The Being & The Doing EPISODE 29:
How Much is Enough for Simpler Living?
Want to have a simpler and richer life? Slowing down sounds great but how do you do that when life seems complicated? In this episode I’m in conversation with simpler living expert Kim Duke about her mission to help people find a way to slow down and enjoy having enough in your life.
A transcript of the show is available at the bottom of the page.
[Website] The Complicated Simple
Visit Kim Duke’s website to read more about her tips for simpler living.
Her new book A Fine Mess will be available in spring 2020.
[Blog] How to Have a Bold Conversation
Curious about the idea of “enoughness”? Check out this blog and find out how Goldilocks can help.
[Homework]
Something to think about:
What is enough?
Depends doesn’t it?
This is a wonderfully multi-layered reflection question.
Something to try:
This week observe yourself around the idea of “enoughness”.
When do you feel satisfied?
Pay attention to times when you are pulled to wanting more of something.
In the moment, what motivates you to want to have more of something?
You can grab your FREE homework Awareness & Action guide HERE
Scroll on down to the comments section and share your thoughts on conversations….
What motivates you to want more when you already have enough?
What’s your best simpler living tip?
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Thanks!
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CREDITS: The Being & The Doing podcast is produced by Neela Bell. Voiceovers by Jason Harris. Music is GoodMorning Sunshine by Yoav Alyagon and Firefly by Scott Buckley.
Full Show Transcript
Intro: Welcome to The Being and The Doing. Here’s your host, author, and life coach Laurel Vespi.
Laurel: Hey, lovely ones. Welcome to Episode 29 of The Being and The Doing. Before we dive into today’s topic, I just wanted to take a moment to really express my appreciation for you participating in the conversation that we are having this season. When you take the time to visit the show notes and to scroll down and to, put some comments in the comment box to start a conversation or participate in a conversation that’s already going there, we all get to deepen our learning.
So I do really appreciate you taking the time to do that because conversation is a two way street. And so when you post a comment, I will be there engaging in conversation with you and other people can jump into the conversation and it’s just a lovely, warm, welcoming place for us to be able to exchange ideas and learn a little bit more about what other people think and to deepen our own learning on topics.
So thanks for doing that. Now, today’s topic is, What is Enough? Thinking About Simpler Living in a Complicated World. And I have the most amazing guest joining me today to be in conversation with on this topic. Her name is Kim Duke. Kim, previously had a wildly successful business called Sales Diva and she was a marketing and business guru, who worked with businesses and organizations to be more successful in their businesses and travelled internationally speaking on those topics.
And then a couple of years ago, life as we know brings, sometimes, chaos into our lives and Kim was diagnosed with breast cancer and that became a pivotal moment for her to be able to shift her focus away from sales and marketing and into the idea of helping people live simpler lives. She started at this terrific website called the Complicated Simple, which is about simplified living for complicated people. Its jam packed full of great ideas and Kim is, kind of a tell it like it is girl. I’ve known her for a long time and she just speaks really plainly and she’s funny and lovely. And so, we’re going to dive into this topic of how do we know what is enough in our lives and how is it that we can step into more simplified living?
Laurel: Hi Kim.
Kim: Hello.
Laurel: Welcome to The Being and The Doing. I’m so glad that you’re here to have a conversation with me about this topic of what is enough, and this new work that you’re doing, with The Complicated Simple.
Kim: Well, first of all, Laurel, thanks so much for having me on the call today. This is going to be a very interesting conversation of course. And I’m just such a fan of simple living and of course of having enough, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Laurel: Yeah, great. So, Kim Duke, Sales Diva, huge following out there in the world of sales and marketing and making your business grow and all of that. And then now this a shift or pivot towards more simplified livings. What, is it that prompted that for you?
