Tag Archives: buddhism

Mujō (無常)

Posted in bread, budgeting, California, camping, cancer, Death, husband, Myeloma, simplicity, Uncategorized by

The transient and ever-changing nature of things. As with Wabi Sabi, impermanence of things and the beauty in the imperfect.

Mono no aware, Mono no aware (物の哀れ): 
This term translates to “the pathos of things” and is an aesthetic appreciation for the transient nature of life. It involves a gentle sadness or wistfulness at the passing of things and a deep sensitivity to their ephemeral nature. That’s exactly how I feel in my life. It feels somewhat ‘unreal’ Barclay is not here with me to laugh with, joke with, travel with and everything in between. But I do take comfort in he’s not suffering anymore. It was a very difficult painful last 3 months of his life. Well, now to fall.

Fall is in full swing, here in N. Ca, I get the feeling of Mono no aware and Mujo, and wabi Sabi all rolled up together. We’ve had rain and cloudy days, as well as Tahoe-like days with big, fluffy clouds. I’ve had a few twinkly fires already, since the house stays cool even if it’s nice outside.

Just to back track a little here:

Barclay and I practised Zen Buddhism for many years after our Quaker roots seemed to fade away. However, Quakerism and Buddhism are very similar in fact. Both embrace simplicity and a WAY of life. Of course, Quakerism is rooted in a Christian context, and Buddhism in Eastern philosophy as taught by Buddha.

Right now, the impermanence of life is very real for me and maybe somewhat depressing. I am trying to embrace the Mujo concept because it does help me get through the day and realize that life does go on, and it will for me what whatever time I have left. Some of that is on my mind because of my rising kappa light chains and thinking about having to change treatments by January if they continue to go up.

I know that things will change, and I need to change too. But for now, I’ll try and take comfort in Mujo and mono no aware.

On a brighter note, my kids put together a very nice birthday for me. My son came and took a huge load to the dump( which I wanted done). We got a Round Table pizza, and my daughter had gone to Safeway for some small squares of cake to share. I didn’t have any champagne that day to celebrate, but I will soon.Turning 73 is not much different than 72 for me. The real change for me was at 70. Then I felt like I was getting old. Now, I’m old and just keep trying to do the things I love like swimming, walking, the gym and I hope some day in the near future doing some camping again. If i could afford the camper type van that’s what I’d do. We still ( my daughter and I) are going to check things out sometime in the spring. A small tent trailer is very doable, but I like the idea of self contained. Time will tell. Also, If I got one I’d get a loan so that the payment would be what we were paying for rubi. And we’d have the trailer as our trade in.

Well, I’ve rambled on a bit here, so that’s it for me. I do have the day home today after going to the gym yesterday, so I’ll do some tidying and make some sourdough bread.

Minimalism

Posted in Uncategorized by

imageimageMinimalism , to me, is having what you need and no more or less. I think it’s defined  in clean spare lines.  No clutter and visually easy on the eyes.

It’s interesting that journey started really when we were first married. B and I were married in a Quaker meeting house. I wore my great grandmothers white dress.( not a wedding dress, but what was called a tea dress, very beautiful with handmade lace).

Quakers are known for there queries which are questions about life really. They speak to the heart of simplicity, generosity, living a conscious life, and non violence. We stayed Quakers for many years. Then after our move from Tucson to Northern California we were about an hours drive from the nearest meeting and lost contact. At the same time zen buddhism started to be very important, and we loved all things Japanese. The shojis, tatami mats, and the no clutter. We meditated, lived very simply.

Later, we built a house, and bought some stuff, not a lot but some. We still slept in a futon on the floor and kept things pretty minimal. Later, we sold that house and moved where we live now. A very small house. Somehow we keep adding too much stuff and I started collecting all things vintage, dishes( my passion), table cloths, toys, on and on. We also had 2 children so there was all that stuff. Then in 2005 I was diagnosed with a blood cancer, and I really couldn’t do much for that first year of treatment. Then after my stem cell transplant when I started to feel better, I discovered fly lady. Her program helped me to with just 15 minutes at a time start to declutter. Then somewhere I just started feeling I needed to get rid of all the things, button collections, extra furniture  on so on. I wanted a minimalist look. In our small house I wanted it to be clear of visual clutter.

I have made great progress. I would like to take it one step further and get rid of a few more things and try to redo our pantry setup, which is covered with a vintage barkcloth. Cute but I’d like a closed cabinet.

we aren’t mortgage free and doubt we’ll ever be , but I try and pay extra when I can. We have ,for the first time an emergency fund and that’s a nice feeling. We are heading toward retirement but its still a ways off. I would love to have the minimal bills as well. I think that speaks to taking minimalism straight into the financial realm. But for us, that’s not now.

But the journey towards this minimalism has been fulfilling and I am thrilled with the results.