Living More with Less

Just a quick sidenote - so many people have moved out of my area. Seems to be the right time to downsize and save some money!

So after my little power cut experiment last week, I learnt a lot. I am certainly able to do without a laptop or internet for a day, they didn’t get switched on at all and I still had a lot to do.

Going without the phone was much more difficult though. Normally a phone isn’t so bad, except as it is an iPhone there are many more timewasting opportunities on it than if I just had a normal phone! Something which I enjoy is listening to podcasts as I cycle to work or when doing mundane tasks at home. I think this is something I won’t be giving up in the future, but perhaps I will go headphone-less a little more often. It’s nice to hear the sounds around you, especially at springtime!

I have decided my next course of action: get rid of my computer. It is far too fast and powerful to justify its price when all I use it for is timewasting by browsing the internet. The power cut confirmed my decision.

Even without a laptop, it is still easy to waste time by napping all day or drinking with friends for the 3rd night in a row… so this isn’t the end of my life laundry experience!

Okay, so here is the situation - power cut!

Although I was inspired to change my life by the book Eight Steps to Happiness, a Buddhist self-help book, I think my ‘mission’ is not very Buddhist at all.

While I do want to rid myself of life’s clutter, I am still ‘attached’ to things in my life which aren’t necessary for living. My smartphone, for example, or beer, when drunk with friends. Good things which make me feel positive - not in a deep, profound way. But not insignificant either.

Buddhism claims that the way to enlightenment includes realisation that ‘things’ don’t make you happy. And I soon saw how, after I had bought something, I would feel happy… just for that expensive item to end up in the drawer of no return in a matter of weeks.

I couldn’t live happily in the Western world if I had absolutely no need for objects. Life, perhaps artificially, has become complex and these items allow us to navigate our way through life, or find meaning outside of work and toil. This need of ours to want objects can easily get out of control.

Tomorrow, I am going to spend twelve hours without electricity, to highlight the difference between wants and needs in my own life. How I spend my time is entirely open to me, and I will allow myself the luxury of ignoring all work and tasks for that day.

Now, I don’t think that electricity is somehow evil - but a lot of the things we rely on to passively entertain us use this as their source of power. Going without this will allow me to recognise what I need, and what is just life clutter. Perhaps I will allow my phone to be on silent in the corner of the room, in case of emergencies… but otherwise, everything else will be off.

Twelve hours, big deal, you might say. But, it isn’t about showing off how long I can go without, nor is it about breaking a personal record. It is just something to allow me to focus my thoughts. I will still allow myself to use electricity for the fridge and oven - these do not distract from life in any negative way and having to spend money in a restaurant to eat would defeat the point of living simply!

I will write down, pen and paper style (!), my thoughts from the day and I will let you know sometime next week :

Update

iPad and Kindle are on eBay :D My Internet radio and perhaps my camera and printer are still to come!