Living without envy

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With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.
- Lope de Vega

Here i am page! 6.39 am.

Cup of coffee, the little fish. In a bathrobe. I check the BBC for the latest update on Gaza. I check facebook. I check my emails. What am i looking for?

I spent sometime on Voluntary Simplicity websites yesterday and felt very excited. It seemed that after a few years, this has now given me some focus. As i read Lane's book yesterday, i saw our little house on Barnett's Road a little incongrous wilderness - allotment and compost pile, potatoes - little cottage garden and restored furniture. Inside the house, decluttered, sacred spaces of loveliness and purpose. Welcoming to all, open to everyone. Is there any greater purpose than the art of living? As for the politics, it is only when we are calm, healthy and balanced that we will be able to make a difference.

Mindfullness - last night we didn't wash the dishes in the sink - so i do not know where it leaves us. I wonder sometimes, how does one structure one's life to so the small things - the day to day things - and then the bigger long term projects.

I can just about do the small day to day stuff and keep it ticking over. The long term stuff, well i didn't really have anything to hang it one previously, now that i do, now that i have a framework, i'm not sure if i can do it, given the time that we don't have.

But we must try. One thing a day.

In that spirit, i will try and see for the next week if i can stick to my promise of getting a routine done for the small things.

Washing the dishes, getting the laundry done, hoovering the house on the Friday so that everything is sorted for the weekend and weekends are really times when we create our sacred spaces of loveliness...

I shall try this for the rest of January.

I will also stop channel surfing, a terrible, terrible habit. It was something i slipped into years ago - five years ago to be exact. The time i stop channel surfing i will find to do cleaning and routine type stuff.

That is the first step.

Then i'll do the finances.

Imbolc is coming up as well. We can start preparing for that. It will be the first thing that we do. It really is a local version of Chinese New Year. So many things that they do for Imbolc are what we do for Chinese New Year. Turning on all the lights, sweeping the house, decluttering...It is also our anniversary. Eleven years of marriage blisters. Ah i hear Ghin stirring, must go now.

Article on Imbolc from Pagan Parenting
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/pagan_parenting/113295/1

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