In my last column I talked about the six month sabbatical Beth and I took last year. The change of location brought an obvious change in scenery, environment, food, culture, language, tempo and lifestyle. My physical surroundings had changed massively.
We had traded our considerably large and very comfortable 3 storey house for a postage stamp of a flat, – 12 square metres to be exact. We prepared food on top of the fridge and cooked on a single ring hob. The toilet design had been taken straight from a plane, it was three steps from the kitchen and the dining table was literally a foot from the bed. Compact to say the least (or cosy if you ask Beth).
We had no car, no phone and no TV. I had no idea how significant this was to become. These changes in circumstance prompted us to go out all the time. By going out I don’t mean going to the pub. I mean going outside and exploring. We cycled and walked everywhere. We spent time in coffee shops, by the river, at temples and shrines, in parks and public gardens. Okay and the odd bar!
I was reading, writing and drawing nearly every day. I felt alive. More importantly I felt that I was living every day.
There is no doubting that Kyoto is a magical place. It is so different it would capture anyone’s imagination for a while.
But I truly believe the most significant change for me was not the change in scenery, culture, people, language or food.
The most significant change was a shift to having less, doing less, rushing less. Less stuff, less technology and less noise led to more time, more laughs and certainly more adventures.
Maybe less is more! I never really appreciated this saying before my trip but it certainly do now. When you think about it in this way, it is actually possible to make small changes anytime, even starting right now. Small changes can have big results.
“True life is lived when tiny changes occur” – Leo Tolstoy
I remember sitting on the shinkansen (bullet train) and noticing that every single person was transfixed by their phone or tablet. I guess this is pretty much true of any commute, in nearly every industrialised society. And I used to be part of that. But not this time.
I spent the next couple of hours gazing out of the window, watching mountains and paddy fields pass by. My mind was free to wander aimlessly. I felt so relaxed, enjoying the details in the moment. Maybe if we try to be a little less obsessed with what is ahead, we can let ourselves enjoy the journey, and the view, a little more.
“True change takes place in the imagination” – Thomas Moore
I have made so many big changes recently, from changing career, to learning a brand new skill (Japanese) to getting married and now moving house.
I wonder why, after a decade of inactivity/ doing the same thing, there have suddenly been a flurry of changes? Is it my age? Is it the influence of my wife and the ethos of Do What You Love? Or is it that I changed one thing and that went well, so I had more confidence to change another, and another? Once I opened the floodgates I realised that there wasn’t that much to be fearful of, and a whole lot to be excited about. I suspect it is a combination of all the above.
How about you? What small steps could you take right now, to simplify your life and make changes today that will get you closer to feeling how you want to feel?
Until next time…
Mr K
