Greetings! This week, the key idea is that less is more.

This Ted Talk Video left me thinking… It puts over the table the need to edit our lives, detaching ourselves from the stuff we no longer use. From clothes, electrical appliances, to books and boxes full of more and more STUFF… and giving ourselves more time to be with ourselves. In other words, spending moments filled with frugality, where the beauty resides in the simple, like going out for a walk, read or study something, camping. That is pure freedom time.

On the one hand, to edit ruthlessly by eliminating everything we do not really use. And by eliminating, I mean to lend, donate, sell, or give as a present… and at the same time, to think before buying something, to think on how long are we going to use it, if it has spare parts, who can use it after you, or how can I use it afterwards in a new way, or for something else. In the end, not to buy stuff for the sake of buying stuff. Small thinking and efficiency should be our premises; this is, to buy small things, made multifunctional, which are not brought to us from the other side of the world, and which we really need indeed.

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A lot of applicable examples to take society into sustainable ways are shown in this article, where they show you many ways of having more, by owning less. The concept is this: access is better than ownership. An thus, virtual platforms are presented (which we can imitate in any city around the world) where safe and efficient ways to lend stuff among neighbors exist, from electrical appliances, bikes, sugar, to even land (the concept of landshare in which the owner that does not use a patch of his land lends it to others for food production), or Untie Judith’s gift, which you never liked… Consequently, we reduce our carbon emissions drastically, save money, reduce our levels of consumption and, mainly, enhance the good vibes among us. The idea is to make a community from the neighborhood.

All this is very important, because only an ignorant cannot see that this system has ran out, and that being in a constant state of stress and alert, like an animal under attack, is not healthy for us; it is not healthy for our body, for our mind, and certainly not for our spirit, because we never end up feeling fulfilled. In the words of Eric Hoffer: You can never have enough, of what you don’t really need.

This is a fantastic article (only in Spanish, regretfully) about the present economic reality: “Goodbye Europe, the party is over. The Capitalism’s Crises attacks deep against Europe“

Huge True Hug to everyone, till next week!

Brian Longstaff.-

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