Living minimally – the struggle is real! When you think of “living minimally” do you think of stuff, of clutter, of material things or is it more spiritual? Why is it hard to let go of our “things”, do they define us? Do they represent the story we want to tell to the world? If a fire laid waste to all of our possessions, how likely would we be to buy each one again? Host, Mike Domitrz, along with CAST members Maria Janowiak, Megan Merchant, and Berni Xiong describe their own personal experiences and failures with minimalism, the difference between purposefully downsizing and a forced circumstance, and valuable resources they use on their journey to be intentional.
The quote that inspired this conversation is “Live minimally and thus live more free.” — Timber Hawkeye from Buddhist Boot camp.
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Key Takeaways:
[2:02] Mike reads a quote and asks the CAST what living minimally means to them.
[8:45] Achieving minimalism by way of a vision.
[14:28] Would you buy all of your current belongings over again?
[25:33] Childhood memories and parenting strategies about minimalism.
[29:42] Recommended resources about living minimally.
Introduction:
Welcome to the Everyday MINDFULness Show, the off the cuff exploration of everyday aha moments and life experiences. Join the cast of over 70 uniquely brilliant individuals. Each week, Mike Domitrz and an eclectic mix of cast members and special guests will engage in mindful and lively conversations about everything from meditation to spirituality to personal passions to successes and failures to relationships to the stuff that makes up the moments of our daily lives. Let’s get started with your host, author, speaker, provocateur and a bit of a goofball Mike Domitrz.
Mike Domitrz:
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Hi, yes. I’m your host Mike Domitrz. I’m thrilled to be here with our cast from the Everyday MINDFULness Show. This week’s cast includes Megan Merchant, Berni Xiong and Maria Janowiak. We are thrilled to have all three of them on here. Now, if you’re wondering, “Hey, where do I learn about them? How do I find out about these brilliant people?” You simply go to our website, everydaymindfulnessshow.com and you’ll find everything you need on that website.
This week’s show is about living minimally and this quote that I read in a book really got me thinking about this and here is the quote. “Live minimally and thus live more free.” The author was Timber Hawkeye. The book was Buddhist Boot Camp. It was actually an audio book that I was listening to and I heard that and I said, “Oh, I love that.” Megan, what does living minimally mean to you?
Megan Merchant:
My name is Megan and I’m a failed minimalist. I can honestly say that. If you have been to my house or inside of my car, I think you would agree. For me, it’s a goal that I have. I love that you said with that quote. That it means it’s having more freedom. The reason why I want to embrace minimalism into our lives is to have that freedom. But, more importantly, to have that happiness so I can be free to be happy in this moment instead of waiting to be happy because I’m too busy cleaning up all of the toys that my children scattered around or taking care of all these stuff that we have around us, just being consumed and swallowed by it. Does that make sense?
Mike Domitrz:
Absolutely. Well, Maria, what does that mean to you?
Maria Janowiak:
Yeah, definitely. I think that this is a great example. What Megan said is true. I don’t call myself a failed minimalist. I like to think of myself as an inspiring minimalist. The idea there is absolutely that you don’t want to get mired down in the little things. I think sometimes people hear minimalism and they think it means that you can only own 10 things, but really it’s about living in alignment with your values and being able to devote all the time to the things you love and care about and ignore the rest.
Mike Domitrz:
Well, and I love where that goes from which is it’s not a control factor because I do think that’s what people hear. I think you’re right, Maria. That when people hear living minimally, they think, “I have to restrict. I have to control and, therefore, it feels burdensome.” It does not feel freeing. It feels burdensome or even there could be guilt behind that because there are things I need to have around me that are important to me and now I feel guilty because they’re not around me. It becomes very conflicting for people.
Berni Xiong:
For me, it’s hard to define the word being minimal or minimalism because I feel like you could use the word interchangeably with being more intentional. I have found that over the course of the past eight to nine years that I left my corporate job and became an entrepreneur, a small business owner, there were so many things I had to let go off, my definition of what success meant to me, what did it look like, what did it feel like, how I measured things in life in terms of where I am, who I am versus those who’ve either come before me or my peers. I think that a lot of the comparison game was because I’ve, again, measured success based on what my definition of being enough meant.
When I feel like the more that I’ve started to be intentional about the way I chose to live, the people I chose to engage with, the choices I made everyday in my lifestyle or even consumption in terms of food and material things, I have found that I now at a place where I’m content with the things that I own. I’m content with the things that I do and I’m content with the people that I’ve surrounded around me because I want them to be there versus I felt like I had to have it there in order to define who I was.
