Monthly learnings | July

The blog anniversary gave me the perfect opportunity to look back and ponder its future. I started this blog because I wanted to share my journey into to a life that feels intentional to me.
Living simply means different things to different people.To me, it represents the best way to get to where I want to be in life, which is to have a meaningful life, to feel good about myself, to be able to appreciate the beauty around me, to be there for others, to spread happiness even when embracing doubt and difficulties. I want to be happy. There are a lot of theories on what happiness means. The one I relate the most is that happiness is a state of being, not just a fleeting emotion or sensation:

"Look at the waves coming near the shore. When you are at the bottom of the wave, you hit the bottom. You hit the solid rock. When you are surfing on the top, you are all elated. So you go from elation to depression -- there's no depth. Now, if you look at the high sea, there might be beautiful, calm ocean, like a mirror. There might be storms, but the depth of the ocean is still there, unchanged." Matthieu Ricard

The depth makes the difference, but, how do we achieve that depth? From my personal experience, it comes from learning, purpose, and self-awareness.  I want to use this blog as a platform to do it, sharing my learnings and learning from what you're willing to share with me.

I'm starting a monthly series, recording my story, thoughts and doubts about living simply on each month. I invite you to join me and share your learnings too. Without further due, here are my thoughts/learnings last month:


Month overview: 

• July has been an intense month. I celebrated my birthday this month, by having a special dinner with my family. It was perfect. Make it simple, but significant (from Don Draper from Mad Men) is becoming my go-to phrase for simplifying.  
• I was reminded of one thing I learned way back in life: that I must take action on my life. When I don't, the universe does and he is not that nice.  Decisions are sometimes hard to make, but they must be made anyway. Waiting for the universe to decide for us equals a fair probability it won't turn out well, in my experience.  
• I resolved to write more. I was a writer when I was a child. I liked that. I realise I still smile with joy with the idea that I was a writer, even if I was only writing for the school newspaper or some random contests. 
• Because of my House made Home project I have been spending the weekends painting.  It has been defiant, fun, and sometimes relaxing, but most of the time, it has been unbearably tiring.  No routine to help me cope with the mess created during weeks that affect our daily lives. I don't do well with mess and confusion, either physical or psychological. The physical one is easier to tame, and I have been doing it for the past years, I find it helps me to cope with feelings and thoughts, so I couldn't help feeling tremendously unbalanced this month.  On a pleasant note, I am thrilled with the results so far. It is true that we need to get out our comfort zone to get better. 
• A funny thing I noticed was that even without any actual change made to the house, planning this project made me love it more just because I am working on it instead of complaining about it. 

Wrapping the learnings:

• You are responsible for your life, assume it and step up.
• Balance (like happiness) has a depth to it, it is not a current state of affairs. 

Learning from you:

• What did you learn this month?
• Do you ever feel stuck on indecisions? How do you unblock yourself?

2 comments simple journey | thoughts, simple memories