Listen to Yourself

There's a quiet voice that tells you exactly what, at any given moment, you need to do to be happy and satisfied.

The only hard part is learning to listen to it.

Making a Living Making Nothing

It's an interesting feature of this digital age - many of us, myself included, make our livings making nothing substantial, things that exist only in 0's and 1's.

I wonder sometimes if I'd be happier if I made things: actual, real, things-you-can-touch things. I know how to sew. I make a better loaf of bread than you can buy in any but the most expensive of bakeries. I sometimes get away from the computer and do actual artwork on actual canvas, but that's the exception, not the norm.

I fantasize about growing my own food on this little suburban lot that barely holds my house and the requisite grassy front lawn. About living by, at least in part, the labor of my hands, not just of my mind. I dug a garden last spring, and a friend of mine said, "Wow, Becky, you mean you actually did actual work?!"

I think a little more of that sort of work might be good for me.

Slow Mornings

Alarm buzzing. Snooze. Groan. Snooze some more. Quick shower, iron the clothes, juggle kids if you have them. Scarf down your cold breakfast, or skip it altogether. Pay $4 for a grande latte or trans-fat-death-bomb biscuit from a drive-through on your way to work.

No wonder we don't want to wake up in the morning!

My mornings used to be something like that. I'd get up at the latest possible moment that would allow me to get to work on time. Now they're something like this:

Wake up naturally, just before sunrise. Get myself presentable at a relaxed pace. Hear the comforting burble and enticing aroma from my programmed coffee maker. Take the dog outside, and take a moment to breathe the fresh morning air, feel the world waking up. Enjoy the contrast between my hot coffee and the cool morning air. Make a real breakfast, then write this over my second cup of coffee, before I start my work day.

Second Cup is a place for my morning musings and thoughts on a slower, simpler life. A life where time is allowed for savoring the small things. For suburban simplicity, and bowing out of the rat race without bowing out of life.

Enjoy. Make today a great day.