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"The attraction of simplicity is mysterious because it draws us in a completely opposite direction from where most of the world seems to be going: away from conspicuous display, accumulation, egoism and public visibility--toward a life more silent, humble, and transparent that anything known to the extroverted culture of consumerism."
Mark A. Burch; Stepping lightly, page 4

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Dianne, Cecilia, Kath, Julie, Colin, Grant, Deb, Laura, Pam, Woodie, Gerry, Jill, Dave, Roberto, Lenny, Ross, Linda, Nancy, Bob and Mike, welcomed Teresa, Rodney, Aaron, Adam, Tim, and Phillip to their first meeting.

Mike opened the meeting space with a round of introductions, explanation of the meeting format and announcements.

Kath is getting ready to form a Naperville area VS Group ("VS Naperville"?). Projected start date is October -- contact Mike at VSChicago@juno.com for further information.

Rodney leads an Evanston simplicity group, meeting at the Lake Street Church.

Laura presented the group with "VSC Business Cards" she secured from www.vistaprint.com. Thank you Laura! The cards are a great way to pass along information about VS Chicago.

Julie reported she paid off a credit card last month. Yea Julie!! Ah... what a pleasure regaining a bit of freedom -- and it happens one small step at a time. Keep it going! :-))

And Pam & Woodie had two surprises of their own.

The group then began posting and arranging topics, creating the day's agenda. Following is a brief recap of the discussions:

Walking the Walk (committing to specific goals to simplify your life)...
In leading an Evanston simplicity group, Rodney hosted this topic looking for specific goals and tangible aspects of attaining simplicity. Items mentioned during discussion were declutter in layers, thinking of cooking as "food assembly", taking an inventory of items you have around you, and eating out of your cabinets first (ie, use up what food you already have before going shopping).

What are the Simplest benchmarks that define the simplified life?...
Along a similar topic, Grant convened this discussion focused on creating ways of outlining steps toward simplicity, as a means of knowing or benchmarking one's progress. Included were:

• Reexamine goals that you haven't yet met -- use the experience of not reaching them to ponder why. Perhaps the goal wasn't exactly what you wanted and a redefined/reclarified objective is warranted.
• Sometimes goals can be too specific and end up causing more stress than creating simplicity. A benchmark of progress could be, "When life isn't good for me" => something is wrong if life isn't fulfilling/happy (a clue to reexamine what's going on).
• Scheduling chores and tasks to specific days and times can be helpful -- using time management skills can set specific time limits, thus freeing up periods for rest, relaxation...
• If you have a goal of getting plenty of rest each night, use a VCR to tape favorite shows that run late at night so you can watch them at a more convenient time
• Not having regrets for what you did today is another good benchmark
• Set simple goals just for the day, so you don't get to day's end and think you've accomplished nothing.
• Absence of guilt, presence of being happy
• Staying in alignment today with the things you value
• "One in - One out" => Laura's method of decluttering. When Laura decides to keep a new book, a book currently on her shelf must go. Can use this method for everything in your home.
• Being able to find things quickly enough is another good benchmark -- don't get frustrated when it takes too much time to find something.

Grant observed a pattern formed during the discussion => we don't want to end up with guilt or regret. We do want to end up happy at the end of a day or any period of time. Balance is important in all of this.

And a good question surfaced about goals... Goals represent the future -- do they take away from The Now (from being here now)?

Rolling Thunder Chicago Group (brief info-contacts)...
Gerry reported the Rolling Thunder Democracy Down-Home Tour is a national effort being led by Jim Hightower with the intention of "bringing together a large and broad group of progressive constituencies." The tour stopped in Chicago on June 15, and since then, a small but growing grass-roots group has been trying to capitalize upon the momentum from the Chicago event to contact and engage the folks who attended. The budding local group is continuing its planning, setting up a website (address TBA), initiating contact with event attendees nest week, and coordinating its first event on Wednesday, August 28 @ 7 pm at 3111 N Ashland in Chicago.

