I often talk and dream of having less. In reality, I must admit, I want more. It sounds confusing but it’s quite simple. I need less to have more. Meetings, junk drawers, owning six different spatulas, four whisks and more than two hundred hangers gets in the way of more goodness.

Having eight different black shirts means extra time choosing and less time experiencing the good stuff.

I recently donated three stuffed garbage bags full of clothes and my closet is still too full.

Less stuff - utensils, clothes, tv channels, menu items, obligations, shoes, appointments, paper.

More goodness – yoga classes, deep breathing, bike rides, simple meals with great friends and family, date nights, time to see life through my camera, time to dto anything or nothing with my child, green juice, wine by the fire, phone calls to best girlfriends.

What’s your goodness? What would you trade for more of it?

While movement and exercise is a big part of the total health puzzle, stillness also has it’s place. After locking myself out of the house today, I realized that I have trouble being still or having a quiet mind, unless I schedule the stillness. I know the last ten minutes of yoga class is always still and quiet. I know that from 9pm to 6am, I can usually count on quiet stillness and hopefully sleep. When I am not prepared to be still, quiet or what some might call unproductive, it is really a challenge.

I knew that I had about 30 minutes before my dad could make it over with a house key and that there was no other way I was getting in the house. I walked into my backyard and sat on my deck for a few minutes. Without a watch or phone, I had no idea how quickly (or slowly) time was passing. I began to think about how I would fill the time and how much I couldn’t do. I couldn’t respond to email, or answer the phone. I couldn’t finish making my lunch or let the dog out. I couldn’t write a proposal or land a new client. After that 60 seconds of “what can’t I do” panic, I moved on to solution thinking.

What can I do? I found a flyer that was on the front porch but couldn’t find anything to write with to jot down all of the things I was afraid I would forget. I sat in the sun for a little Vitamin D but got too hot. I sat in the shade and tried to be still but got bored and concerned about the passing time. I stretched, tried out a few yoga poses, sat in the sun again and then thought about why this story might be interesting.

While I was probably only waiting 20 minutes, my mind wasn’t quiet for 20 seconds.  To better align my life with my be more, do less philosophy, I need to experience more spontaneous stillness.

While I really want to be more and do less, due to commitments I have made to myself, I am doing more lately. Between, my full time job, launching the new site and most importantly raising a family, there are some days when I feel a little stretched. Stretched but satisfied and content. One thing that I have sorely neglected this year is my 101 list. Tomorrow I will list the things I have completed, the things I haven’t completed, and the things I think I can still get done before the end of the year. One of my 101 items  is “Donate $10.00 to the MS Society for every item not completed”, so the upside to not completing the list is that someone will benefit!

What do you want to complete by the end of the year?

I may have talked about The Power of Less before or at least mentioned the author, Leo Babauta and his blog. I really admire Leo and embrace the lessons in his book. He makes great recommendations for simplifying life (business and personal). All of his suggestions equal a happier, healthier life in my opinion, and who doesn’t want that.

My approach to incorporating new healthy habits has typically been trying to adapt to twenty new things at once because I often want it all (right now!). Leo suggests a new way of forming habits with rules like, Do only one habit at a time. Choose an easy Goal. Be consistent. By the end of thirty days you will have a new habit. Hmmm, that is 12 new habits per year. I will usually attempt 43 new habits and end up with 1 or 2 per year.

My first attempt at Leo’s habit forming rules was with flossing. I started flossing every night on July 6th and haven’t missed a night since. (Don’t worry, I flossed before then just not regularly).

My next new habit starts tomorrow. 10 minutes of daily yoga. Yes, only ten minutes. (per my new mentor’s recommendation).  By Sept. 24th, I will have established two new daily habits (flossing and 10 minutes of yoga) and will be ready for habit #3.

Another reason, I think this book could be life changing is that the author lives by his words.  With his own approach, Leo has become a vegetarian, taken up running, eliminated debt, lost more than 40 pounds and simplified his life.

I would not hire a personal trainer who was out of shape or a financial advisor who was broke. I welcome and trust the lessons in The Power of Less.

This is one of my favorite websites, especially when things get crazy and I need to remember what is important in life.

Zen Habits