As I strive to become more conscious in the way I live my life I find myself rethinking what I think is necessary. When you are surrounded with abundance of wealth, information, distractions, tools, and services it can be easy to start thinking that all these things are truly vital. While some of them may be, most of them are not. Figuring out what is truly required to do your best work or be your best self is what living consciously is all about.

I think what really caused me to start to question my needs is the move I made to my new apartment a couple months ago.

What do you need?

Every type of work has certain tools that are truly vital to executing the job correctly. Carpenters need all of their hammers, drills, saws and other building tools. Seamstresses and tailors need fabric, thread, needles, sewing machines and whatever else is inherent to making and adjusting clothing. Jobs like this are pretty clear-cut with what tools are truly necessary. It’s these “information worker” jobs where the line starts to get a little fuzzy.

What does an internet marketer need to fulfill his job requirements? What does an IT worker need? What about a blogger?

Remember how I said I moved into a new apartment a few months ago? At the time, I decided to not sign up for internet service. I was super poor and decided that I could use my parents’ house, the public library, and other free wi-fi hotspots for my internet needs. I figured I’d conduct this little experiment for a month or so before caving in and getting internet hooked up at my apartment.

That was 5 months ago.

Internet-lite blogging

I’m a blogger and I do not have home internet access. What I thought was absolutely necessary to my career as a blogger turned out to be much more of a luxury than I thought. Rethinking what you believe to be necessary is truly at the core of living a conscious life. Try these steps to help break out of the advertiser and society induced fog that is currently clouding your vision:

1. Pick an area of your life to examine: It could be your job (or even just an aspect of your job). You could try looking at your routines (like what you do after work) or even the way you eat. Almost any area of your life is open to examination.

2. Write down what the absolute core of this area is: If it’s your job, what do you actually have to DO on a daily basis to complete your work? For me, even though blogging requires access to the internet to post articles, almost ALL of the true work that goes into blogging, the writing, brainstorming and creation of products can be done without the internet. If you’re looking at an area of your life other than work, think about this question: what would the “ideal” you do/act/look like in this situation?

3. Honestly look at how you currently approach the situation: How do you currently behave? What is distracting you from focusing on the core essence of a specific area in your life? Is it a bad habit (or a series of bad habits)? Is it unnecessary distractions? Is it a lack of clarity of what needs to be done? Try not to pull any punches with yourself at this step. You want to have as clear a picture as possible about what is keeping you from your best.

4. Identify what’s truly necessary and boot the rest: In step 2 you figured out your core action or responsibility and in step 3 you figured out what is keeping you from that. It’s time to use that knowledge to get rid of all that unnecessary “stuff” that is keeping you from your best. Be ruthless. Although, if you’re worried you might eliminate something that you will truly miss, try just putting it away in storage for awhile. That way you can have a test run without it in your life. Chances are you won’t miss it. If you’re eliminating bad habits or trying to build new ones, commit for just a week at first. Give yourself permission to go back to your old ways if after a week you hate it. Again, once you start seeing the positive change I don’t think you’ll be going back to your old ways.

True consciousness requires only the truly necessary

Necessary is not what the marketers tell us. It’s not what the T.V. commercials berate us with, what our friends insist upon, what we see on billboards or in the newspaper. Necessary is only decided when you take an honest look at your own life and make some decisions. You get to decide necessary. Most people don’t realize they have that power. You truly do and it is one of the most important realizations to living a conscious life.

Have you decided what’s necessary yet?

Photo by JanneM

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Recently New York Times featured and blogging all-star Tammy Strobel (of Rowdy Kittens) has released a brand new e-book, Smalltopia. I’ve known Tammy for several months now (in fact, I interviewed her!) and have been continually impressed by her empathy for other people, willingness to help everyone, and insightful commentary on living consciously. Smalltopia is all about helping people start working for themselves. The question is,is it worth your time? Let’s dig in!

First of all, this e-book is strictly for people who are interested in working for themselves. If that’s not you, I give you permission to click away from this page and hopefully I’ll see you again on Wednesday for the regularly scheduled post! However, if you are interested by the concept of starting your own small business, I suggest you read on.