Mike Domitrz:
I love how you brought up food and material … We don’t normally hear that. Normally people just bring up material items.
Maria Janowiak:
Yeah, I guess. Along these lines I was thinking about the one example and maybe the one I did come to is more on the material side of things. Maybe it’s not the best but it was thinking about when we went to buy our house, we could have bought a nicer house, a bigger house and they tried to sell us that, but we ended up buying a really small house and it was freeing because there is half as much mortgage, half as much stuff, half as much maintenance and it’s more in alignment with what we want so we get to spend all the time on the other things.
Mike Domitrz:
I think that’s the tough part is understanding that you adjust to the half so fast and that people don’t recognize that that’s a possibility that I could adjust to having half because after six months, the half is full. In other words, that’s all you have so that’s your full. It’s amazing to me that over the time of our lives and our kids and our family moving, when we’re in the tiny house, there were six of us living there and we survived. Then we moved to a house that gave us more space, suddenly it’s full.
Megan Merchant:
That half opens the door for so much more though when you’re talking about material things and downsizing which a lot of people think minimalism is strictly related to. For instance, we just cleaned out our entire kitchen. I was like, “Why do we have 20 spatulas? How many people in our family? We have four. Are we all going to be using all these spatulas at the same time?” It’s really not likely. Let’s clean out our entire kitchen and it actually opened up all of this is other time and space instead of I’m doing more dishes or I’m folding more laundry because we had more clothing. I’m putting away more stuff. It opens the door for more time and that time can be used to spend with your family and your friends and doing your hobbies and following your passions. That less becomes more and more enriching in your life.
Mike Domitrz:
That’s exactly what he was talking about in the quote and I found that to be true because then we filled the larger home and now we are looking to downsize. Now our kids are older and so we’re actually looking to move and we ended up emptying out a couple van loads of stuff at our house, getting the house ready and an entire large pot. I walk around the house and I don’t feel at all like the house is empty. It’s just amazing how much we don’t … You start living this way for a month or so and you’re like, “I don’t really miss any of those things that we remove that I thought that we can’t get rid of that, can’t get rid of that.”
But when you force yourself to and that’s where it becomes interesting which is, in this case, it was a circumstance that forced it. I wonder instead of a circumstance, it’s a vision. It is a vision that makes us feel like, no, I can do without this or at least I could try. What if I tried to live without this and put this all away for six months and then maybe after one month I just give it all away because I’ve lived for a month without it and I don’t need it? What do you all think? Is there a way to create a vision to get to this place versus a forced circumstance like a move is a forced circumstance?
Megan Merchant:
We’re currently struggling with that. That’s why I called myself a failed minimalist. I said that in a joking way.
Mike Domitrz:
I do like aspiring. I do-
Megan Merchant:
I think it’s so much more positive. We’re working. We do have that vision because we’re trying to create that freedom in our life that we’re not being tied to, the maintenance and the care of things. We’d rather choose to do the maintenance and the care of people and experiences in our life. For us, it absolutely is a vision. They say, “Hold up this object and does it make you feel happy? Does it serve a direct purpose? If not, set it aside.” That’s what we’ve been practicing at our household.
Mike Domitrz:
What a great question. Hold it up. Does this make me happy? I guess there’s a followup question to that, right? What makes me happy about it? Does its presence need to be necessary for that to occur? Because I can feel happy holding … Let’s say that a child has a toy. I can say, “I love holding this toy when it’s in my hand.” If I never play with it, then I still need to ask: how often am I going to play with this, utilize this for that happiness? Is that true?
Megan Merchant:
Yeah. Unfortunately for me every book I hold up, does this make me happy? Well, yes, it does and it will so we’re keeping it.
Maria Janowiak:
Well, I think that’s a really good part. Oh, my gosh. Every book is valuable. It’s so hard. I think one of the things I really focus on is structuring my life to just minimize the things coming in knowing that the things that are already in my possession are really tricky to deal with. That once I have a book, I’m going to want it forever. Instead thinking about creating some situations that make it so I only … Maybe I still acquire books but I don’t acquire all the other things in my life so that way I don’t have to deal with it on the end. It’s more maybe on the supplies, on the starter side, input side than output. This is maybe an easier place to approach some of these issues.