Kim: Well, I think it’s actually been a slow burn of moving toward talking about simplified living and everything else. I was raised on a farm as a kid and had parents who really believed in it. And I think, as I got into sales and business, I love doing that and I loved working around the world with my company previously. But there was always this burning desire to write more about life and about all the things that I was doing behind the scenes. Which I think surprised a lot of people when I decided that to leave Sales Divas behind, and stop speaking internationally and do all of those things. Of course, a few years ago I also was diagnosed with breast cancer. And so there’s nothing like having a health issue to really get your ass in gear and where you decide, okay, well enough talking about this, I’m just going to do it. And so I did last year just made a huge shift and decided to really focus on what gave me the most joy. And there’s just been no turning back. It’s been awesome.
Laurel: Yeah. And the name of this, I’m going to call it this movement that you’re creating, this idea of Complicated Simple, you sort of juxtaposition of, the complexities of life and the simplicity of life and kind of marrying those two things. So what’s your philosophy of The Complicated Simple? What does that mean? So when listeners are thinking, what the heck is that? What does that mean to you?
Kim: Well, I’m no Marie Kondo let’s put it that way. I have no time to sit for three days in my house and look at the toilet brush and go, “Do you bring me joy, toilet brush?” No, I don’t really focus on that. I really believe that, what I use for my website as well, it’s all about simpler living for complicated people because it’s such an objective thing.
People or all of us have such different idea of what simple living really is. For me, it’s really coming out and making sure that what I do for a living is very joyful. It comes down to, we even downsized here a couple of years ago because it came down to like how much is enough, how big of a home do we need? How much money do you need?
It really applies to so many things and it’s really about baby steps and deciding what is simple for you. And I think probably one of the biggest things is to really stop comparing yourself to other people. It’s what brings you the most happiness and calm, and where you can sleep at night. How was that for a long explanation?
Laurel: No, I’m just curious for your take on…You know, You mentioned Marie Kondo. And for all our listeners out there who love Marie Kondo.
Kim: Always, she still amazing.
Laurel: Cool. She’s cool. Great. I’m probably not a Marie Kondo person myself but Marie Kondo and this whole minimalist movement or minimalist guys and all of this focus on this, what do you think is prompting that now? Why are we seeing that?
Kim: I think there’s so many things, whether it’s in social media, which, of course people are bombarded on a daily basis. Where they feel that, other people are living perfect lives and they are not. And so that they’re not making enough money, they don’t have the perfect body. They don’t have the perfect job or family or whatever. And so it’s this constant comparison. And I think that is what has been a big tipping point for a lot of people and towards minimalism. It’s just like Marie Kondo or minimalism has. There’s certainly some benefits of it, but I would not classify myself as a minimalist at all, I love books way too much. I’ve got piles of books and bookcases and things like that.
But what it comes down to is really deciding that. And it really comes back to the word, enough. Which is what we’re talking about today is how much do you really need to be happy? And what are you maybe overlooking and not appreciating in your own life? So that you know, so many people get caught up in the phrase bigger, better, more. I was actually just in the process of writing this before we did our conversation today because I used to brag about the word, more. When I was in my twenties and I was selling our National Television Advertising right across Canada. It was always about more and more, my favourite word is more and you know, oh man, I could just look back at 25 or 27 year old, just give her a kick in the butts.
Laurel: I think all of us could probably give our 25 year old self some kick in the butts.
Kim: Oh yeah. But of course it’s part of our growth, is it not? That we realize or we go through the process of maybe it’s a full circle thing. For me, it’s really been coming back to a lot of the things that I enjoyed doing when I was a kid. Writing was huge, being more in nature, saving money versus being so eager to spend it. Spending it, wanting to have more time for myself and my own hobbies and passions and spending time with my family and friends and cooking and all sorts of things. But, what I don’t do anymore is I do not compare myself to other people. I do not, and I have not actually done that for probably a good 20 years.
Laurel: So, on that question of what is enough, how do you know it’s enough?
Kim: I think, for me…then again, I can only speak for me. For me, the word enough is where I feel I can really appreciate what I’ve already have. And so, whether it comes down to…and I think that’s where, the bigger, better, more thing is always, again, back to where people are making the comparisons to other people. When you stop doing that and when you actually take a step back and go, okay, so do I need any more towels? Is my car working fine? Do I need to have the newest car? Do I have to go on the fanciest vacation that I can’t afford because a friend of mine did it, or whatever?