The Rolling Thunder Chicago group is an opportunity for people who may be committed to one or more progressive causes to get involved and contribute their energy, time, and talent to getting the message out for their favored issues AND the whole range of interrelated progressive issues. For more information on the group’s biweekly planning sessions (Thursday evenings – the next is 8/22) and the upcoming speaker event on August 28, they can contact Gerry at gerrbakk@hotmail.com.

The national organization’s website is: http://www.rollingthundertour.org/

A chat group of local group members is at: http://groups.msn.com/RollingThunderChicago/home.htm

CULTURE JAM -- by Kalle Lasn (founder of Adbusters). Thoughts, familiarity, corporate reform -- how...
Dianne just finished reading Culture Jam and posted this topic to explore the book's many ideas and provoking thoughts.

Adbusters is having troubles getting air time for their anti-buy ads. Networks stonewall their attempts to pay for advertising time -- oh, how powerful the media, controlling what we all see and concluded into our consciousness. Adbusters is working with legislation as a route for inclusion. We can take action by writing to our local networks, demanding Adbusters "commercials". There is a "multiplier affect", where one letter received equates to several not written.

Discussion then turned toward bankruptcy laws, corporate reform and original reasons for corporations. Originally conceived for the good of the people, government has allowed corporations to wander away from systems of check and balances (Enron, Arthur Anderson and others being prime examples). Personal responsibility has been today replaced by personal will. You can find more information on these items in the book, The Divine Right of Capital, and in this month's issue of Hope Magazine.

How does one decide what the best approach to living a low impact life is...
Aaron reported great sources for obtaining information on living a low impact life are found at the Union of Concerned Scientists web site and publications. Regarding food, the book, Fatal Harvest, explores different foods and the impact on the environment. Bananas for instance, are environmentally costly -- one time use of huge plastic bags during harvest plus all associated transportation activities add up quickly to burden our planet's resources.

The group discussed several methods for best approaching a low impact life:

• Reuse whenever possible (rather than automatically recycling, try to reuse)
• Reduce (remember the green environmental cycling logo -- Reduce is first, then Reuse, Recycle)
• Bring in your own shopping bags (avoid consuming something new)
• Colin recently saw a sign in Hawaii, asking the consumer to think -- "Precycle" (think about what you're buying and its impact on the Earth)
• Composting -- can even be done in high rise apartment buildings by using earth worms. Use the resulting rich earth elsewhere (local flower beds, parks, gardens...).

What to do with free time? Challenges, with FI...
Ever changing work environments and lifestyles prompted Lenny to post and host this topic. When one achieves a simpler life (or becomes FI - financially independent), what do you do with free time? Are there any challenges?

The Protestant Work Ethic (men must always work, bring home lots of money and keep on producing) seems to be a left over challenge. Being driven in this manner for so long tends to require time to decouple and discover other means of productivity and fulfillment. Many rich and insightful items surfaced in the ensuing discussion.

Seems those successful in using their free time well use some form of flow experience (letting the day unfold and happen). They do so though within a wide outline of clear values and knowing what truly brings them fulfillment and happiness. When asked by a friend if he would like to do something 3 days from now, Dave responded, "I don't know -- I haven't laid Tuesday out yet." Dave keeps things open, letting them unfold within a balanced list of his objectives. He uses a Day Timer to manage his agenda of things to do today. Dave finds the important things get done, AND, he can still take walks along the beach.

It is especially hard to use free time when you're in the work place. Although most folks agree free time is important, taking time out at work to be still or walk..., often receives unspoken rejection. And it is getting ever hard to find free time -- corporate environments, scheduled busyness and promotions eat away at free time. A starting office position usually affords some free time on/off the job, but moving up the ladder/advancing one's career often creeps into and defeats possibilities of free time.

We adjourned the meeting at 12:15, and enjoyed a picnic lunch along the Chicago River at Adams Street.
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(Reported by Mike Lenich)