Berni Xiong:
But that’s a good point though, Maria, that you make because if those books matter to you, then you’re intentionally keeping them so it’s not waste. It’s not clutter. It’s not taking up space because it’s useless. It actually is useful. You actually are using them. You’re actually reading them and I think that’s also the misconception at times and I think both of you talked about this before about what minimalism means or how to minimize your life. And, it doesn’t mean you have less objects, therefore, you are a minimal person. I think it just means you know what you want in your life and you know what matters to you and you’re creating space to allow yourself to have room for those things that matter, the things being relationships or material objects or whatnot, your passion, projects and whatnot.
I think it’s a beautiful thing and even for those who are listening, if you’re afraid to get rid of books, I had tons of books as well. When I finally let some of them go, I replaced them by buying the Kindle version or saving a PDF version of it so that I still have an electronic format anytime I wanted to refer back to some chapter, but I don’t necessarily have the physical book in my hand. If I haven’t touched that physical book for a few years, it didn’t make sense for me to keep it. That’s another technique people could use if they do want to get rid of somethings, get rid of clutter but still keep things that matter to them.
Mike Domitrz:
I was going to go there so I’m glad you brought that up, Berni, which is books are an interesting item. For anyone listening, it could be any item. We’re using books as an example here. It sounds like we all love them. I found that there’s usually only … And everybody is different. One of you may say, “No, for me, there’s a hundred books I continually read over and over again.” But for most people, that’s not true. There is a handful to two handfuls of books they continually repeat read, if they do that at all. A lot of people don’t do that at all.
Then you start to say, “Okay. What that book taught me is priceless. The lessons in that book are priceless. Do I have those down? Have I recorded those somewhere?” For me, after every book I read, I create an Evernote file which is filled with quotes from the book and my thoughts and that’s in my computer. I can read any book. I can have a hundred of those book notes different from every book. That’s with me forever. I can hand the book off to another person now to enjoy, to really love and treasure.
Recently, one of my friends about a year ago, a good friend of mine, his son was doing a Boy Scout, Eagle project, and they’re trying to create a library for an underprivileged community. We found ourselves shipping, I think it was like four to six complete box fulls of books to them. Suddenly, they were gone. Those were books that a lot of them that we really loved or the kids had growing up. But honestly we’re not reading them on a regular basis and somebody else is going to get great joy from them.
I think there is a litmus test that has to be applied because I love what we’re all saying about does this serve me? Do I love this? But for the person who doesn’t get rid of stuff, they’ll argue that every collection they collect, that’s true of. There’s got to be some kind of marker there that says, “Okay. Well, I’m keeping the things in my life that allow me to be intentional. I am doing this in a way that’s not minimal.” We have to be honest with ourselves. That’s part of that mindful discovery of sometimes we got to be honest and say we’re telling ourselves a bit of a lie here or myth.
Megan Merchant:
I think a lot of people hold on to things because of what it says or represents about them so that the way … If somebody comes to the house like, “Oh, you have five million books,” and they like that because they think, “Oh, you’re well read. You’re an intellectual. You’re knowledgeable.” A lot of the things that we collect, we do for status or for ego construction.
Mike Domitrz:
Yes, or family guilt. I know a lot of people that have stuff in their house that is history. It’s some form of history and so you go down to their storage and you start opening up boxes, oh, no, that’s that history and that that’s history. But they’ve been in boxes for 12 years. Then you start to ask yourself, “If the house burn down and everything was lost, which of those items, if I could only pick one out of each box, would I’ve kept? What would have I actually changed, put out and looked at because it was that kind of history that I wanted to have in my life? I wanted to have its presence.” The reason I asked that question is that someone that worked for me a few years ago did have a fire, lost everything and said, “You’d be amazed, Mike, how quickly you adapt and realize most of the stuff you weren’t looking at, thinking about anyways, it was memories that you always have with you whether that item is in the box or not.”
Berni Xiong:
Mike, I love that you brought this story up because I was actually going to bring up a followup question for all of us and even the audience, listeners to answer. I get to riff off of what you’re saying before. We’re afraid to let go of some things. We want to hold on to some things, but what if we just let go of some things right now? What’s the worst that could happen?
Let’s take a book, for example. I had a bunch of books in my library. I kept getting rid of one called Finding your own North Star by Dr. Martha Beck, one of my favorite books of all time. I kept giving it to people, giving it to people and part of me was afraid to let it go because it represented a part of my life when I really felt that I started to emerge as a more authentic version of myself which is what her book is all about. But something about letting go of that book made me fear that if I let go of this book, I’m going to lose a part of that memory or I’m going to lose the sentimental value that came with having that book in my possession. I’ve literally bought that book probably over 20 times and given it to somebody else because I knew the book mattered but I can always get it again. I didn’t need that specific copy. I can always buy it again.
