Simplifying your life isn’t a single project that you can finish and be done with — it’s actually a cycle. At least, that’s what I’ve found in my decade plus of simple living … I’ve downsized numerous times, in all areas of my life, and I keep finding myself coming back to the process of simplifying.
Tag: creativity
Look Beyond the Beautiful
It’s common for people to expect opportunities to show up in the form of beautiful angels and inspiring muses, but most opportunities first appear as nagging irritations and unwelcome surprises.
Whose “Principles” are We Talking About?
NAP Parenting is about examining the peculiar relationship between parent and child, and to explore the ethical ramifications therein. We’ve heard every argument under the sun for why one can/should hit or threaten their children, but they all must, in doing so, redefine children as non-persons.
The Shining City on a Hill: Commentary on Reagan
While wrapping up my graphic novel, I wound up reading Ronald Reagan’s famous Farewell Address – his “Shining City on a Hill” speech. Given my broader views, I obviously have some objections. But I was amazed to read an actual presidential speech where I agreed with entire paragraphs.
Education Needs to Be Uber-ized
The possibilities for education without conventional schooling are almost limitless, and we are already seeing many of these models gain popularity and presence.
Freedom or State?
Freedom produces creativity. The state stifles creativity. Freedom has elements of want, need, and ambition. The state rewards greed.
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
With unschooling there is no after. There is only now. My daughter is a baker because she bakes. She is also many other things. To ask what a child wants to be when she grows up is to dismiss what she already is, what she already knows, what she already does.
How the Work Week Encourages Short-Term Thinking
Problems can’t be left behind in one week. They will follow us to the next. This is surprising to some people, but it shouldn’t be. By dividing our lives into these discrete chunks called “work-weeks”, we can too easily shuffle away “the old units” down the memory hole.
This Halloween, Celebrate the Commercialization of Sweetness and Surprise
Have you ever noticed how no one complains about the commercialization of Halloween? Halloween is one of the most honest, self-aware holidays. It knows it’s about costumes, candy, parties, and fun scares. It knows money will be involved. And yet you won’t find too many people who don’t like Halloween.
Schooling Was for the Industrial Era, Unschooling Is for the Future
The trouble is that we have left the Industrial Era for the Imagination Age, but our mass education system remains fully entrenched in factory-style schooling. By many accounts, mass schooling has become even more restrictive than it was a century ago, consuming more of childhood and adolescence than at any time in our history.