Tammy’s Smalltopia Philosophy is:

1. Live small. Think big. Do something.
2. Focus and don’t engage in stupid work.
3. Build a strong community by helping people improve their lives.

All three of these things (actually six if you break them up into their separate ideas) are admirable concepts that I agree with 100%. Sadly, Tammy doesn’t organize her book around this framework (from what I can tell) and I think her e-book suffers for it. In fact, my biggest gripe with the e-book is that it is poorly organized. It really feels like a hodgepodge of blog articles that have been formatted together into one volume. Granted, since Tammy is an excellent writer the individual articles are very good and contain lots of relevant information.

Later in the e-book, Tammy gets more into the nuts and bolts behind running a blog-based business. This section was my least favorite of the book, but that is probably because I’m frankly tired of this topic. On the other hand, I really enjoy the sections where Tammy takes a more philosophic bent about what it means to live “small” (Quiet Your Mind and Do Work that Matters, How To Turn Your Dreams Into Reality).

Lastly, Tammy has a great section of small case studies from people who are currently running their own “Smalltopias.” In fact, these case studies take up almost half of the book! Some of the people who share their experiences have some great information to share. I particularly enjoyed Karol Gajda and Tyler Tervooren’s contributions. Other people who have contributed their stories are Chris Guillebeau, Leo Babauta, Everett Bogue and many, many others. You may notice a conspicuous lack of me in that section, but I suppose I’ll let Tammy slide this one time.

Bottom-line, if you’re interested in starting your own very small business (and potentially enjoyed Everett Bogue’s e-book Minimalist Business) I would recommend picking up Tammy Strobel’s Smalltopia. The organization problems and lack of coherence among the articles may turn aside some, but the information found within is definitely worth your attention.

Tammy Strobel has a passion for helping people making their dreams come true and Smalltopia is a slightly flawed, yet admirable contribution toward that goal.

You can read more about Smalltopia and purchase it by clicking here.

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One area of my life I constantly struggle to simplify is my relationship with food. I go through spurts where I seem to have it under control and feel like I have an incredibly healthy and simple approach to food. Other times, I lapse into the bad habits and mindlessness that characterizes much of the average person’s eating habits.

As I try to become as conscious and mindful as possible with my day to day actions, I am reaffirming my commitment toward simpler eating. These ideas are all ones I have used with success in the past and am currently reimplementing right now. I’m sure some will work better than others for your own needs, but all of them work toward the ultimate goal of simplifying your relationship with food and eating. Before I go much further, I should try to explain what “simpler eating” looks like in my mind. A simple relationship with food is one that doesn’t stress me out, isn’t difficult to follow, and provides the nutrients I need to live as healthily as possible.

In my quest to simplify, here are a few of the tips I have used successfully. Try them out and let me know if they work for you too!

8 Tips to Simplify Food

1. 2 vegetarian meals + 1 meat meal per day: The health benefits of nutritionally sound vegetarianism are hard to ignore. Many people report feeling more energized and begin to lose weight when they adopt a vegetarian or almost vegetarian diet. While that line of reasoning is something I can relate to, I think an even more powerful reason for adopting a more vegetable-based diet is the way meat is raised in most industrial nations and the energy requirement of doing so. Regardless of your reasons, making two meals purely vegetarian while relaxing the restriction on the third meal is a virtually painless way to start trending toward a more vegetarian, and probably healthier, diet.

2. 1 big meal, 1 medium meal, 1 small meal per day: My biggest problem with food is not necessarily what I eat but how much of it I eat. I eat way more food than is actually needed to sustain my current body weight. Other than just trying to be more mindful of what I put in my mouth and eating slower, adopting this meal framework has helped me reduce my consumption.

3. Eat off of smaller plates: I’ve read this advice in many different places but I’m adding it to this list because it has actually worked for me. My parents did an excellent job of instilling the “you have to clean your plate before you can leave the table” mindset. Using a smaller plate tricks me into eating less food.