I think it comes down to is where you are truly appreciate what you have and you realize that having five or 10 or 15 of those isn’t going to make your life any better. And in any case, sometimes it’s just enjoying those few simple things that you’ve got keeping around. I have some things that I say are enough because I’ve got piles of books, but I know I’ve gone through them. I know the ones that I have, they’re enough for me. They bring me massive joy. They bring me kind of a soft place to land. And I think in essence, that’s what having enough and appreciating enough really comes down to. It doesn’t feel needy.
Laurel: Yeah. There’s a part to, when you’re thinking about, big, better, more. That having, I’ll use the word less, although I hesitate to use that word because somehow if we say less than it feels like, there’s a lack in that. But in having sort of just enough, or perhaps for probably many people, that means less of things. I think we forget that more doesn’t just mean more stuff, but it means more maintenance of stuff. So you know, if you’ve got like – I don’t know how many towels is enough – but if you have 30 towels in the cupboard, that requires maintenance in terms of even the organizational maintenance of that or the laundry of it or whatever it is. The more that you have, the more maintenance is also required of that stuff.
Kim: Yeah. And whether its stuff or whether it’s more social media accounts or whether it’s more friends or more activities that you’re volunteering for, or a part of, it can become crazy. And I think a lot of people that would be listening to your podcast, Laurel, I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that; where they feel, Oh, I have to have my kid in like five different activities because I’m a bad parent if I don’t. And yet, you see that they’re totally frazzled. They’re eating in their vehicle, they’re not really spending any time together sitting down eating as a family at the table. This philosophy applies to so many things. It applies to beliefs, it applies to attitudes, sometimes, that we need to release. And also, of course, just life in our home and our money in our banks and our partners and relationships. And God, we could talk about this with a bottle of champagne for quite a while.
Laurel: There’s a Swedish word. Do you know the Swedish word ‘lagom’?
Kim: I do not.
Laurel: So, ‘lagom’ is a Swedish word that basically, kind of captures the idea of balance. And what it actually refers to is enough. Like knowing that enough is enough. That you actually create this balance because you have enough of this thing. And not actually more than what you need. I wrote a blog about it, I’ll link to it the show notes, but I wrote a blog and I started using the word enoughness.
Kim: I love it.
Laurel: Like, this concept of enoughness, but the idea of enough is enough, not from the perspective, like, “Stop, that’s a bad thing.” It’s just enough is sufficient. Enough is good, enough is enough.
Kim: It’s funny when you were just talking, I was thinking back to when I was first getting my new website designed and I met with the designers, the photographer video guy and whatever. And they were like, so what is this all about? So while we were sitting in this bookstore having…all three of us had Starbucks because we’re having a meeting for a couple of hours. And so I just went, “Well, let’s just look on the table here.” And so, they’re looking at me and I said, “Okay, so we all had a drink, that’s lovely. We all enjoy Starbucks, which is great.”
I said, “So you guys have got your huge humongo massive Starbucks drink and I had a little tiny one. So here’s why I have a small one.”
And I asked them, “Do you remember when you first had Starbucks? Like the very first time and how much?”
And they’re like, “Oh yeah, we loved it…” and whatever.
I said, “So now, where are you at with that? Like, is it something that you really look forward to or you find that you’re leaving half that cup behind? For me, having my smaller cup, I still get the same satisfaction but I spend less money, I’m being better to the environment because they’re not having to produce a larger cup and I’m not leaving any behind.”
And I go, “That’s probably one of the simplest ways that I can explain it to you.” Micro economics, I took way back when I was in college, we had this professor that he talked about util and I think it ties all into this.
And an util is a form of measurement of satisfaction. And so, his whole thing was the first bite of a chocolate bar always tastes better than the last one. I may have to argue with him a little bit about that and I’m sure that I did but it does relate to a lot of things in our life. It relates to a lot of indulgences, it relates to where we are.
