Simple Pleasures Served With Complex Thoughts

                Sunflowers from my backyard.

  The highest plant grew to nearly 20 feet tall.

       This week Scott is leaving to go and visit his family for several days without me.  I am sad to be separated from him.  To make up for the lost time together we have tried enjoying one another more this week.  Some of that has been talking over tea or hot chocolate in the cool night air, walking our two dogs, but frankly we for the most part we are tired so we lay on the bed and watch a movie or nod off while still wearing our clothes.  We watched two movies (yes only two but that is a lot of time to devote to a screen).  They actually impacted my thoughts on a deeper level than I planned as my daily thoughts "clicked" with some aspect of the movies.  First we watched The Village, for those of you who have not seen it before, a group of people who reject society become self reliant and ultimately happy...other than some monsters who terrorise them that is.  The second movie  was called Safe and was based on a woman in the 1980's who suddenly rejected her posh and comfortable life (due to chemical reactions to her environment) and found a greater sense of joy living totally out of modern society in a one room pod with not much more than a bed.

Simple meal with some garden items.

      Although these movies are extreme they brought up some good points.  What is real joy and fulfilment and does our current lifestyle as North Americans trying to "live the dream" actually fulfil us?  For myself, I would have to say NO!  The more stuff I have the more claustrophobic I feel.  I do like having basic comforts, however most of the things I own, I do not need.  I use less than 1/2 my home on a daily basis.  I use the same plates, towels, blankets, etc.  The rest of my things are for the company that I am lucky to get one time a year.  SO why do I have so much crap?  Why does anyone have so much crap?

Hazelnuts picked from a friend's yard.

     As far as I can tell over the last 100 years we have jumped on some kind of bandwagon of progress that has given us so little, it is no wonder why more people are starting to question it.  We went very quickly from making our clothes, growing our own food, raising our own animals, living tightly with family, and having a community to be accountable to, to being what we are now.  Working day in day out to give our family what is considered the best of everything but living a lonely depressing existence.  We are seldom afforded the luxury of raising our own children let alone an animal?!?  It is very hard to get out of this lifestyle as it is meant to keep you on the wheel of working to buy and not to live.  If we only bought what we needed then people would probably only work 2 days a week.  However we need bigger houses, vacations, and 20 pairs of shoes per person and so beat goes on...

My "breakfast" picked fresh each morning.

     Basically, the more I do for myself, the more I hear others complain about their self made traps, the more experience I have with self reliance, I FEEL what is the right thing for me and I want out of the dream that has been sold to me since childhood.  

I WANT MORE and I am working towards that.  I do have to say that it is hard to start from scratch when you know nothing about growing your own food or making things for yourself.  In my free time out of the system I try to liberate myself in small ways that allow me to feel the joy of independence while teaching me just enough for that subject.  I am lucky enough to have spent some of my childhood on farms and around simple people.  Not stupid, JUST SIMPLE.  There is a difference.  As an adult, I am trying to surround myself with other healthy people who want the same things so that I may learn from them while being inspired.

     
This week has given me some small but wonderful joys.  All came with lessons.  I am grateful for whatever I can use or consume that I did not acquire by spending money (and therefore my soul) and also for the knowledge that presented itself along with the bounty.

  Fresh from my neighbour's vines. 

       I hope you enjoyed the pictures of my simple but wonderful things.