4. Put extra food away before eating: Snacking directly out of a chip bag or other large container of food is a terrible idea. Instead, take out a specific amount, put it on a plate or in a bowl and put the extra food away before sitting down to enjoy it. I’ve also adopted this practice with meals. If I take a few moments to dish the food out onto my plate and then put away the leftovers, before sitting down to eat, I’ll eat less and be equally as full. The key is to make it harder on yourself to be a glutton.

5. Anything other than water goes into a small glass: I can drink water out of whatever I want. If I want milk, juice, soda, or anything else that isn’t water, it has to go into a small glass. When you pair this habit with number four, you’ll find your non-water intake, and thus empty calorie intake, decreases dramatically.

6. Keep water on hand at all times: Simple enough. I remember reading the advice that many people confuse feeling hungry for actually being thirsty. I thought that sounded absurd until I tried drinking some water whenever I started to feel a little “hungry”. Maybe it’s just the water taking up space in my stomach, but I was amazed how often I discovered I wasn’t very hungry after all.

7. Don’t buy crap: When I want a snack my options are very limited by what I have on hand. I’m not mentally strong enough to not eat a Swiss Cake Roll when it’s sitting in my cupboard, looking all chocalately and delicious. To get around my mental fallibility I just refuse to buy junk food. This requires at least a modicum of mental toughness when you’re at the store, but if you stick to a shopping list, eat right before you go, and move quickly, I’m confident you can make it in and out of the store junk food free.

8. Intermittent fasting: I won’t get too involved with this because it’s moderately controversial (although I’m not really sure why). Basically, once a week I will do a 24-hour fast. The easiest way to do it is to not eat after dinner on the first day until dinner the next day. It sounds much more difficult than it actually is. If you’re interested in the concept I highly recommend you check out Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat e-book.

Food can be such a huge stumbling block for people trying to live a more mindful life. When I’m able to keep these 8 ideas in the forefront of my mind, I am much more successful in my eating habits. Try one or two of these out and feel free to report back in the comments. I would love to know which of these suggestions works best for you!

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Just wanted to let you guys know that I’m going to be changing my posting schedule for the foreseeable future. Instead of posting twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday, I will be posting once a week on Wednesday morning. I may also throw in a Saturday post when I feel like it as well. I have a lot of other writing projects (for this blog and others) that require me to scale back my weekly commitment here.

Photo by miss mass

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The study of happiness has been ongoing for centuries. It’s generally accepted that money doesn’t buy happiness. But what does? Is it our relationships? Maybe it’s our mental outlook or attitude? Or possibly our status in society? More likely, it’s probably a complex relationship of all these factors — plus many more.

My personal belief is that while all of these things are important, the most vital characteristic to long term happiness is control.

When I think back on the times that I am most content and happy with my life, I realize that it’s always when I have a high level of control over what is happening to me. For illustration, lets look at the opposite of this phenomenon. Ever since I graduated from college in 2009 I’ve been looking for a full-time teaching job. As the months and months of joblessness stack up, I’ve become more and more agitated (and even depressed). Searching jor a job in this economic environment does not allow for very much control. Preparing my resume and filling out applications allow me to have some control over the situation, but as soon as I apply for a position my feeling of control dissipates.

You may notice, however, that this lack of control is a construct of my own mind. For some people, actively searching for positions, writing resumes, preparing applications, and following up is something they feel they have much more control over. I’ll bet you that this type of person does not find the job search as nearly as soul-sucking and depressing as me.

And therein lies a great avenue for personal development; learning how to take control over situations that are causing us anguish.

Here are a couple situations where many people feel like they have no control and a couple ideas to begin changing your mindset:

1. Work: The workplace can be an environment where you feel like you have no say, no control, over anything that happens. Obviously, different jobs will have various levels of autonomy. If you happen to be at the highly autonomous end of the spectrum, then your potential for control is enormous. What can you do to make yourself more effective throughout the day and possibly even finish your work earlier? What is your Great Work and how can you do more of it? If you’re job is less autonomous, you might have a little more trouble finding ways to exert your control. Start with the smallest of environments (your desk or workspace) and routines (is there a better way you can ring up those groceries?) and gain control over those first. Later you can try to gain more and more control over what you do, how you do it, and most importantly, how you feel about what you do.