For example, my mother at Christmas time makes the best shortbread. It is a miracle. It is so good. Part of why it’s so delicious, part of why I enjoy it so much is because I only have it at Christmas time. I don’t need to be eating those fabulous little…we all know the Easter Egg things, those little tiny ones that now, they used to be only available at Easter. Now, you can buy them at any time of the year. That’s where people, they’re not really living to me, the philosophy of enough.
When you’re indulging so deeply and indulgences in extra and in more and in thinking like Oh, this is good, so if I have more, it’s going to be better. When actually it won’t. And micro economics will tell you that too. So look at me now. I’m diving into the world of micro and macroeconomics on here, Laurel.
Laurel: That’s right. You’re going to change the whole world through complicated simple living. I mean, that’s an interesting idea because it really speaks to the idea of our ability now in the 21st century to have access. And I speak about that from sort of this privileged place of Western living of many people, not everyone, but many people having access to everything all the time. So nothing becomes sort of special like shortbread at Christmas because you can have it at any time. Again when I was growing up, I remember certain things that we would only have.
Like, again, at Christmas time we got nuts in the shell that you would crack with a nutcracker and that was a Christmas treat and you didn’t have access to it or that you never bought things out of season. Like, in terms of fruits and vegetables, you would eat those in season. You would never think about or I don’t even know if we would actually have had access to it and now, it’s like you can have access to anything, anytime and delivered to your door like tomorrow or maybe today, anything. So nothing actually holds that special place. Where then if we tap into it, we get that extra bit of satisfaction.
Kim: Oh, for sure. If we’re not careful, we can become boundaryless and then it becomes this endless seeking. But the thing is the tomato or the strawberry that you buy in the middle of winter is flown 3000 or 5,000 miles. It looks like a tomato, but it’s not, it’s fake. They taste terrible. Like there’s a price for that. There’s a price for kind of being greedy and for wanting constant access whenever we want something.
Just a little while ago, I started laughing. This past fall, it’s like they had eggnog in October. Oh my God! If I started drinking eggnog in October, not only would I have to wear stretchy pants, like for the rest of the year, this ridiculous. But it takes away the fun. It takes away anticipation and waiting. And I really think that anticipation and waiting and gratification or gratitude, they’re so linked together and that we’re really diminishing so much happiness. And simple happiness is in our life, by doing things like that.
As you said, you can go into Amazon, you can buy whatever and have it delivered right to your door but does it feel as good as when you actually have saved up something and you’ve paid cash for it? Or when you don’t eat out of season and that you’re not eating chocolate eggs all year round and you’re not indulging and all these things that are really feeding a place of lack versus enough.
Laurel: So, for listeners who are kind of going, yeah, let me play devil’s advocate.
Kim: Sure.
Laurel: Because when you sort of referenced, I’m not a minimalist, like that’s not my philosophy. There can be this sense of being restrictive, right?
Kim: Sure.
Laurel: And like, I only need the bare minimum but that’s not really what you’re talking about.
Kim: No.
Laurel: Like enough becomes a very personal, like my my enoughness is probably different than yours on different things.
Kim: Correct, Absolutely. And, of course, all of these things, just like anything in life goes on a spectrum. There is minimalism to the extreme. There’s minimalism where you decide, okay, like three wooden spoons is all I need in my house, I don’t need 50 or whatever it maybe. So there’s good about everything. I think minimalism has attracted a lot of attention. But it’s been around forever, it’s just been renamed a million times. Simple living has been spoken about in pretty much every religious document around the world. It has, for years, authors like Sarah Brown had been talking about it and so many others. And so, I guess what it’s really coming down to is understanding what you have, what you’re surrounding yourself with; whether it’s in your home and with things that you’re doing with your time.
Because, of course, time is a resource too. It’s the most valuable one that we have, as well as our health, as well as our money. A lot of people just associate this with cash, but it’s not always about that. And sometimes people have said to me, “Well, okay, simpler living is for complicated people. That doesn’t mean that I can have drive or that I can’t want to have a better job or that I want to have a better salary.” It’s like, no, that’s got nothing to do with this.
