Jill, William, Jessica, Louella, Kath, Joe, Lenny, Julie, Roberto, Celia, Dave, Ross and Mike, welcomed Chris, Amie, Pete and Jan to their first meeting.

Mike opened the space with a round of introductions. The group then created the following list of discussion topics:

• Anger, Disappointment & other intense feelings. Perceptions, cognitions - simple or complex? (Lenny)* Peak Experiences & overcoming obstacles (Joe)
• New York => fun-different-inexpensive things to do? (Julie)
• Simplifying the grocery bill (William)
• How do you part with things you don't need? (Amie)
• Do it yourself or pay for labor? (Pete)
• Peak Oil (Chris)
• "Clock Time" / "Natural Time" => a few ideas from June, 2004 Time Day Conference (Mike)

<> September 22, 2004: "Introduction to Your Money or Your Life" (YMOYL). Linda and Mike Lenich will be doing a workshop on this best selling book at the Unity Church of Christ, 740 River Drive, Hammond, IN (219-931-5284). The introduction will be held from 7:00 to 8:00pm, and will be immediately followed by a monthly YMOYL group meeting.

Discussion included recognizing these situations as open doors to learning to understand ourselves. While personality tests and profiles can produce labels, they can also be useful in learning to understand your preferences. How do you like to do things, tasks, or assignments? How do you like to interact with people?

Aron Ralston, the hiker who's right arm recently became trapped in a boulder, became a focus of group discussion. Joe said in his training as a professional search and rescue team member, he was taught the will to live is everything. Examples abound of folks in similar situations surviving while others next to them perish. The will to live is key to conquering obstacles. Perhaps when someone pushes our buttons, a "will to live" sort of emotion intrigues us to look more closely at our choices (a "will to get past anger and disappointment"?).

After a series of stressful events this summer, instead of being angry all the time, Mike learned to "get out of the way" => that is to back away from the emotion, from being a moderator... away to a place where he could think clearly, unencumbered rather then strangled by intense emotions. Linda uses an "ask for what you want" approach => during a stressful event, ask yourself what it is you really want. How do you want the end situation to be? Peaceful, clear...? It brings her from problem to solution pretty quickly. Intense anger emotions build atop one another. Ross said when this occurs, our bodies don't metabolize sugar well, and instead tends to add them around our middles.

Simplicity is about encountering life more directly, more consciously. The practice of simplicity offers more flexibility and more choices. It allows too, to see/sense "the signs" that surrounded us.

(*) PAY or DO IT YOURSELF? (Pete)...
How much is your time worth to you? Come up with a calculation and do the math. Is it worth doing a project yourself or paying someone else? Discussion also included gifting your time to others - instead of the usual boxed gift, offer to paint your parent's home or a relative's garage. Baby sit for a friend, or offer a break to someone caring for a sick person.

(*) PEAK OIL (Chris)...

Have we reached the peak of oil production? As more and more countries emerge from previous primitive lifestyles, can the world keep up with the ever increasing demand for oil?? The implications are there that it is time for a change in our thinking, and our usage of oil and its byproducts.

This month's National Geographic Magazine has a great feature on "Peak Oil". During the first oil embargo in the early 1970's, experts warned of a limited supply. "In 20 years, we will be out of oil", they warned. Thirty years later, the oil is still there. We're still consuming oil and fighting over its uninterrupted flow. While statics and arguments change, those 1970's warnings did result in more fuel efficient cars, refrigerators that use less electricity and washing machines that use less water (thank you Jimmy Carter). All these positive affects were the result of leadership, which today is lacking at higher levels. Locally though, cities like Portland, OR and Chicago, IL are picking up the banner of conserving energy (ie, do a Google search for the Chicago Center for Green Technology).

Individual options to help use less oil include becoming more "rural". Learn how to grow your own food, how to can vegetables... in general use less resources and learn to use what's around you. Ross just converted a diesel automobile to run on "bio-diesel" fuel - instead of being dumped in a land fill, used french fry grease now propels Ross around town.