2. Health: When I am at my unhealthiest, I feel like I have no control over my habits. I’ll eat whatever I want, workout intermittently, and just generally feel like crap. Gaining control over my health does wonders for myself psychologically and usually only consists of a couple simple steps. Tracking what you’re putting into your body is an eye-opening experience on several levels. Seeing the actual number of calories and array of food that you’re consuming is quite often enough to spur positive change. Similarly, planning and tracking your workouts allows you to have a level of control that is often missing.

3. Emotions: This is probably the most difficult and most abstract topic to talk about controlling. Our emotions control almost everything about the way we act. How we react to positive events, negative events, and everything in between differentiates us as people. I would never recommend curtailing your positive and negative emotions to the point where everybody exists in some intermediate and dull range. However, I do recommend taking the time to figure out how to recognize what causes us to overact, both positively and negatively. In my experience, meditation has helped me control my emotions in a way that nothing else really has. Figure out what works for you.

If you want to be happy, you have to feel like you have control over yourself. Your environment, work, health, emotions, and relationships are all important aspects of your life that require you to be in control if you are to be at your happiest.

Where do you feel out of control and is it hampering your happiness? What can you do to change that situation?

Photo by mellyjean

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I think the most important lesson any teacher can teach their students is that education is not a passive experience. This idea hit me the other day as I was walking through the library looking at all the books I wanted to read. It got me thinking about what I was like in high school and most of college and how I hadn’t really learned how to learn until recently.

In high school, I was a pretty excellent student. AP classes, all A’s, top 5 in my class — the usual accolades for a high school all-star. Despite (or maybe because of) all this, I don’t think I really learned all that much. I was good at giving my teachers what they expected and absorbing the information they presented. I did little to no outside investigation of the topics we were learning in class and I didn’t ask many questions either. I saw my job as being a passive sponge to acquire as much “knowledge” as possible.

Once I entered college, not much changed. I still got good grades because I could write well and recite information. I also began to do a better job synthesizing multiple viewpoints into my own, unique point of view. However, I was mostly just High-School-Sam +1. It wasn’t until my last couple semesters of college that I began to take an active role in my education. I’m not sure what finally flipped the switch in my mind, but I began to realize that there was so much more I should be learning about than what was covered in the few classes I was taking.

Ever since that time, I’ve tried to be as active as possible in my self-education. Reading one book will raise a list of questions and topics that I want to know more about. I take time to actually sit down and learn about something new on a daily basis. I’m grateful that I finally started to figure it out, but I can’t help but wonder what I would be like if I had figured this out in high school.

I want to give anybody who has recently graduated high school a couple words of advice about not being passive. This is coming from a guy who wishes he could go back and do it again even though I was “successful” by most standards.

1. Explore everything: You don’t want to pigeonhole yourself too early. There is so much more out there than what you are exposed to in school. I hadn’t even heard of positive psychology until my Intro to Pysch class in college, and even then it was only in passing. Once I started reading more about it I realized that this was something I found insanely interesting. I didn’t even think about it in high school because psychology wasn’t a class that I took. Don’t let your classes restrict your mind.

2. Read things you don’t understand: You read things in high school that are specifically selected for your “level”. College gets away from that a little bit, but you still won’t be exposed to the true breadth of reading material that is available. Don’t be intimidated by something that is supposedly “hard” to read. Worst case scenario, you don’t understand everything but you’ve stretched your mind by trying.

3. Read things you don’t agree with: One of the best ways to figure out what you truly believe, and why, is to read things you know you don’t agree with. It’s helpful to see the thought process and reasoning behind the “other side”. Don’t get caught up in choosing sides over controversial topics. Read about every aspect and you’ll be able to make a much better decision for yourself.

