5/13/06 VS Chicago Meeting Notes

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are
tiny matter compared to what lies within us."
~ Oliver Wendall Holmes

Louella, Bazil, Nancy, Roberto, Lenny, Dave, Seowa, Shirley, Dolores and Mike, welcomed Kathy to her first meeting. Mike opened the meeting space with a reading from Chapter 3, Inner Simplicity, page 61, of Janet Luhrs' classic book, The Simple Living Guide;

The number one-reason why most people even think about simplifying their lives is to attain some level of inner peace and contentment. They have tried all of the outward trappings - new houses, cars, wardrobes, relationships, careers - and found that while those things bring some joy and satisfaction, the positive feelings are fleeting, and they also can bring added stress and chaos.

"What attracts you to voluntary simplicity, to these meetings? Are you seeking to attain some level of inner peace and contentment??"

With this as our entry point, we began the meeting...

"A Better Paradise"...
Roberto offered the concept of "A better Paradise". A baby's "paradise" is created by its' parents, but... eventually the baby wants more - it wants to raise it's head and see what's around, it want's to learn... the baby instinctively wants more, and that may not be a bad thing. But when is more too much?

Discussion included a need for wanting more can create a lot of chaos. There is little of the peace and contentment Janet Luhrs wrote about. Lives can become out of balance, chaotic. Always wanting more brings our focus to lack, instead of being grateful for all we have. Advertisers have got creating chaos down to a science. Divide (our attention), and Conquer (we become subservient).
Some folks are taught a better place awaits them when they die, so why try to improve their lives here? "I'll just wait for the better life."

And then there's the "Keeping up with the Jones'" thing.
Inner Peace and contentment are like definitions of happiness, but pleasure isn't the same as happiness.

"Why did you come to today's meeting?"
Dave said he started with Janet Luhrs' Simple Living Guide - he saw the title at a bookstore, bought the book, read it and found VS Chicago. There was something about the title, it implied there was more to living. Perhaps this was a way to learn. Others offered seeking inner peace and contentment, more to life then... Folks also noted VS Chicago is a place where they can express their views without judgment. It's safe for them to freely to add their views to any conversation or discussion. And they know others will listen to them, will give them a chance to be fully heard and be heard without judgment.

Affirmations - replace what you're saying.
Dolores talked about using affirmations, and how our words rely our thoughts. Mike attended a six week "Understanding the Power of Your Words" class. He's changing what he says by defining what he really wants. Instead of saying something like, "I was blown away by the performance", he'll define 'blown away' => "I was inspired by their playing, singing and connection with the audience." And instead of saying, "Well, I'm gonna hit the road", he'll say, "I'm going to drive home safely now". Say what you want. Be very clear about what you want. You'll get what you want. Take a few quiet moments and write down what you want.

Distractions => US Society is heavily geared toward total distraction. We're actively and purposefully driven away from inner peace. When you're distracted, you don't know what you want, and you easily become more susceptible to believing something that isn't true.

On VS Chicago...
Mike talked about VS Chicago's Open Space meeting style, and the listening without judgment that results.
Mike and Linda visited the New Road Map Foundation (NRM) in Seattle in 1996. Twelve folks lived together in the home that housed the NRM. After breakfast and dinner each day, this NRM Family would hold a "house meeting". The morning meeting was to let everyone know what was going on today. The evening meeting was to let everyone know what went on during the day. One person at a time, each house member spoke without any interruption. NRM believes when someone is talking, they are communicating from a "higher place" and it would be disrespectful to not listen, to interrupt them before they completed what they were communicating. This act of listening, not interrupting, waiting for the person to finish, is what Mike and Linda brought back to VS Chicago. Open Space allowed everyone an opportunity to participate, listening allowed everyone an opportunity to be fully heard and expressed.

Mike also mentioned his reasons for stepping aside from VS Chicago leadership activities after December 9th. It's simply time. To keep VSC moving and available, it's time for someone/a co-coordination to lead the way for others. Or it may be simply time VSC to conclude. Mike honor the organic path and let it takes us all along.

Communal Living...
Louella asked about types of communal living. Life seems so segmented into work life, home life, fun life... How do you get whole? It would be nice to be surrounded with like-minded folks. Perhaps communities like Stella and others would other more opportunities for community type living.

Mike said he can really understand the pull on our lives when everything is segmented. He and Linda have been using the VS path since 1992. Their lives are more organic now then ever => things happen when they're supposed to happen, at the right time, at the right place. It's much easier to be able to live with the flow of life, to let things pass as those things' energy passes, instead of always being in chaos against the natural. This has become especially true since Mike completed his work career 6 1/2 years ago.

"Is the American Dream Killing Us?" - book by Paul Stiles...
Mentioned at the April VS Meeting, this book explores the "American Dream" - perhaps living up to the ever expanding Dream is killing us - our lives, our planet, our understanding of one another... Dolores mentioned while it's up to us to choose, it's hard not to be influenced by all the energies around us - from all the wireless transmissions, people's thoughts, the "buzz" and noise on the street... it's hard not to be affected by it all. Perhaps when we use the phrase, "getting away", we're really saying, "I need to get away from all this energy, go to some place where I can hear myself without visual, audio, vocal or mental interruption..."

Eliminating clutter (Janet Luhrs)...
Returning to "The Simple Living Guide", Chapter 3, author Janet Luhrs writes people often ask what is the first step to simplifying their lives. Janet offers two methods;

"... Start by clearing out the clutter from your home one drawer at a time. Or say no to half your social commitments..." (p62)
"... the other way to begin is by starting with your inner life. Take time each day for mediation. This practice slows your mind. Once you slow the inner chaos and clutter, your outer life naturally will follow suit..." (p62)

We then began talking about ways to eliminate clutter in our lives.

In the past two years, prime time TV commercials now run 4 minutes - that's at least 8 advertisements, 5 times each hour. With so many advertisements coming our way, it is often hard to follow what little plot a show had originally (distraction again). Radio has gotten just as loaded with interruptions too. What can you do?

Eliminate this type of clutter by watching less TV. Begin simply by say turning off the evening news for 30 minutes and doing something else. Read, exercise, close your eyes and take some deep breaths (hum... that sounds like meditation), play an musical instrument, or simply listen to the silence.

Got any favorite shows? Try recording them and then using the "CM" button on your remote to automatically Skip those 30 second Commercial Messages.

Turn off the radio and listen to something else... Seowa listens commercial free on the internet at www.publicradio.com. And there are programs like "Radio for Intelligent Speech" and the BBC. Seowa says she has this on all day. It's wonderful not being bombarded by all the advertising.

We closed the meeting and space at 12:04pm, with the following note:

NO June, July, August Voluntary Simplicity CHICAGO MEETING!...
The Crossroads Center is closed on Saturday's during the summer. VS Chicago will resume meeting again in September.

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Reported by Mike Lenich

"Humankind has not woven the web of life,
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web,
we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect."
~ Chief Seattle

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