Starting the KonMari Method

I’ve decided: I’m going to work through Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. This is a long time in coming. I read the book first more than a year ago and have since returned to it over and over. Of all the books on decluttering and organising I’ve read (which are many), it Read More…

In Praise of Slow: A Book Review

Remember that I mentioned the slow food movement with reference to sourdough bread? It’s one of those things that I’d never heard of until recently, but once I heard it the first time suddenly it was cropping up everywhere. Hence, I read this book, which is about slow everything – the Slow movement, to be Read More…

The Cultivation of Contentment

People often talk about how contentment and happiness are different, often to make the point that contentment, not happiness, should be our goal.* I.e., you can feel a calm contentment, a spiritual quality, without needing the excitement of happiness or feeling deficient if happiness isn’t your overriding emotion. I certainly agree, but my experience is Read More…

Advice from My Mother

It’s Mother’s Day weekend here in the UK, so in honour of my mother and in keeping with my theme of reflection, I wanted to share some of the good advice I’ve received from my mom over the last couple of years. We’ve kept up an email correspondence ever since I moved overseas, but when Read More…

Reflections on Singleness

When I graduated without the ‘ring by spring’ so much coveted in my little subculture, I set myself up with a job and a nice apartment and was prepared for adventure. I’m afraid my impression of what that phase would be like came from a combination of my parents’ experience and old movies. I expected to be Read More…

2012: A Year without Guilt

My resolution for 2012 was to ‘do what I want’. But I should explain what I mean. Over that Christmas, I spent a lot of time talking to my mom about why I felt so guilty and frustrated about every decision I made. I felt crushed under too much obligation, and a continual sense of failure, Read More…