4. Ask for help: I wish I had talked to my teachers more in college. Up until my senior year, my contact with professors was extremely limited. During my last year, however, I made it a habit to stop by their office hours and talk to them as much as possible out of class. You’ll quickly discover that this will put you in the minority of your classmates and that your professors love talking about their area of expertise. At no time in your life will you have such unfettered access to legitimate experts. Don’t waste it!

5. Write about the process: Writing helps you articulate your thoughts in a way that nothing else can. Reflecting on what you’re learning, questions you still have, and thoughts about your education is such a powerful tool.

Most of us have already spent our time in the school system and no longer have “mandated learning.” Not being passive in our self-education is probably even more important than not being passive in our formal education. This is a topic for another day, but it is one that I am becoming more and more passionate about.

How do you take charge when it comes to self-education? How active were you during your formal education?

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It used to be that just reaching the end of a video game was enough. After hours of playing and working your way through different and progressively harder levels, you’d finally reach the end. In a climactic battle against the gnarliest boss you’ve encountered in the entire game you would finally reach the end and could set down your controller with a sigh of relief. You have beaten it, and you are the master.

Today’s video games, however, don’t settle for letting you merely beat the game. You’re welcome to play through the story line and reach the conclusion, but that’s not where the real fun hides any more. Instead, video games today have what are known as Achievements. Each game comes with a different set of unique Achievements that encourage you to spend time playing the game in a different way than you normally would. Essentially, they are little trophies for accomplishing certain things within a game. For example, I recently bought Starcraft 2 (it’s about time, Blizzard!) and have attained Achievements for killing a certain number of units in a limited amount of time, for executing certain aspects of the game very quickly, for progressing the storyline forward in the campaign mode and many other actions. There are probably a hundred more that I have not even begun working on yet– but I plan on it. It adds an interesting dynamic and a ton of replay value when you have something to work toward other than just “finishing” the game.

Why Am I Writing About Video Games on a Personal Development Blog?

I’ve recently realized that I have taken the concept of video game Achievements and applied them to my own development. Instead of just mindlessly rushing through life to get to the end, like an old school video game, I’ve been taking time to accomplish interesting and unique things on the side. If you could take a look at my Sam: The Video Game Achievement Showcase, you’d see the following:

• The “Go Vegetarian for a Week” Achievement
• The “Completely Disconnected Weekend” Achievement
• The “Complete a Duathlon” Achievement
• The “Travel to a Foreign Country” Achievement

In addition to these already accomplished achievements, I’m working on a couple more:

• The “Re-read all of the Lord of the Rings books” Achievement
• The “Write a 2nd Ebook” Achievement
• The “1/2 Marathon” Achievement

Video games aren’t the greatest way to spend leisure time but they have at least encouraged me to spend time away from the beaten path and to try new ways of doing things.

What achievements have you earned in You: The Video Game? What ones are you working toward? Share in the comments!

Photo by totomai

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You aren’t stuck because you’re afraid.

Every personal development blogger has written about fear. The fear of succeeding, the fear of failing in public, the fear of being laughed at, the fear of failing, the fear of being afraid. Evidently there is a lot of fear in the personal development community. I’m not going to throw my hat into the fray because I think there is a different explanation as to why people don’t accomplish the things they think they want; laziness.

Being afraid removes the responsibility of action. Everybody knows what it’s like to be afraid and therefore we can easily empathize with somebody who is fearful. Fear has evolved for a pretty excellent reason, keeping us alive. Thousands of years ago, if you were a fearless human you were probably a dead human as well. Nowadays, people let fear, or what we seem to be describing as fear, keep them from doing awesome things with their lives. Every time I’ve found myself thinking about why I’m not doing more to move my goals forward or why I seem stuck in a rut, I never think about being afraid. Fear is a function of a dangerous environment and frankly, I don’t face much nowadays that is particularly dangerous. In fact, my problem is that I spend a lot of time in extremely comfortable situations. My apartment is cozy. I have some hot coffee by my side. I have enough money to feed myself. Life isn’t THAT hard right now. And so, I get lazy. I don’t accomplish things, I don’t push myself and most importantly, I’m definitely not afraid.