You can, absolutely, do all of those things but you just have to understand what’s the driving motivator behind it. If it’s to improve your overall quality of life because you want to volunteer more, you want to donate to charities, you want to do something for your children. It’s all about understanding why. Why it’s so important to you and why you’re willing to commit. Because remember more has a price. More always has a price and you have to understand what you’re willing to give to that.
Laurel: Yeah, I mean I think that is a real gem there, Kim, about the idea of understanding our own personal why. Like, why am I having more of this particular thing, whatever it is; whether it’s a tangible physical things that we’re bringing in or more commitments or more whatever it is, the why. And that can be a really perhaps prickly conversation to have with ourselves because sometimes our motivation is filling up another need. Like more commitments with the kids because somehow I’m feeling guilty that they’re going to miss out if they don’t do 17 activities during the week or I’m going to buy more clothes. But what that’s really about is that I’m just really unhappy about my physical being or my emotional being. And if I bring in more clothes, then I can dress that up and perhaps I can feel better about it.
Kim: I totally agree with you. Something that I’ve always never really agreed with, is the concept of a bucket list. And people talk about it a lot. There have been a movie that was what started the whole thing, where it was about kick the bucket. For me, I love to travel. Quite a few years ago, I travelled with a friend of mine. She ended up joining me in Paris and we got to hang out. And we’d been friends for a long time. Like that time was almost 20 years. And it turned out to be the most bizarre experience. Because no matter where we were, she had her cataract phone out. No matter where we went, it was not French or Persian enough for her. And she would say it all the time, “This isn’t French enough.”
I say, “Hey, let’s stop and have a lunch.”
It’s like, “Oh no! Do you know this cafe is not French enough? It’s not Paris enough.” And the entire week was like that. It was exhausting and it was a friendship changer actually for me. And of course, as someone who was diagnosed with a life threatening disease, I don’t believe in living your life where you’re focused upon what you’re going to check off on a list before you croak. To me, I’m much more interested on living my life because I want everybody to understand, bucket lists come from a position of privilege.
So many things that people talk about always involve more, more. More money, more this, more travel. I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that. I mean, well, I just want to be one of the people that says, even if you didn’t accomplish one thing on that list because you didn’t have the money or the resources or whatever, you still had a successful life. You’re still living successfully. If you’ve understand the power of enough, you are doing just fine.
Laurel: So how’s that for you?
Kim: It was a most bizarre experience of being with someone who would walk into one of the most famous and oldest bakeries in Paris and take a picture of the roof and then walk out and go, “Oh, we don’t need any of this,” but to not even taste the tiniest macaroon from the most famous bakery in Paris. And it was a really good lesson for me. It was extreme and for me, I really decided, wow, that is something that I want to learn from this experience and realize that it’s life and what we’re doing and your day to day is not about a checklist. It’s not, it’s just not. It’s more about how you feel and what brings you a sense of calm and peace and where you’re proud and where you feel, really, a sense of inner contentment. Because, of course, contentment is completely tied in with the word enough.
Laurel: Yeah. I think a bucket list not from the perspective of, okay, I’m making a list and now I must check it off for the sake of checking it off. I think the value in having a list of…and it’s not always about places that you want to go or it’s really being thoughtful about what is it that I am called or drawn to do and now, am I actually moving towards doing that? So having a list in terms of…let’s say, on someone’s bucket list is ‘I’ve always wanted to go to Paris.’ Like, okay, well what’s that about? What is it about I’ve always wanted to go to Paris? Not because it’s on the list of the top 10 cities in the world you should visit or whatever. What is it about that calls you and now what choices are you making that are going to allow you to go and do that particular thing?
Kim: I think you’re going to have to do a podcast just about the difference of what a bucket list is supposed to be.
Laurel: Well, there’s my take on for a bucket list.
Kim: I think most people are not going that deep into it. It’s very much a checklist. It’s like “I did this and I did that.” And, “Ha-ha. Yah, yah. I’m better than you.” And that is a whole other podcast, Laurel.
