minimalism | Speaking from the Heart

"Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." ~ Laurie Buchanan

Posts tagged ‘minimalism’

Nary a Bat in My Belfry

Len and I sold our commercial property in December because we’re relocating. We thought we knew where, but it’s still somewhat of a moving target — we’ll let you know when we figure that piece out.

We intended to put our home on the market April 1, but due to unforeseen circumstances (including four weeks in a non-weight-bearing cast), we’re currently making up for lost time getting our home ready to put on the market.

One of the items on our to-do list was to empty the attic space over the garage. In twenty years of living at the same address, things accumulate — big time! When Len got up there to clear it out, he discovered that:

Literally we don’t have any bats in our belfry — or attic, as the case may be.
Figuratively we just might be crazy — or at the very least, eccentric!

We created three sections in the garage to sort items: donate, throw, keep.

As a minimalist [who’s married to a maximalist], I don’t want to be possessed by possessions, so for something to make it into the keep section took quite a bit of negotiation on Len’s part because I want the next chapter of our lives to be foot loose and fancy free.

Are you more of a keeper or a thrower?

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

The Book—Discovering the Seven Selves
The Experience—Life Harmony

Find me on Twitter @HolEssence

About these ads

Category:

Minimalism

Tagged with:

Of Mice, Men, Packrats and Squirrels

Our home is located in what had been a grove of oak trees in days gone by. Most of the homes in our neighborhood have at least one huge tree in the front or back yard. Every fall we can count on being entertained by the antics of squirrels as they lay in stores for the winter. What they squirrel away is absolutely necessary for their survival.

Human beings are different. The National Association of Professional Organizers says that as a society we’ve acquired so much “stuff” over the last three decades that the self storage industry is the fastest growing new industry in the United States.

According to the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Program at the University of California, San Diego, the overwhelming desire to acquire, save, and compulsively collect—hoard—can be attributed to a “unique pattern of brain function abnormalities.”

Research shows the inability to discard doesn’t play favorites; it can equally affect both men and women.

Are you more of a minimalist or a maximalist?

— Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

The Book—Discovering the Seven Selves
The Experience— Life Harmony

Find me on Twitter @HolEssence

Category:

Minimalism

Tagged with:

There’s a Price for Extra Baggage

When I write an article or work on a manuscript, I back it up on a USB thumb drive — a tiny data storage device. The clear housing allows me to see the inner-workings. To me it looks like an aerial view of a micro-sized warehouse with a maze of corridors, each one leading to a compartment that holds data, music, pictures, video, or software.

Some Things are Definitely Worth Remembering
The information I put on my thumb drive is important enough to me that I transport it on a lanyard, much like a referee wears a whistle. I carry it with me for safekeeping until I have the opportunity to make a positive contribution — submit it for publication.

Some Things are Best Forgotten
Many of us carry memories with us that don’t contribute to our wellbeing. In fact they’re debilitating. Unlike a tiny thumb drive, they take up a vast amount of space in containers known as baggage — emotional baggage. And while we can’t actually see them, we definitely feel their weight. And the longer we carry them, the heavier they get.

“Let go or be dragged.” — Zen proverb

Some people overpack for trips. Are you overpacked for life?

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Discovering the Seven Selves Life Harmony

Category:

Inspiration, Personal Growth

Tagged with:

I Saw the Face of God

This is the final post from my San Miguel de Allende experience. As a participant in this story, I was unable to take a photograph, nor would it have been appropriate. As such, I’ve pulled a photograph from my archives; a photograph that represents what this woman was to me — a lighthouse.

Standing in the central part of San Miguel de Allende taking candid photos during their colorful, Day of the Dead celebration, my attention was caught by an elderly woman who’d journeyed in from the campo — the outskirts of town.

Bent from time and weathered with age, her small gnarled hands gripped two short sticks to steady her steps as she slowly progressed. A swathe of fabric wrapped over her shoulder — positioned at an angle across her back — sheathed her few worldly possessions.

And while many others who visibly fared much better asked for handouts, this elderly woman looked neither left nor right, but remained focused on the task at hand — to make it into the cathedral.

Curiosity piqued, I followed her. Ever so slowly she made her way to the third pew from the back on the right-hand side. I sat in the back pew on the left to study the elderly woman unobserved. Her silent sermon spoke volumes to my heart as she sat with eyes closed, palms upward in supplication toward the crucifix at the front of the church:

Keep moving forward — even through the pain
Don’t be held hostage by the opinion of others
Limit material possessions — they are a burden
Make time to sit with God
Believe

Carefully folding money so it would fit, I quietly made my way across the aisle and gently pressed a bill into her work-worn, ancient hand, tucking her fingers as I did. Before I could step away, gnarled fingers grasped mine, while her other hand slowly and repeatedly made the sign of the cross — touching my head, chest, and shoulders — as she spoke.

And while I didn’t understand her words, I clearly understood that I was being blessed; that her cloudless, silver-grey eyes took in far more than my features — they took in my heart. More importantly, as my tears washed down her deeply lined face, I knew that I was looking into the face of God.

When was the last time someone looked into your heart?

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Discovering the Seven Selves Life Harmony Facebook

The photograph featured in this post was taken at Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia.

Category:

Inspiration, Spiritual Awareness

Tagged with:

Daylight’s Burnin’!