I guess a followup question for all of us is … It’s a hard question actually to really ask because I don’t know how to form that question. Maybe you guys can help me. What’s wrong with letting go of things right now?
Maria Janowiak:
It reminds me of a question, this gets back to Mike’s as well of, building on your idea, Berni, is another way of how the question said is would you buy it again? Same thing. If your house burned down, would you buy this thing again? Or, if you had to buy it now, do you really need it? It gets back to your piece about the book, too. Oh, you would buy it again and again and again so having it on your shelf makes sense to you because it has that value. If Megan lost her spatula, would she buy another one? Probably not. She’d probably just takes out the one that [crosstalk 00:17:51].
Megan Merchant:
[crosstalk 00:17:51] I like that.
Mike Domitrz:
No, I love that. The followup test which is if you answer yes to everything, then you need to sit down and have a discussion with yourself because if you say, “Yes, I would buy everything that I currently have.” Unless you’re completely living on a minimal … You’ve already done this and you’re living minimally, there’s no way that answer should be yes unless you’ve got a story that you’re selling yourself that you can’t live without. I think that becomes part of it. Am I selling myself the story that … I thought you brought it up a good point, Megan, earlier about is it status? I brought up, is it family history that you feel guilty of? If you let that go that you’re losing a part of you. Berni, you brought that up with that book. What’s the story we tell that doesn’t allow us to free ourselves? That goes to mindfulness at its heart. Is there some story we’re selling that we’re not even aware of, we haven’t dug deep enough to see what’s going on there?
Megan Merchant:
The interesting thing about that is with the book that was mentioned, every time that you come back to read it, you come back as a different person with a different perspective, having already gained lessons from it, processed it, lived it. It’s very interesting when you think about … You’ve mentioned these people keep reading the same books over and over but you’re not the same person reading the same book over and over.
Mike Domitrz:
I want to add that when I was saying people who go back and read books over and over again, that was not a negative. That was that most people don’t do it so the book does just sit there. But if you are going back and reading that and having a different experience each time, yes, there you go. There’s the value. It’s bringing value. It’s bringing you a form of a gift to your life that is wonderful. Once again, we don’t want to deny you that because that’s from a pure sense of growth and discovery.
Berni Xiong:
Mike, I’ll tell you what my answer was to your question whether it’s hypothetical or not. I’m not enough and there’s not enough in the world.
Mike Domitrz:
That’s powerful. That’s really powerful for anybody to sit and go is that the story I’m selling? Having that item does what to that story?
Berni Xiong:
It reverses it. See what I have? I’m enough. Right?
Mike Domitrz:
Got you.
Berni Xiong:
Look at me. I’m successful. I know that when I sit with that and I realize that … By the way, I’m not done with because I’m more minimal now, because I’m more intentional and mindful about my choices in life. I’m not done with that inner chatter. That comes up quite a bit and the great thing though is having the awareness to know that that is where the fear, if we want to call it that, that’s where that comes from, the feelings of at times having inadequacy, feeling not enough, not doing enough, being so hard on yourself.
My personal backstory. I grew up in a family of a lot of perfectionists and we grew up poor so the reality is it wasn’t just a hypothetical situation. I actually lived in poverty for quite some time as a youth. I did have an underprivileged and underserved upbringing so it was my reality. For me the fear is I don’t want to go back to that again.
Megan Merchant:
I think for a lot of people it would be the opposite. They would try to build themselves up or to fill that space with stuff. Your perspective is so beautiful. I am in just awe over here.
Berni Xiong:
Thanks, Megan.
Mike Domitrz:
Right. Because it mean what’s powerful about that is if somebody fears poverty and what you said, Megan, is you think and the assumption is they’re going to make sure everybody knows they have wealth so you do have more material items. But what you’re saying, Berni, is actually by living more minimally, you have the freedom of not having that fear.
Berni Xiong:
Oh, Mike, you make me seem smarter than I am. The funny thing is that’s where I am now. To be serious, thank you for saying that, Mike and Megan. That’s where I am now at 40 years old. In my 20s up until maybe even eight years ago, yes, I was living that whole look at me, look at what I have. Look at my job title. Look at what I’m wearing. Look at my status. Absolutely I was doing all those things. At the time, I didn’t know it was because I’m afraid to go back into poverty. I’m afraid that you’re going to know the truth that I’m not as, I’m doing air quotes, successful as society would deem me to be if you knew my dirty secrets. It was things like that. I do know it came from a ego-based place. It definitely did. I don’t regret it. I am who I am today because of all the experiences I’ve been through but I have the awareness to know it now, then not so much, not so much. Thank you for the compliments.