My hypothesis is that you feel lazy a lot more often than you feel afraid. It’s OK to admit it. I know I felt a lot better once I realized all of these articles about conquering my fear didn’t seem to apply to me. The question, however, is how can I overcome the laziness and use my time most effectively as much as possible? In my experience, these five things are helpful tips to try:

1. Get started on something, anything: Motivation seems to be an incredibly inertial beast. It’s hard as hell to get moving, but once you get that sucker moving, look out! If you find yourself being incredibly lazy, try finishing the easiest of easy tasks first. Then, tackle something only marginally more difficult. Then, a little bit more difficult. Before you know it, you’ve eased into your primary project and you have the momentum at your back.
2. Change your environment: My body is an idiot. Try as I might to convince it that it’s ok to do work at the desk in my apartment, it’s convinced that this desk is only for doing fun things. It’s nigh impossible to be productive in the same space where I go to relax. So, when I have serious work to do, I have to take my idiot body to the library or a coffee shop. The change of surroundings is what it needs to be convinced to actually get to work. Maybe your body isn’t as idiotic as mine, but it’s a useful tip to try.
3. Look back at past accomplishments: Even the laziest of people have bursts of inspiration. Look back on things you’ve accomplished in the past as proof that this laziness can be conquered. Sometimes, when I feel particularly lazy I will read through my old blog posts. Every once in awhile I’m moderately impressed by what I’ve written. Present-Me doesn’t like feeling more lazy than Past-Me and the next thing I know the laziness has lifted.
4. Read, watch, or listen to something inspirational or motivational: When I am in the depths of laziness, it’s easy to feel like everybody is this lazy too. It doesn’t make sense, I know. To help me snap out of it, I like to read about inspirational people. Reading about Teddy Roosevelt usually helps. Or, an even quicker fix is to go to TED.com and watch a couple of the videos tagged as “inspirational.” Guaranteed pick-me-up.
5. Organize and plan: A lot of the time, laziness stems from being unclear about what to do. When it’s not clear, it’s easy to just mope about and do nothing. Spending some time reviewing my projects, figuring out what I have to do to move them forward, and updating my next action lists is usually enough to get me inspired to work on them. I try to only commit to projects I’m excited about so spending some time thinking and planning helps remind me why I was excited about it in the first place.

Fear isn’t holding me back and I don’t think it’s holding you back. We are all far too intelligent and comfortable to be afraid anymore. As a fellow occasionally lazy person, I don’t feel bad for saying it but, you’re being lazy. Stop it. Pick one of these five tips (or all five if you’re feeling EXTRA lazy) and get your rear in gear.

Photo by Beppie K

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Please enjoy today’s guest post from Lynn Fang of Upcycled Love!

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More. Our society always wants more. More money, more stuff, more ‘friends’, more information, more excitement.

I’ve fallen for this too, and like many others, have come to see that this mentality is simply not working. The ‘more’ disease will drive us to the ground, when there isn’t anything ‘more’ to be had.

We think we need better clothes, more money, more friends to make us feel popular and loved, more information to feel smart, more gadgets, more danger, eccentricity, or thrill to make it seem worthwhile. When we’re with friends, we need them to entertain us. We think being calm or quiet is too boring, and we need more stimulation. As a result, we don’t fully appreciate the present moment, nor our inherent connection with each other and our natural world. I can’t talk to a tree, how could it possibly be interesting? Who in their right minds would want to live in the countryside?

In all of this mental frenzy, we lose our experience of the present moment. We lose our current presence to thoughts of the past, or to an uncertain future. Most importantly, we lose sight of what strengths and valuable possessions we already have.

When the present moment is enough, when the sights and smells of peaceful friends, sunshine, and grass are enough to refresh and reinvigorate, that is where inner peace and happiness can find us.

When you can feel grateful and satisfied with what you already have, those things already present in your life, you can inch a little closer to becoming truly content.

