My mom has always said:

The more you own, the more owns you.

I am slowly but surely making my world a little smaller day by day.

I’ve started to part with things I thought I’d hold onto forever.

Simplicity is freedom.

Less is more.

Each thing I own is more weight to carry around. When Mr. LBB and I moved across the country we brought an entire moving van filled to the brim with stuff. And it was just the two of us, plus a 2 pound dog. I can’t believe how much junk we brought with us. Over the last 6 months I’ve been slowly going through each and every cabinet, each and every drawer, every closet and every box. I’ve reduced us to the bare minimum in things like dishes, furniture, gadgets and clothing.  Multiple trips with donations and giving away things to friends and family. And then we held our yard sale and we sold random collections, excess tools, spare electronics….you name it…it’s gone.

Getting rid of things we no longer use helps us find what we have. It also strengthens us emotionally. Releasing old possessions helps us release the past. Old griefs, guilts, grudges, and regrets disappear, enabling us to live more fully in the present.
-from The Tao of Inner Peace

I use a “triage” method for simplifying.  I find an area in the house or garage where I can collect the items to get rid of….separating them from our living space. The area is separated into two sections: the first pile is stuff that definitely has to go, the second pile is full of items I know I should get rid of but I’m still slightly attached too.  Over time I’ve found that the second pile slowly makes its way into the first pile. I think deep down we want simplicity, but we have so many mixed messages around us saying: more, more, more.

And there are still things that I have trouble getting rid of: books, paintings, personal papers. I steer away from electronic storage because I have to be able to touch things. At least it’s slightly organized clutter.

I’ve stopped buying in excess. Where I used to stock up,  I’ve started to buy just when I need something now.

Give us this day our daily bread.

That little prayer has helped me tremendously in my quest to simplify.  Everything is on loan from God: money, talent, time. I would think God would want a good return on his investment.  That makes me think of the man who gave away his Cadillac that I wrote about 2 days ago.  It was just a car sitting in his garage that he never drove until he gave it away to the car washer in an act of generosity and kindness. The joy from that one act just keeps on going as the car washer shares that story with awe and humility.

By making my world smaller I have more room to be faithful in the little things. I am finding joy in becoming increasingly unattached to things.  I once told Lisa: please get rid of some of that stuff in the studio, just don’t tell me what you got rid of. I mean if I don’t notice something’s gone it doesn’t matter right? That’s progress. I’m slowly building up courage to let go of more.  With a smaller world around me there is less anxiety, less fear, less tendency to compare. There is less to lose and more to love.  This is what works for me.

What do you have trouble giving up?

Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.
-Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Speaking of simple:

I also write for Babble.  I just finished up a complete guide to planning / organizing 2014 over there using Surface apps and tutorials.  Check it out if you get a chance.

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Mr. LBB said today that he thought if I could have a yard sale every weekend I would. And, yes, I think I would.

How could anyone resist my penguin....

My friend Megan showed up for support yesterday and I loved the way she described the day afterwards:

So many lessons to learn in letting go.
As well as giving and gifting.
Some are so grateful to find a great treasure at any cost.
Some prefer to ask to take half of the already awesome prices…just because.

However favorite of the day:
Lady: Do you have any rings?”
A: No, the jewelry went early.
Lady: Well how about you go inside …go get your rings inside.
She was serious.

People are interesting.

People are interesting. Just today I met:

A yoga instructor.
A tennis player from Finland and his wife. I let them pick fresh lemons from my tree.
A radio talk show host.
A doctor who treats veterans for hearing damage caused by war.
An internist visiting from Chicago who has a house just down the street.
A woman who searches yard sales to add to her 1,800 rings she’s collected.
A mobile car washer who drove a vintage Cadillac. He used to wash the Cadillac, until the owner gave it to him, as a surprise.
An artist.
The nicest couple who drink Kangan water. They even offered to let me come and fill up water at their house.
A neighbor whose mother’s house had a squatter. He noticed only when a TV satellite went up in the front yard.
A car dealer.
A sweet woman with her young daughter who is learning to sew.  We took a photo.
A lady whose sister builds fairy gardens, and a year before had given us an energy audit on our house.
A woman who does Japanese Kumi braiding.
A woman whose husband was the quarterback for the Oregon Ducks in the 1960’s.
A man from L.A. who is an expert in vintage toy banks (so he gave us a free “Antiques Road Show” analysis.)
A guy who said he robbed his kid’s piggy bank to buy a putter and paid with an 1884 silver dollar.
A man who tried to buy my paintings…but said he was going to paint over them.
A couple who switched the tags on everything they bought, with cheaper tags. I noticed but let it go.
A young lady who indirectly asked if we might have a spare room to rent her.
A elderly lady visiting from Oregon who forgot to bring a sweater. She bought mine.
A daughter buying fabric to ship to her mother across the country.
A woman with broken toes who I’d just met a week earlier as we helped an elderly man back to his house.

All strangers paying a visit.

*****

The man with the Cadillac told me the whole story of how he got that car. He had washed it for years in his mobile car wash service.  One day he showed up to wash it and the owner said he was giving it to him as a gift. The car washer said he was so humbled by the generosity, but that he then had to ask the man to go to the DMV with him because he was sure that they would think that he had stolen it. He said a Hispanic man showing up with a “free” Caddy in this area wasn’t likely to be a believable story. I could tell this man was honest to the core. I stood there for a few moments just wishing non-judgement for this man.  And then I wished that people-gifting-Cadillacs was a more prevalent story.  I asked him to stay put and had him repeat the whole thing to Mr. LBB.

*****

We sold a lot of stuff, we gave a lot of stuff away. I had a huge “FREE” pile that I kept replenishing. But mostly the whole experience was entertaining and fun because of the people that showed up.  I loved when people said:

We saw your penguin and decided to stop.

This afternoon, as this one man was leaving I tried to offer him a vintage Sports Illustrated:

Me: Here, take it.
Man: Why don’t you sell it on eBay?
Me: I’d rather give it to you.
Man: Really, I don’t need any more stuff.
Me: Me either, that’s why all of this is for sale. It’s just stuff.
Man: You are very young to have come to that conclusion.
Me: Yeah, well….sometimes I feel old.

He just stood there staring at me for a second with his car door ajar.  For a second I felt like he looked familiar, like maybe I knew him from somewhere. Maybe I did. It looked like he wanted to say something but then thought better of it. Finally he just said:

Take care of yourself kid.

I don’t know why it struck me but it did. It kind of reminded me of that scene in Benjamin Button:

Daisy: You’re so young.
Benjamin Button: Only on the outside.

Maybe it’s that he used the word “kid” in an endearing way…and he was just a stranger visiting my yard sale.

There is one all-important law of human conduct. If we obey that law, we shall almost never get into trouble. In fact, that law, if obeyed, will bring us countless friends and constant happiness. But the very instant we break the law, we shall get into endless trouble. The law is this:
Always make the other person feel important.
-Dale Carnegie

Have a yard sale. Or just give some stuff away. Acknowledge, greet and meet the strangers that pay you a visit. I recommend refreshments and door prizes too.

The Year of Joy Recap:

Day 1: The Year of Joy: You are deserving of joy. Many times we confuse joy with happiness. They are two separate things. Happiness comes from circumstances, but joy is an attitude that defies circumstances.

Day 2: A Bigger Target: Focus changes everything. Our goal in life should be to be much, not to have much.

Day 3: Make Room for Joy: Quit Something Every Thursday: So how do we become deep people? Don’t let time fillers dilute your life, intrude and thin out your joy.

Day 4: Availability is the Greatest Ability: I so often think I’m available, but really my mind is wandering around in the margins of life.