Laurel: It’s a topic for another day. Okay, great. So, okay. All right, Ms. Kim, because one thing that has not changed. I mean, I’ve known you for a long time, Kim, and one thing that has not changed, even though the focus of your work has changed, you’re still a, ‘okay cupcake, get your act together kind of person.’ So if people are sort of intrigued or sort of pulled towards this idea of enough, determining enough in their life or moving more into that space of that being content with what is enough in their life, where do they start?
Kim: I think a really easy and simple way to start is to actually observe yourself for a week so you just watch yourself. We can’t stop ourselves from showing the things that we’re attracted to or things that we lean toward. And so, when you watch yourself that maybe there’s something that upset you or you’re having a boring day or do you find yourself that you’re headed to amazon.com and you’re going to buy something online or that you lose yourself in social media for three hours or Netflix at five hours a day on you.
Watch yourself, observe yourself. And part, I think, of watching yourself is going where you’re like, “Ooh, I wish I could do that.” Or, “Oh, I’m really attracted to that.” Or, you’re buying a magazine that is, perhaps, reflecting something that you’ve never done but that you just can’t stop reading about it or watching shows about it or something. That’s is really where it starts.
And this goes back to my aunt Carol. She passed a few years ago and she was just the funniest, most awesome person. And she was very much someone who lived in the power of enough of enough. She could be wonderfully extravagant on something that she absolutely loved and wanted to do and that was a goal for her. She could also balance other parts of her life too and her biggest thing was, she would ask, “So why do you want it and do you need it?” It was those sound, very basic questions, but actually, do you need the $8 magazine that’s talking about some celebrity while you’re waiting in line at the grocery store? I don’t know. Most of the time, I can’t say that we need it unless you’re going to be flying in a plane and need something to read or whatever it is. But it really starts by observing your small behaviors, small habits.
Laurel: Yeah. One of the thing I’ve been trying much more mindfully be doing is just being aware of my level of satisfaction and contentment. So with anything that I’m doing, it’s just sort of checking in and asking that question of, where am I on the satisfaction scale? And I mean, that goes everywhere from, things that you’re eating because this is the time of year when people are often starting diets or fitness programs or whatever and it’s about tapping into that sense of satisfaction around eating. When I just reorganized all of my kitchen cupboards and just sort of having that sense of satisfaction and contentment looking in there again and just paying attention to that. And I think that for me, that really helps to kind of underpin sense of enoughness for me.
Kim: Oh, I totally agree with you. I think that’s wonderful. And you know, the weirdest thing, I’ve been doing the same thing, cleaning out my linen closet the other day and you know what always happens? You find something that you totally forgot about. you always go like…
Laurel: Oh, What is that? I found something, what is this? And then ask hubby, “What is this?”
He’s like, “I have no idea.”
So it’s still sitting on our kitchen table because we’re thinking that maybe it’s going…we’re giving it a day, couple of days because then it might, from the deep recesses of our mind, go, “Oh you know what? That is…” I’m not hopeful right now. It’s been sitting there for about a day, so I’m not really hopeful. Sorry I jumped on your story.
Kim: No, no, I totally agree with you. It’s coming from the same place where you go, “I didn’t even know I had this.” And then you’ll feel either this burst of like, “Wow, I’m so happy I found you again.” Again, back to the whole appreciation thing, or it’s almost kind of embarrassing where you’re like, “Oh God, like why did I buy that? Why did I keep this? We moved, why did I haul that? What did I pay for somebody to haul that?”
I don’t know, all I can say is that there is, you end up with…it’s funny, we talk about bigger, better, more, but when you do understand this, what is enough for you on a variety of different things, which only starts from just by starting to pay attention to things, you’ll discover that more satisfaction, more gratitude, more appreciation, more willingness to wait for something to get what you want starts to appear in your life. So that’s pretty magical in my books.
Laurel: Cool. Well I know you’ve been writing like a fiend. And so if listeners are wanting to dive more into this whole idea of Complicated Simple and I really encourage all of you listening to go and check out Kim’s website, the Complicated Simple, I’ll put it in the show notes or follow her on medium. She writes on like life topics. They’re not one specific topic. There’s things about money, there’s things about food, great share screen recipes. Just all kinds of interesting, weird and quirky, quick, well, it’s kind of you. Interesting, weird and quirky. Great stuff. So I will leave those links there for people to follow. And I know you have a new book coming out soon.