Because our world is finite, there are limits to how much food, water, people, stuff, and even information we can consume and carry. Consumption provides no closure. Focus on being satisfied with what is already present.

Presence Is Enough

Most of us online readers live in developed nations, where we are fortunate to have most of our basic needs taken care of. The best way to recognize and experience happiness is to be grateful for the things you already have. Fresh water, clean air, fresh food, good people, a roof to sleep under, and perhaps some fun activities.

When you start to recognize the benefits you’re living with, you start to see the world in a whole new way. Suddenly, your surrounding comes alive and infects you with a sense of life and wonder. How did you get it so good? How did you never see it before?

Of course, this isn’t going to be true for everyone. Some of us live harder lives, with greater sacrifice and hard work. For must of us, we are decently well off. If this is you, it pays to recognize the good in what you already have.

Four Simple Ways to Experience Presence:

1. You. Wherever you are, there will always be you and your surroundings. When you’re out exploring on your own, take note of your surroundings. How’s the weather? Is the air moist, breezy, warm, or cold? Are there birds chirping, people shuffling, squirrels skirting the trees? Is the sun out? Does it make you feel good? Take a camera and snap a few photos. It can really help you see little things you’d never notice before.

2. Friendship. Let the presence of a friend be enough to validate your mutual connection. If you’re exploring with a friend, I often experience a mutual obligation to keep the conversation going. The truth is, there isn’t always something to say. And if you’re a quiet introvert like me, there’s even less. Consider silence a natural part of interaction.

3. Love. On a brisk sunny afternoon, you’re holding hands with your lover, strolling through a lush hillside. Quietly smiling, laughing, and meeting eyes. Love is nothing more than this: a quiet serenity of mutual connection, understanding, desire, respect, and love. When we want our lovers to be more beautiful, accomplished, eccentric, or thrill-seeking, we do not see them for who they are. We place upon them an image to work up to, and expect from them security from loneliness, failure, or criticism. Why should love be so great a burden? Let each be each, and let our collective presence be in harmony.

4. Esteem. Our society promotes a disease known as low self-esteem. You think you’re not good enough somehow, so you’ve fallen into the ‘more’ trap, and experience a persistent desire for more. Other people seem to be content, but you’ve fallen far behind. Well, this is completely false. Think about what you have that others don’t. If you live in a First World country, be grateful for the services you receive, that you were born into a developed society. Be grateful that you have clean food, water, air, sanitation, and a home to sleep in. Think about your strengths and talents that others don’t share. Maybe you make people laugh, maybe you make beautiful things, write beautiful stories, campaign for social justice, or engineer new mechanical toys. You have enough. You are enough. And if there is something more you want, you have every ability to pursue it.

For a long time, I felt I needed more from my life, that what it offered me currently was not enough. Then one day, I awoke to see that I was the choreographer of my life, and that every day I have the choice to do something different, to move a little closer to my dreams.

Paying attention to the present moment has really expanded my experience of life. I find more joy and intrigue in the little things, in the natural life around me, and all the quirks of a human community.

I don’t care as much about other people’s quibbles, as I’m content with my perspective. When I feel satisfied in the present, without need for something more, I feel confident enough to pursue my interests and live a happier, simpler life.

I think everyone could benefit from slowing down a little, observing their surroundings, and soaking in everything in the moment a little bit more. After all, there was never any inherent good in a fast-paced life full of excessive productivity or excessive stimulation. That’s one of those lustful illusions advertising companies poured into our culture.

Live in the moment, live simply, love life more.

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Lynn Fang blogs about ecology and society at Upcycled Love. She seeks to live a meaningful life based on ecology, and hopes to share some of her excitement and discoveries with you. She blends ecology, green living, and spirituality together to provide a unique perspective on living an authentic life. Visit her at Upcycled Love, or follow her on Twitter.

Photo by jenny downing.