This is why I try my best to not judge people where they’re at in their life and how they choose to make decisions based on how they’re defining success. I’m going to go back to that again because a lot of the work I do with my clients and peers is helping people to redefine what success means to them. The reason I find that to be so important when you do that is it completely reshapes the way you view yourself and your place in the world. I think I’ve had such a long hard look at that. I’ve done so much work on that that today that’s why I have the awareness to know that those things don’t matter any more to me.
Mike Domitrz:
Well, it’s beautiful work you’re sharing there and that’s what’s powerful. When you brought that up … I think that’s the journey. We’re all at different places in that journey. I fell into the exact same trap. There’s no doubt about it. When we first had my office done, I had this big, beautiful, glamorous office desk setup, system, and we had one for me and one for my partner Karen and so we had all of it. Then you start to go, “Man, this is cumbersome.” But you know what got us there? Was listening to society. Listening to people who are highly successful saying, “The atmosphere you set in your office sets your mindset.”
That kind of belief system that you have to build this certain hierarchy of a sense of wealth to help you think on a higher level which was really garbage but it sold well and it got you the mindset of I want to be like them. I want to be like them so I have to have a room like them because they said that. Just like they say you got to dress for success. It’s that same mentality versus going, “You know what?” We downsize. I got rid of that desk that was beautiful. I got rid of it and went to a really, really simple home office depot thing you build yourself that was on wheels that I could move anywhere in my room so I could do recordings and film. But it’s so basic. You know what? It’s so freeing. There’s so much room in my office. It took me having to have that honest conversation about why do I have this desk? It’s not serving me.
Megan Merchant:
I love that you said it sold well. That the idea that was impressed upon you sold well. That’s the heart of what we’re talking about here and that living mindfully is recognizing that.
Mike Domitrz:
Like Berni said, you don’t recognize it at the time. It’s when you get to that new step you’re taking, I don’t want to say phase because hopefully it’s not just a phase, but to that next journey level that you look back and go, “Oh, yeah. I got suckered. I fell under the trap.”
Maria Janowiak:
I have two little vignettes to share with you guys. I absolutely identify with this and with what Berni said, those two sides of that coin. This made me flash back to being really young and growing up barely lower middle working class, not having a lot. Remember the J. C. Penney wish book at Christmas?
Megan Merchant:
Yes.
Berni Xiong:
Yes.
Maria Janowiak:
I remember being eight years old laying on the floor in our living room and paging through it. I had a little calculator and I would try and buy a million dollars worth of stuff to fill my mansion and just like, “I need 17 TVs,” and whatever because that was what we were essentially being sold literally. It was a catalog and that was the message and I was a kid and that’s what I was thinking about.
Flash forward 20 years later as an adult, we were deciding to pay up our student loans and be responsible and get off the rat race, hamster wheel. Instead now it’s like I won’t go into a store. I avoid it at all costs because every time you go in, you get all this stuff you don’t want so I just don’t go in. It has been a really big shift. I think I’ve spent much more of my life being in the latter but everybody, like you said, goes through their own kind of path on this.
Mike Domitrz:
I’ve seen the flip side of it where … I agree with you. I mean that was a great example you just gave, Maria, of the kids looking through the catalog at Christmas. They circle all the items that they would want on their list. Then our kids got older and, as our kids got older … I believe out of the cast members on this discussion right now I’ve got the oldest kids as far as where everybody is in life. They’re like, “What do you want for Christmas?” “I’m good. Give me a card, a gift card.” At first, you as a parent, you’re like, “Well, that’s no fun. There’s nothing in that that you don’t want to go through? Give me a big list.”
You do this to yourself because you’re in the trap of it’s about that idea of Christmas that you get all these options to go shop and buy for versus what if it never was about … I mean, you know that as a parent it’s not about that and you teach that but yet you still get caught in that, at that spirit of that time because that’s what the world is selling. Then you should step back and go, “Well, that’s great. It’s great that they’re not going ‘I expect this.’ Or, ‘I’m expecting that.'” That’s wonderful but yet there’s a sense it’s weird because society says it’s not the way they’re supposed to act.
