This is the second post inspired by the book Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin. You can see the first post here: Top 10 Most Common Reasons for Choosing Simple Living. I truly think this may be one of the most important posts that will ever appear on this blog. Why is it so important? It's a complete mindset shift to think about simple living as progress instead of regress. It's not reverting to a simpler time in the past or necessarily a back-to-the-land movement. I believe this … [Read more...]
Top 10 Most Common Reasons for Choosing Simple Living
I just wrapped up the book Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin. I think I took more notes from this book than any other book I've read this year. Due to the sheer quantity of notes, I'm going to split them up into at least three different posts on the topic of voluntary simplicity. Believe it or not, I was first introduced to voluntary simplicity when I read a random college thesis that I found online a few years ago. It was a great intro to the concept, and I wrote a summary of it … [Read more...]
“Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” (Book Summary)
If you're just looking for a quick overview of the ikigai concept, check out this previous post: Ikigai: The Japanese Purpose or “Reason for Being”. This post is a summary of the book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles. I'm currently working on an eBook about creating your life purpose and was hoping this book would be a deep dive into the "how" of ikigai. However, it's more of an introduction to a variety of different topics … [Read more...]
Slow Down & Set Perspective with Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot”
I've been doing a bunch of research for my first eBook on the topic of life purpose. A few times during the research process, I came across Carl Sagan's timeless Pale Blue Dot speech. I always stop what I'm doing to take a few minutes to read or watch it again. It may be the single best thing I've ever found to set (or reset) perspective. You can check out a video (of the audio) or read the transcript below. The Voyager 1 space probe took the famous Pale Blue Dot photo from 3.7 billion … [Read more...]
Blue Zones: How Ikarians Live Simply for 100+ Years
"The Island Where People Forget to Die" — That's the title of The New York Times article I came across during my existential crisis in 2015. I was searching through some emails recently and came across an email I sent to my dad in early 2016. Here's exactly what I sent him: I would say Ikarians (from the Blue Zones) are the most sane humans on the planet. Long healthy life, minimal impact on the planet, meaningful relationships ("us" vs. "me"), plant-based diets, drink wine and tea with … [Read more...]