There was a US Pentagon Report published on how the possibility of "Peak Oil" could impact our nation's defense. Scenarios of waging war to secure supplies, fighting to defend what we have (what we take??) are a few of the things mentioned. You can do a Google Search to check out the report for yourself.

*******BEGIN ADDENDUM, POSTED 10/2/04*******

To: Mike

From: Pete

Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004

Mike,

The Pentagon report focused on global warming rather than peak oil. The connection to the peak oil discussion was that the Bush policy is promoting oil use rather than alternative fuels. One reason is oil profits, the other is that Bush says "the jury is still out on global warming". It seems everyone, including the pentagon, is taking global warming seriously. Below is the link to the full report: http://www.ems.org/climate/pentagon_climate_change.html

Pete

*******END ADDENDUM, POSTED 10/2/04*******

Amidst all the gloom, there is still the will to survive. Lenny said he believes in the inherit capability of our country and the world to solve problems. Mike concurred, and said he finds it more useful to explore extreme thinking on either end of a situation, and then pull back to be more open to possible solutions.

(*) HOW TO PART WITH THINGS (Amie)...
How do you get past clutter in your home, office, garage... Amie said one idea she plans to use immediately is to put unused items in a box, label the box and seal it up. If you haven't opened the box in a year or so, get rid of it. Another idea was to inventory your stuff so you know what you already have. This would be especially helpful for food in your cabinets - keeping a list of what you have on hand can avoid purchasing a duplicate.

Discussion also included the book, Organize from the Inside Out.

(*) SIMPLIFYING THE GROCERY BILL (William)...
The Tightwad Gazette books have many useful tips for reducing and simplifying groceries. Keep a list of your most often purchased items and jot down what those items cost at various stores - you'll quickly find the best places to shop for your favorite items. Want to simplify the grocery bill? Don't go shopping. That's right, skip the automatic urge/impulse to go shopping when you're out of something. Be creative. Look at what you have and come up with something. Standard recipe fixings can work wonders - saute some chopped onions, add some tomato... So you've got some barbecue sauce in the refrigerator - do you also have a can of tuna? ^_^

Clock time is a made up thing, invented by monks in the 1600's to help them keep order. Later, the monks learned they could signal the approach of evil to their villagers by ringing their bell before nightfall. They then quickly learned the bell could signal time to work, time to tend to the fields, time to worship, etc., and thus clock time was born. Clock time became standardized in the world in the 1850's / 1880's when railroads accepted Greenwich Mean Time as the standard. Prior, trains left when "the time was right" => when they were full, when the engineer felt like it, when it was safe... in other words, the trains operated on "Natural Time". The Titanic was the first notable clock time related disaster - more focused on setting a time crossing record then on safety, ship owners threw caution to the wind in favor of speed and 1500+ folks lost their lives.

Natural time is just that, natural. What time do you wake up? When it's the right time for you, when it's natural. Maybe you need a bit more sleep today because your immune system needs more rest to rebuild its strength. When one allows more natural into their lives, better things happen and most often in seemingly "miraculous" ways. Been working on a project and it's not getting anywhere? Give it a break and set it aside. Go do something else. You'll come up with the answer. Want a great vacation? Let it unfold for you rather then you folding into your perceptions of what it should be.

We live in a world full of clock time. But there are also parts of the world that have no clocks and instead live on natural time. In our country, perhaps it's a balance we seek => so much clock time (the VS meeting starts at 09:00), so much natural time (whenever I get there will be the right time for me). Louella mentioned what happens with "Involuntary Simplicity", ie when you've lost a job. There suddenly are no schedules, no projects. One is immediately thrust into "Natural Time". Perhaps that's why job loss (either voluntary or involuntary) is such a shock and source of discomfort => we're thrown completely into natural time - something we're not used to.

Want to gain more of a balance? Check out Carl Honore's book, In Praise of Slowness - there are many examples of and ides for slowing down (ie, living more in natural time).