This week I celebrate Double Nickels — my 55th birthday.

In reaching this milestone it seems reasonable to suggest that I’ve got more time behind me than I do in front of me. In fact, daily I can hear John Wayne’s voice, “Slap some bacon on a biscuit and let’s go, we’re burning daylight!”

And while the package I reside in has changed considerably over the years, I still feel the same on the inside—bright and sassy!

How do you feel on the inside?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Discovering the Seven Selves Life Harmony Facebook

Category:

Humor, Life, Musings

Tagged with:

Mind Your Own Business

Do you remember Gladys Kravitz—the nosey neighbor who lived next door to Samantha and Darrin Stephens—on the television show Bewitched? She was always curious about what other people were up to:

Samantha Stephens: Oh, hi, Mrs. Kravitz. What a surprise (not!).
Gladys Kravitz: I came over for a snoop of, uh, a scoop of sugar. I hope I’m not disturbing you.

Our dog Willa—aka Mrs. Kravitz—is a snoop in the first degree. When our neighbors are in their back yard, she peeks through the fence!

Willa would do well to heed Hank Williams’ song, Mind Your Own Business!

I have more than a dash and a dollop of curiosity. When I was a young girl, my hero was Harriet the Spy.

Have you ever stuck your nose where it didn’t belong?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Discovering the Seven Selves Life Harmony Facebook

Category:

Humor, Life, Musings

Tagged with:

The Brilliance of Pooh

Regardless of what you do (artist, chef, teacher, writer, hair stylist, gardener) there are countless times during the day when just be-ing is imperative.

It’s typically in the be-ing space that I join the esteemed ranks of Winnie the Pooh and think, Think, THINK.

In autumn I’m speaking in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico at the Women with Sacred Souls International Gathering and Retreat. My topic is keys—keys that help us open our emotional baggage, examine it, and offload it.

In my desire to leave each listener with something tangible from the presentation, I had colorful mini-cards made with a skeleton key on one side, and my quote “Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing” on the other.

Next to HolEssence people made a vertical garden in a discarded pallet – brilliant!

What’s your brilliant idea?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Discovering the Seven Selves Life Harmony Facebook

Category:

Life, Musings

Tagged with:

To Sling or Not to Sling

Recently after teaching a class at HolEssence, my attention was caught on the drive home by four pairs of what appeared to be rather new tennis shoes hanging from telephone lines. Looking at the shoes silhouetted against the sunlit blue sky, the first thing that popped into my head was the song, “Waking on Sunshine” by Katrina and The Waves.

Grabbing my camera to capture the free-spirited moment, the second thought that crossed my mind was “Luke Skywalker,” and the third was, “Walking Tall” (really tall)!

When I got home I checked Snopes to see what the story behind this practice might be. As it turns out, it could mean anything from exuberance at passing a sexual milestone, to gangs marking their territorial boundaries, and everything in-between, including just plain old fun!

I also learned that the Southwest has a similar practice of placing boots upside down on fenceposts by the side of a road. And in the military, some soldiers pitch their boots over wires when leaving a post.

Have you ever been a shoe slinger?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Discovering the Seven Selves Life Harmony Facebook

Category:

Life, Musings

Tagged with:

If I Only had a Heart

Without question, my favorite character in the Wizard of Oz is the Tin Man:

When a man’s an empty kettle
He should be on his mettle
And yet I’m torn apart
Just because I’m presumin’
That I could be a human
If I only had a heart

Where we live in Crystal Lake, Illinois our home is about three blocks—as the crow flies—from a family owned muffler shop, so we tend to pass their congenial “Tin Man” on a regular basis. For me, his presence serves as a thoughtful reminder to pause and reflect…what condition is my heart in?

I’d be tender, I’d be gentle
And awful sentimental
Regarding love and art
I’d be friends with the sparrows
And the boy that shoots the arrows
If I only had a heart

What condition is your heart in?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Please visit HolEssence and our Facebook page

Category:

Life, Musings, Spiritual Awareness

Tagged with:

I’m a Basket Case!

A few years ago when the economy took an interesting turn, we made the decision to change the store/product part of HolEssence (our small healing studio) to sacred space for Yoga. In doing so, we hosted a large sale event to eliminate product, and we put the display-type pieces down in the basement for safekeeping.

With summer upon us, we’ve taken advantage of the weather (no rain, snow, or ice) to clean said basement. Much to our surprise, we discovered that I’m a basket case! We knew that I’d used a lot of baskets to showcase various products to their best advantage, but we were amazed at the actual number!

Do you have an accidental or intentional collection of something whose size has unwittingly crept up on you?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Please visit HolEssence and our Facebook page

Category:

Life, Musings

Tagged with:

Speaking from the Heart

"Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." ~ Laurie Buchanan

Posts tagged ‘minimalism’

Nary a Bat in My Belfry

Of Mice, Men, Packrats and Squirrels

There’s a Price for Extra Baggage

I Saw the Face of God

Daylight’s Burnin’!

Mind Your Own Business

The Brilliance of Pooh

To Sling or Not to Sling

If I Only had a Heart

I’m a Basket Case!

Subscribe

Laurie Buchanan

Paden Plume

Sibyl Magazine

Evolving Your Spirit

Tuesdays with Laurie

Top 12 Posts

Archives

Many Thanks

Follow “Speaking from the Heart”