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Andrew Carnegie, the late 19th and early 20th century American capitalist, followed a philosophy he called “The Gospel of Wealth.” He became fabulously wealthy through the the steel business and decided to do something that had never been done by any body of similar financial stature; instead of hoarding his earnings and setting up a family trust fund, Carnegie decided to try to give away all of his money before he died. In fact, once he retired from business life giving away his money became his full-time job. He donated the money necessary for thousands of libraries, theaters, church organs, and a myriad of other buildings, services, and items. He knew that this was going to be his goal while he was making his millions so his guiding philosophy, his “Gospel of Wealth,” was to make as much money as possible in order to give away as much money as possible. The irony of suppressing employees, reducing wages, and breaking strikes (often violently) in order to make more money which he eventually gave away in services for his employees and other low-income people is not lost on me. However, the guiding principle, being as successful as possible in order to return that success back into society is what fascinates me.

I want to encourage you to live by your own version of the Gospel of Wealth. In fact, lets call it the Personal Development Gospel of Wealth. The principle is simple, to grow and learn as much as possible in order to return that growth and knowledge back into society through gifts of your own personal genius.

My Personal Genius, Your Personal Genius

For example, I’m currently trying to learn as much as possible about being a great coach. By learning the principles of effective coaching through books, experience, observation, and other learning opportunities I am both growing as an individual and become a more effective conduit of positive change in my environment.

Perhaps you have a gift for being a great listener. Your friends always come to you first when they have problems because you always seem to know the right thing to say and they always feel better after talking to you. Grab ahold of that skill and figure out a way to improve it even more. How can you bring this ability to an even wider audience? You have a great skill and the Personal Development Gospel of Wealth mandates that you grow it as much as possible in order to help as many people as possible.

Do What You’re Good At and Then Do It Some More

This entire concept is connected to the idea of locating your strengths and then focusing your effort into improving them even more. I’m a huge proponent of improving weakenesses to the point where they aren’t detrimental but reserving true and focused effort for making your strengths truly world class.

I encourage you to be like Andrew Carnegie and his Gospel of Wealth; do everything you can to grow, learn as much as possible in order to return that growth and knowledge back into society through gifts of your own personal genius. You have something that nobody else does. It’s up to you to figure out what it is, how to grow it, and then share it with somebody else.

Personally, that’s what keeps my faith in humanity and makes it a little bit easier to get up every morning. I’m excited to share with you and I’m even more excited to see what you have to share with me.

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It seems that every summer I hear about friends of friends or acquaintances dying in some unbelievable or random manner. It can be easy to think that we’re guaranteed a long life and the benefit of passing away peacefully in our sleep with our family gathered around. That’s obviously not always the case. Life is short. In fact, life is so short I don’t have time for…

1. Checking my email more than twice a day.
2. Holding grudges.
3. Not showing gratitude.
4. Wasting time on pointless projects.
5. Watching hours of T.V.
6. Tweeting compulsively.
7. Working on lame projects.
8. Ignoring my passions.
9. Eating crappy food.
10. Sitting on my ass all day.
11. Setting weak goals.
12. Pandering for others’ favor.
13. Not learning as much as possible.
14. Staying comfortably within my boundaries.
15. Ignoring my friends.
16. Accepting the impossible as such.
17. Making “Facebook friends” instead of real friends.
18. Following more than 10 RSS feeds at a time.
19. Buying a bunch of pointless stuff.
20. Drowning in consumer debt.
21. Not working toward something awesome, everyday.
22. Being a workaholic.
23. Not trying to digest all the amazing art, writing, and music in our world.
24. Suppressing my message.
25. Being uncontroversial.
26. Not asking questions.
27. Giving up.
28. Becoming complacent.
29. Asking for permission.

and lastly:

30. Writing lists instead of living my life as fully and consciously as possible.

What is your life too short for you to be caught doing? Please share in the comments!

Photo by ToniVC

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If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it with your friends. The best way to support this site and my writing is to spread the word to as many people as possible. Your help is greatly appreciated!

You may also want to consider signing-up for my free monthly newsletter. You will get exclusive content, special pricing on future products, and other special bonuses.