Thanks for popping in as I’m excited to share a few tips I have discovered on my early “moments” towards minimalism. The first one became very apparent to me yesterday when I woke up bleary eyed from a brief four hours of sleep the night before. (I had been writing my first blog about minimalism and finally posted it at 3 am)
Some people have asked me where I find time to write with our busy life with currently 6 kids in our home and two others that I try to stay connected to outside the home. Well…..
Like anything that is important, I find the time. I love to write and although for most of my life as a mom, I have put my needs at the bottom of the list, over the last decade I have learned that this doesn’t have to be the case.In fact, having this mindset is actually detrimental to our family as I get crabby when my needs haven’t been met. I’ve put myself last for so long however that even a tiny bit of “me time” can fill my bucket to over flowing.
I have found time over the years to go to my yoga classes, take a few evening courses, and even have the occasional long walk all alone. On days when the kids and house needed more attention, even doing a few yoga poses or sun salutations perked me up. My writing though is something that I really have to make a concerted effort to create time for daily/weekly, in order to release all the ideas and thoughts ready to erupt from my brain.
I paid the price yesterday though when I was surviving, yes that is an appropriate word for yesterday on only four hours of sleep. And like any day around here, it was jam packed and I needed to really be in the game.
Have you ever noticed that when you don’t get enough sleep, nothing seems to go right for you. Life is full of obstacles and shadowed with difficult moments, almost like the fog that clouds your brain. Things that you normally find solutions to in milli-seconds takes minutes, or longer.
Therefore, my TIP # 1 for beginning a minimalist journey is to NOT be minimal with regards to your sleep. This is one area that you need a huge amount. A bit ironic, that on the path to being a minimalist, you NEED something big in your life. But yes, sleep is one of them.
As I whipped through the house while the girls were at preschool and perhaps “whipped” isn’t the best verb to describe the way I cleaned the house yesterday morning, I took a large basket with me so I could gather up things on my path that I knew for SURE we didn’t need any longer. I noticed that my decisions for those things were slower than I believe I could have been, had I been well rested. Plus, my pace was definitely slower than my usual speedy, efficient self.
As a previous, fitness instructor, I have a mind set that my house cleaning can be a form of work out. As I bend down to reach for something, I do a squat, as I travel up the stairs, I run, sometimes taking two steps to really work my legs and give me a burst of cardio. When I’m making beds, I lift the sheets way up high, shaking them to air them out but also working my arms and shoulders. Okay, you get the idea and often people have said to me, after hearing I have 8 kids, “wow, you’re in great shape.” I don’t really know what they expect a mom with many kids to look like, but I often reply with a laugh, “my kids are my personal trainers and having a large family requires more work so that may explain why I may appear fit.”
I digress, the point is, that optimum sleep is paramount, if one is to be an efficient minimalist.
The other thing I also noticed was that I wasn’t eating the best. The morning started with me just grabbing an apple as I headed out the door taking Clark to the University bus, then back home to gather up the others, taking Harrison to high school and then Grace and Will to elementary school (yes, I know not very environmentally conscious/green, all that driving, but Grace was downhill skiing with her class yesterday and she had a lot of gear to take to school) and finally I had to take the little two to preschool. Upon returning home, AT LAST, since I was moving slower than usual, I didn’t stop for a good breakfast but plowed right into the work. Cleaning the kitchen, gathering up laundry, making beds. Yes, not eating… is not the best idea.
Since Will had invited a friend over after school, I made special oatmeal cookies, loaded with trail mix type filling. I also made a large snack plate to be brought out of the fridge when they arrived home later in the day. It had cut up veggies and fruit, some crackers and cheese and of course several of these large cookies on the plate. It was close to 11 am so I raced back to preschool.
After collecting the little girls, we went to the recycling center to drop off all the bottles we had accumulated and then the library where many of the books on minimalism were on on hold for me. Can I say enough about our library? I LOVE IT!….and although I love books, I can see that as long as I’m close to a library, I can let go of my books.
Here’s what I picked up;
Yeah!.. the book above will be an easy read and down below is a link to one of this author’s youtube videos.
The book above was written by the two guys I wrote about in my last post….although they don’t share the same lifestyle that I have (with a large family) I really like them. They remind me of my nephew, E, who lives in Vancouver in Yale town and enjoys a lovely very urban lifestyle. (he also has a minimalistic approach since he has a studio apartment.
The book above is written by a woman who is a mom like me….I listened to an interview she gave on the web and she had such a down to earth manner that I really resonated with….I’m looking forward to reading her book….
and because I knew that part of my quest for minimalism had to do with my diet, I also picked up these books as well.
AND
I love Deepak….as you know I participate in all the group meditations that he and Oprah put on….there is one coming up again in March and the focus will be on “success.” Check out the Chopra’s center to sign up.
