in the spirit of being more ‘open’ we spent two + days at a little cabin in the woods surrounded by quiet and snow. it was fairly primitive in that there was no plumbing or refrigeration; however we did have electric and plenty of propane heat, so we did stay toasty warm. it was quite cold out so we stayed in nearly the whole time, nothing particular on the to-do list, which was exactly the point. we talked and read and napped and ate. i had made a big pot of soup for dinners, yogurt and berries for breakfasts and plenty of good snacks; storing what we needed to in a cooler out on the deck where it was sufficiently cold.
we had not done anything like this the last five + years, so it was indeed welcome. as a proponent of simplicity and a slower pace of living i tried to be mindful of my thoughts and feelings during our time. time did certainly feel much more expansive then during a typical day. in my journal i penned these words …
“i am enjoying the fact that the phone can not ring, no one will knock at the door, nothing of impending urgency will happen … i am just able to begin whatever it is we may want to do; eat, talk, nap, stare out the window, write or take a walk with no pressure of something else requiring my immediate attention”
i think a lot of us would like that feeling much more often then we get it. i think simplicity and down time are becoming more and more elusive and we need to guard our time like it is the precious gift it is. we only get so much and what was so obvious during our little stay was that time can feel abundant if we allow our lives to fill up with it.
in my quest for more open space and time i have been sorting, purging and reevaluating what surrounds me … it is my wish to part with 1000 things … to recognize again what really matters.
