing the human body move. It’s beautiful to me. This is why I sculpt. I love body lines. Even the simplest things… meeting trees and getting to know their nooks and knotholes… the texture of the bark… talking to the tail-less squirrel who lives on my lawn… I just crave connections. I revel in the smells and sounds of outdoor markets… the sounds of foreign languages being spoken. I love the feeling of being greeting with a hand on my back or the fact that my dear friend J. kisses me every time we greet… its incredible… in that simple act of a platonic peck on the cheek/forehead/lips depending on the situation we can reaffirm how much we have been through over the past 4 years and that we are still here for each other at any time.
Maybe I’m wired differently than most, but is it not everyone’s desire to feel fulfilled and satisfied with the life they lead? Why not just dive in full force?! Yes I work, yes I get sucked into life’s burdens and worries, but I constantly remind myself that I can be a force of positive energy and that I need to pursue what brings be joy in order to do that. For me, that joy comes from connecting intimately with the world around me.”

process and craft

I am a process oriented person. I like seeing how things unfold in my life, in work, watching little kids grow up and start developing their own ideas and personalities; even the simplest things, meeting trees and getting to know the nooks and knotholes, the texture of bark fascinates me. I revel in the smells and sounds of outdoor markets, the sounds of foreign languages being spoken, the feeling of a hug in greeting a friend. The connections that form between the people and objects I come in contact with thrill me. I am an incredibly tactile person. I really love to enjoy using each sense. I just get so much life from connection with the world around me. It makes me feel alive.

Getting to know the materials I am working with really is what brings passion to my work and makes me want to indulge myself in each project. Each aspect of the process, the grog in the clay, the smell of the wool, knowing a piece is centered before the first even pull, the muscle memory of a bowl or rag rug… each part is beautiful to me.

Weaving especially takes so much concentration, so much understanding of each step that I feel as if I can spend my entire life honing this skill and learn something new everyday. That simply thrills me. I love the steadiness of my hand when I’m pulling fibers to spin, the rhythmic thump of the loom shafts opening and closing, the feel and soft scent of the remaining lanolin in wool even after its been washed, I even have come to appreciate the amount of time it takes to plan out a woven piece from the measuring to the warping all the way to the seemingly endless hours stringing each strand through the loom. It’s a beautiful process and I fall deeper in love every day.

Sometimes I struggle with the patience aspect of it all as well as having the dedication to follow through at the times I need to in order to keep a project running smoothly, but over all each step of the way intrigues me. I love that each detail is critical in the final outcome of a piece. This is why I love ceramics from the wedging, to the throwing, to the drying, firing, cooling, glazing; this is where I need to work on timing as well as persistence in following through. But I feel that it is more than worth my time and effort to hone my skills, my knowledge of my beloved craft, life is just more beautiful, more deliberate, more soulful and connected with them there. I couldn't imagine living without these almost forgotten crafts that I'm so passionate about.