After lunch (I fed the little girls but didn’t stop to eat) we went to pick up our University son and brought him home as he was going to greet Will and his friend V, after school, while I picked up Harrison from high school, collect Grace and all her ski stuff and then take her to her swim club session. To keep me going, as I was in and out of the house driving kids around, I grabbed a few of the cookies I made and a little bowl of fruit and veggies.
When I finally came home, as I was making dinner, I ate another cookies, okay, maybe two. Then, since I was still starving, I basically inhaled dinner not really “aware” of what was going in my mouth as I chewed and as we all hurriedly talked about the things each of us had on our plate for the evening.
After dinner as I was cleaning up, I knew I still had a full evening ahead with bathing the little kids, telling stories, working with Will on his reading, checking in with Grace on her homework, tucking in little people, making lunches, you get the picture and since I was running out of steam, I opened the box of chocolates that D had given me for Valentines as I was cleaning up the kitchen….I ate one chocolate and then two and finally three!!!
I said goodbye to Harrison, with a mouthful of chocolate. He was off to play another basketball game and since I had attended the one the night before, I let David see last night’s game. Then after the game, Harrison had asked if he could go to the February Valentine’s dance at school. Thank heavens I didn’t have to get him to those activities but since my number one helper, “my husband” was out for the evening, it was up to me to pick up the slack. So to keep going, my body ate another chocolate as I yelled for Will to start the bath water running.
That brings me to TIP #2 beginning the minimalism journey. After reading everything I just wrote, you probably are thinking tip #2should be ridding ourselves of activities….but no…that will have to be something we consider down the road. In these early days, my tip # 2 is, prepare healthy meals, eat slowly, savour your food and even if you have a busy day like I had yesterday, be mindful of the moments when you are eating.
On this journey, I want minimalism to create fuller, richer moments in every aspect of my life and getting sufficient sleep and eating consciously, with joy for I do love food, these must be the foundation for my life to flourish.
No matter your lifestyle, I would think this would be the base for a good life but in addition to North Americans having a lot of stuff cluttering up their homes, I think it’s safe to say that we as a society don’t get enough sleep. We certainly don’t have the best eating habits. (what do you think?)
After I put the little ones to bed, I quickly performed all the evening chores I needed to do in order to allow our morning to flow smoother. Then exhausted, I went to bed. Even though I was very tired, I started reading the new book I had picked up from the library, “Clutterfree with Kids,” by Joshua Becker. While it was very interesting, by 9:15 my eyes were really heavy. I set the book down, sprayed some lavender mist on my pillow that my sister C had given me, put some peppermint drops from Saje that my other sister B had given to me (because I used to be addicted to Vicks under my nose at bedtime….a story for another day about clearing up our addictions) and I dropped off to a blissful, deep sleep. Oh sweet dreams.
I woke up this morning refreshed and ready and excited to start a new day. The first thing I did today was take my green powder drink, make some oatmeal/quinoa cereal and I brewed a pot of Mother’s Helper tea from David’s Tea and while I sipped my first cup, I made some bran muffins. The cookie jar is still packed with the cookies I made yesterday but today, I ‘m going to have a good bran muffin as a conscious, well deserved snack before we do the piano and voice lessons, the basketball practise etc. (yes we do have to do something about the activities)
As I write this blog, it’s later in the morning, I’ve done my morning chores and while the girls play with their dollhouse, I thought I would pass on these two tips to you.
Get enough sleep and eat healthy meals and snacks
Well I’m off to do some deeper cleaning with a large basket under my arm. My intention is to start my deep cleaning with the thought, “do I need this and do I love it?” foremost in my brain. Wish me luck!
Hey and before I close I thought I would share the bran muffin recipe I have been using for years. It was the first muffin recipe that I ever made as a newly married woman. I hope you like it too and in a way, it’s kind of appropriate for the minimalism path since it clears out your colon REALLY well. Nothing like the feeling of cleaned out inside too right?…okay maybe too much information but hey…..when we start talking about paring down, shouldn’t we also be thinking of what is inside us as well?
Hope’s Minimalism Bran Muffins
11/4 cup of flour….I use 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of white flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1/4 salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 ground nutmeg
1/4 all spice
11/4 cup milk…..almond, rice, cow…whatever you prefer…I like almond
1/4 vegetable oil….or coconut is great too
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg
1/2 raisins
11/2 cup of a bran type cereal……I have used All Bran and that is I believe where I got this recipe years ago….of the cereal box
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together
2. In a large bowl, combine cereal and milk. Let stand 4 minutes or until cereal is softened. Add oil, molasses and egg. Beat well. Stir in raisins.
3. Add flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Portion batter evenly into 12 lightly greased muffin-pan cups.
4. Bake at 400°F about 20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean
Oh….and one final tip as it goes with helping things in your colon get flushed out….drink water~as you are working through your stuff. In fact, often during the clean up, you may reach for food as a distraction, but instead, drink a full glass of water, nice and slow and appreciate how far you have already come. Be SIMPLY GRATEFUL.
