Second Post........New Blog.........Who I am,.....at last

 As I find my feet, I'm starting a journey that I hope will prove helpful ...Walking these words... sorting out the specifics of how I found my way .......to a tad more grace, wonder and peace in my life, isn't as easy as I hoped......I am not a journalist. I am a simple person.....Well, I think so. My friends think I am an enigma because my life is so different from theirs.....So, I'll begin.

I am a Minimalist but my home is full of color and life. I am a Minimalist and my life is full of life. I am a Minimalist and I, (usually,) have time for all the things that are important in my life...Most important of all, I am a Minimalist who has found that I have it all....... because, I am happy.....

I am happy, and  challenged, just like everyone else.  I am happy......and most importantly, I know why........I have found my "Rest.".....I have found the place where I can breathe.......And Minimalism had a lot to do with it........I would never have found my "Happy" if it weren't for Minimalism........In that, I know, I'm in very good company. 

I had to first admit that happy was important to me. I did that years ago. But I didn't know how or where to find it..... I grew up in a world where Minimalism was not a nice word and the desire to be happy was a goal of children or an excuse for wastrels.......Money, power, and success were the only worthy goals.  

It took a lot of time but for all intents and purposes I would say that I have found happy. It has come to mean being at home in myself......The lesson was hard won, not easy......but I am here. I am not wealthy. There are no accolades to my life. No grand success on the world stage.....and most definitely, no discretionary income......But what I have, I've found, is worth more,...at least to me....I am  happy, I have found a modicome of contentment....and I did it all just as I am.

I started another blog a while back with the idea that I would write about the fact that I am happy......I called it "Simply Finding Happy." It......didn't make me happy,....So I stopped after a few posts. Having seen so many people writing recipes for "Happy," that have nothing to do with happy, made me sad. There is a recipe for being happy but so far I haven't seen it in print...and I never will.....The reason?..Your "happy," and my "happy," are different.......just like your sense of Minimalism and mine.  

Most of us know that jumping for joy all the time.... isn't happy, isn't real or even reasonable. We live in a world where Life, quite simply, is life....The fact is that Life is not going to change when we want it to...do what we want it to....or be what we want it to.....We think we can fight the good fight through life...and...Control it.....Create a world we truly want and are safe in....a place where we can rest.........and then, we will be happy.......Most of us grew up with the mantra that if we work hard enough, we can produce "happy," usually, not by that name.....because sadly for many, it still seems a trivial goal not worthy of effort.

 Although if we look deep enough, all our accomplishments are because we are looking....to feel, to be, and to know.....what? To know.......happy.

Repeatedly and exhaustingly we dig in, put forth the best effort we can summon to accomplish so very much.........Most of this adding up to making enough money to purchase all the things that are identified with wealth, power, position, status, and success.......Then and only then, when we are at our personal pinnacle, can we take a moment to breathe a bit and allow ourselves to enjoy our "happy."  As Dr. Phil say's, "How's that workin' for ya?"........

Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, or Oprah Winfrey.........Well, at least, Oprah will tell you that money isn't the answer. If it was, they all would have stopped working long ago....Most of us know this, but deep inside we think that with at least a tad more we would feel secure enough to be happy........ at retirement, when we will have earned the right to be........ Think about it.  The idea that it takes 65 or 70 years of effort before we have earned the right to be happy........Does that make sense when you look at it? Not to me. 

So. Again, I ask you to think about Oprah, or Bill and Melinda Gates, or Warren Buffet if you prefer.....What do these very successful and financial fit individuals know that most of us do not?

They know that Money, Security, Power, the utmost success, is not enough for us to be happy.......Being, doing, giving, and finding yourself.........finding your "rest," begins with letting go.....We need to let go of a great many of our old ideas before we can find the space to let in the ideas that guide us back to our own personal, enough.......It is at that "Enough" that we begin to find our own "Happy." 

I have found the same answer.  I am in good company at every end of the financial spectrum and I would like to share what I am learning in this blog......Or at least how I'm learning, whatever I'm learning in this regard..........For me, Minimalism is tied in with happiness and all the ideas that form "rest."   My rest, to rest, a rest, all the rest......... often adding up to all the best in my life and the lives of others.

For many people the idea of Minimalism doesn't sit well......It is believed to be an uncomfortable way to live........Just like "Happy," Minimalism is what you make of it..... I am grateful that I am a Minimalist....It has given me the space to see how much I really have, what is important to me and what clutters up my life,.....including and frequently, how I am thinking......It frees me to do what I want with what I have, when I want to.  It gives me choices that I never knew were available to me. And it has allowed me to see what has stood in my way........usually, me, and my thinking.

Minimalism comes in a variety of forms.........You determine which form fits you, I don't....but I can testify that at least for me, it has lead to the road of, "Happy."

Much of what I know about being happy has little to do with financial status. Many Minimalists are quite comfortable, wealthy in some cases.  Usually we are just like everyone else, with the exception that most of us have a whole lot more, "happy," today than we did before Minimalism was a part of our lives.....

Then, what do Minimalists have in common with the Gate's, Buffet's, and Winfrey's of this world?......We share the ability to find our "Rest." We know that Happy doesn't rest on money. Happy is available to anyone who wants it........

"The Rest"????

What's "The Rest," and who's the Us?.........It's simply that......."the rest," of, to and for......those of us who feel.........done.

It does not matter....

Who we are

How Old we are

Where we are on our Journey

Where we are from

Where we are or want to go

How little we have ......or how much

OR a great many other codicils

We are done and that's it......Done is different for all of us.........But, done is still......done. 

There is a place where we can find the "rest," we need. A place where we can breathe........It may be different for each of us but we can find the way there. We can find our way home.......To the place which renews us, gives us back our purpose, our individuality, our dignity and our strength....

There are steps on this new Journey. They aren't arduous, but they challenge us and often when we least expect them too......Usually they are very simple and that is what makes them challenging....We live in a world and a culture where simple is suspect......There are more than The 12 Steps....The number of steps vary according to each of us.......This is not a recipe. There is no single recipe for everyone along any journey. That is a myth.

So, here is what I have learned and am continuing to learn.....

The First lesson on this road is that "Life, truly is....life." Things simply happen..... to all of us........No one is to blame when things don't go exactly as planned............The best Bridal Planner can't prevent it from raining on your Wedding Day..........My Honeymoon........ a Hurricane while we were on an island in the Atlantic........Surprisingly, we chose to make it an adventure. 

The Second.......Everything changes......There is no constancy in this world of ours....Things go up and then they come down.....I'm not saying that we like it. It's just that way.......Learning to go with this is the hard part.......I'm writing my first blog page ever........It isn't going to be perfect........The blog can get better....or worse.......We'll see. I'm hoping for better.

Third. It doesn't matter who you are.....how much money you have,........how much power you seem to have........You do not have control of your life.....We want to be in control.....It makes us feel safe.......There are other ways of feeling safe.......We can find them.....They are real......and when we find them, we rest..........