Megan Merchant:
I’m unfortunately the parent who … My son is eight now, my oldest. We talk about the environmental impact of his purchasing choices. I’m the parent who’s in that aisle of Target and we’re examining the toy and I’m like, “Let’s look where it was made. Let’s look what it’s made out of. How long do you think you’re going to play with this? Is this going to end up in the landfill in two weeks when you’re tired of it and forgotten about it?” The other parents walk by and they roll their eyes and they make faces at me. I recognize that’s not mainstream but I’m trying to teach my children and I hope they grow up to be like yours and they just ask for a gift card instead of this $50,000 plastic toys that are going to end up in the landfill.
Mike Domitrz:
That’s some brilliant parenting right there. I did not have that introspective place at that time. I absolutely credit you. That’s brilliant to think what are the consequences to this choice because that’s really what you’re teaching. Everything we’ve discussed today comes back to that. What’s the consequence to this choice? Could this tie me down? Could this take space in my home and therefore there is less open? The more clutter, the less openness there is in a home. It brings us back to some great questions.
The three of you have given me such a great conversation, insights I’ve learned in this discussion. I’m sure the listeners have, too. Thank you. For everyone listening right now, know that’s Megan Merchant, Berni Xiong, Maria Janowak, Janowiak. Sorry, Maria. I should know better. You can find them all at everydaymindfulnessshow.com along with lots of freebies that we provide there, downloads that are available for free. Thank all three of you for being on this episode.
Megan Merchant:
Thank you.
Maria Janowiak:
Thank you.
Mike Domitrz:
Absolutely. Are there books that the three of you would recommend to help take this pathway? You brought up one, Berni.
Berni Xiong:
Well not for this pathway. I’ve got some friends by the name of The Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus and they both live and breathe … This is what they do. I would encourage listeners to just go to their website. I believe it’s theminimalists.com and they’ve got a bunch of books, a bunch of videos, TEDx Talks and things like that. That’s a great resource for people who want to minimize.
Mike Domitrz:
Very cool.
Megan Merchant:
They have a documentary on Netflix right now, yes?
Berni Xiong:
Yes.
Megan Merchant:
Yeah. I was going to recommend that. They’re brilliant. Oh, what inspirations.
Berni Xiong:
Their documentary is called I think Minimalism.
Mike Domitrz:
I think I saw that out there. I haven’t seen it all but I’ve seen that advertised. That’s awesome, very cool.
Maria Janowiak:
There are two that come to mind but they’re along similar themes. One is of course I’m not remembering it. One is 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam and the other is Your Money or Your Life which is several years older. Both of them are about tracking, one, your money, tracking, the other, your time and then evaluating that in order to see if you’re living in alignment so what we talked about, the possession side. Those are really great books on the money and time side and they’re both fabulous.
Mike Domitrz:
Very cool. Megan?
Megan Merchant:
Indirectly, I’m going to recommend any of the poetry books by Mary Oliver because they are grounded and celebrate nature. The more that you connect with your natural world, with the environment outside, the less that you want to surround yourself with manufactured goods.
Mike Domitrz:
Very, very cool. I’m going to throw another book in and that’s Essentialism. It’s called the Essentialism. Great book that really dives into this discussion. I want to thank all three of you again and until next time. For everyone out there, may you enjoy everyday mindfulness in your life.
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Mentioned in This Episode:
Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things
168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, by Laura Vanderkam
Your Money or Your Life, by Vicki Robin
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown
Maria Janowiak is a forester, writer, and science communicator. At work, she investigates climate change and helps forests adapt to changing conditions. At home, she writes about the health benefits of nature, volunteers with outdoor organizations, and enjoys gardening, exploring, and training for triathlons.
Linkedin.com/in/maria-janowiak
Megan Merchant lives in the tall pines of Prescott, AZ and holds an MFA degree from UNLV. She is the author of two full-length poetry collections: Gravel Ghosts (Glass Lyre Press, 2016 Book of the Year), The Dark’s Humming (2015 Lyrebird Prize, Glass Lyre Press, 2017), four chapbooks, and a children’s book with Philomel Books. She is also a 200 RYT and teaches Mindfulness & meditation.
MeganMerchant.wixsite.com/poet
Berni Xiong is The Shin Kicking Life Spark. She owns and runs Brave Bear Media, an intuitive coaching and consulting boutique helping impact-driven individuals speak up, stand out, and change the world. She is a contributing author of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Time to Thrive, and contributing writer at The Huffington Post. When she’s not kicking shins, she is hanging out at her Reiki studio in the Twin Cities
The Sponsor of This Week’s Episode:
The “Can I Kiss You?” Book & Instructor’s Guide from DateSafeProject.org.
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