Saturday, May 3, 2008

Living Simply...what can you trade with me?

We live in a very complex world, full of complex things and complicated happenings. If only there was a way to simplify everything, wouldn't our life be better? Imagine if we could...

Everything CAN be simplified. Human beings don't need much at all to live and be content. The problems many of us are experiencing in this mad mad world are symptomatic of the complexities we attribute to everything. and yes, WE buy into them. WE make it complicated. WE CHOOSE to think of it as being complicated.

"I have no time to myself" - then allocate some
"All i seem to do is rush rush rush" - s-l-o-w down. Take time to smell the flowers
"I just don't understand it" - do you really need to?

Sure, you can come back to me with a "you don't understand. It's more complicated than that". Who says it is? Oh, you do.

The thing is that we live in a time where all of the "experts" tell us we don't know anything unless your another expert (and then you're wrong anyway). We have forgotten how to simply live, or is that live SIMPLY.

You need shelter, healthy food, and fun. That's it. Money is simply a means to be able to have healthy food and shelter. It's a way of trading one service for another. It's not complicated. Our ancestors used to swap cabbages for milk, but when you don't have anything to trade with, money became a way of giving points which could later be traded for something else with someone else.

So what can you do, or do you have, or can you make which is worth trading? I trade with people i know all of the time...a friend gives me massages and i make promotional material for her, i help another friend producing her album, and she does some work for my business. Everyone has something to trade with, even if it's just their time to help in the garden, or mow the grass, or look after children.

And you know, trading in this way makes the transaction a meaningful one. When's the last time you had a meaningful transaction, where both parties felt a sense of fullfillment and friendship? And you don't even have to be friends with the person.

This is how communities evolve, and how people care for each other, and how bonds and friendships are formed and people are nurtured. THIS is just one tiny example of how we can learn from the past, and become healthier and happier living simply. And the biggest buzz is that it FEELS GOOD.

This week, offer to trade something with someone. Think of something you would like done for you, and be the first to offer the trade (make it a friend to get started). once you get the hang of it, you won't look back, and it will be the start to your life becoming simpler.

You CAN make the change! You just need to want it.

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