Kim: I do Yeah. I actually have an American publisher and my book will be launched by this spring. So we’re hoping to have it launched worldwide by the middle of April and it’s called A Fine Mess.
Laurel: A Fine Mess.
Kim: So, yeah, it’s a quirky little guide about how to survive life’s disasters. And so, it’s mixed with a little bit of the experience that I had going through breast cancer. But the real focus of that book is really about, how to navigate when you’re going through a tough time, whenever a tough time means for you. And I called it a Fine Mess because, Oh boy, when you’re in it, it is a mess. And it requires some navigation. So that’s exciting. That’s coming up. That’s happening here in the next few months.
Laurel: Yeah. That’s cool. And so, again, I’ll reference that in the show notes so that, you can be on the lookout for that. Well, thank you, Kim.
Kim: Thank you, Laurel.
Laurel: It was more than enough to have you come and be in conversation with me. I always love our conversations. Kim and I do breakfast.
Kim: We do.
Laurel: Which actually when we do the breakfast.
Kim: We change the world over eggs benedict.
Laurel: We do. We do change the world over breakfast. But breakfast is not just breakfast. Whenever, Kim and I are getting together, hubby always says, “Oh, breakfast with Kim. You’ll be home by lunchtime.” Which is pretty much it because it is really great, wonderful conversations. So thanks, Kim.
Kim: Well, thank you so much, Laura. It was wonderful.
Laurel: So lovely ones,that was interesting food for thought, wasn’t it? Like what is enough and what is your motivation around having more? And I think that the idea about having to define for yourself what is enough? Like what is enough for you? And what does simpler living look like for you?
Because this really isn’t a one size fits all kind of thing. Of course, there are lots of tips and hacks and things that we can do to simplify, but it really gets down to the ‘why’. Why are you simplifying and what does it look like for you? Because what is enoughness for me or for Kim for you, for anyone, looks different and it’s just important that we figure out, what is that for us? So that in the end, we are actually living a life that feels more satisfying, that we have greater contentment and happiness.
So as always, in order to deepen our learning and carry forward what it is that we’ve been talking about and thinking about in this conversation time for a little bit of ‘being and doing’ homework. Something to think about and something to try. So here’s your think about it question for this episode. It’s kind of an obvious one. What is enough? So maybe you can sit down with a journal or just a piece of paper and a pen and just brainstorm that out. What is enough? What is enough for me or maybe take it out for a walk. Going for a walk is a great way to kind of work with a reflection question because it just lets us access different parts of our brain. So think about the idea of what is enough.
And now something to try. Like, let’s just build on that idea that Kim had suggested about observing ourselves. So this week, just observe yourself around this idea of enoughness. How satisfied are you when you are doing something? When are you pulled to the more? When are you pulled to wanting to buy something or to add more in? And what is it that you’re saying yes to? Because a lot of this adding more is about saying yes to this and yes to this and yes to this. And so, just being an observation of yourself can kind of heighten our awareness of where am I on this sense of, do I have enough for, what is it that’s motivating me to feel like I need to have more?
So, I also invite you to visit the show notes and scroll on down and join the conversation on this topic. I’d love to hear, how do you define enough and what is it that gets in the way for you to have a simpler life? Sometimes those are things that are around us and sometimes those are things that are within us. So I really would love to hear what you have to say in the comment section on the show notes. And I’d love to be in conversation with you about that. And, of course, in the show notes, I’ll leave links to any of the other things that we had mentioned in the conversation with Kim.
So that’s it for today. I encourage you to take a moment to pause in your day, take a moment to breathe, and then just really enjoy the day that is in front of you.
Outro: You’ve been listening to The Being and The Doing with your host Laurel Vespi. If you like this podcast, stop whatever you’re doing, unless you’re driving, and hit subscribe, leave a review. Then share this episode with a friend. Thanks for your support.
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