Integration and Minimalism

I’m now back at my home in Arizona but instead of taking the whole house back, I moved into the downstairs and put together a make shift kitchen, using my outdoor kitchen, a two burner hot plate and small refrigerator.  I’m slowly organizing and integrating back to living in a house.

I’ve run into several people in Sedona who have been following my blog and I say “thank you!  Thank you for flying with me!  I am honored!  For some my journey was a reminder of their own previous van ventures, and others lived vicariously through my travels.

Since I’ve been back I’ve felt a restlessness, a sense that I have a purpose to fulfill and I need to fully embrace this purpose.  I’m not ready to pack up the van again and head out.  Not yet.  We are now entering  October, which is the nicest month of the year, here in Arizona.  So I want to stay here and embrace the cooler weather while I delve directly into the restlessness within me.

I’ve begun weekly podcasting again at Pandoras-Box-Radio.com and also posting the audio’s and video’s on Youtube.

It feels like I am living more to be of service to others than to find new ways to make myself happy.  My happiness comes in knowing I am being of service.

My life is not about collecting things, or distracting myself with all the usual distractions any longer.    I’m more in the “clearing” phase of my life not the accumulation phase.  It’s time to let things go.  It is time to live more simply; more minimalistic.

Since I moved the majority of my personal belongings to my downstairs space, prior to leaving on my journey, I have the opportunity to begin clearing a lot of things out that I no longer want or need.  Going through my desk drawers I found Windows 7, Windows XP and old software that is no longer valid.  I threw out all my old CD burning gear as I no longer burn CD’s, nor do I have the computer with a CD burner.  Some things we need to clear out simply because they become obsolete, and in today’s world this happens fast.

Last January after returning from Costa Rica, I let go of seven garbage bags of clothing and other items.  I was already moving in this direction.  This past week I released another five or so boxes.

It feels like one of the biggest realizations that came out of my trip is that I need to embrace minimalism, live simply and de-clutter all my spaces.  I need to get very clear about what serves me and what doesn’t.  Life is not about stuff!  It is not about possessions.  It is about living a quality life.  What is quality?  I’m still working this out.  I’m still finding my way.

The one thing I can tell you is that Van Life was so simple in so many ways.  I only had a 4 x 9 space to be concerned with.  Of course I had very few conveniences that I had at home.  But this was part of the simplicity.

In the past, if there was an empty space in my life, or my house, I would fill it with something.  Now I am learning to appreciate the empty spaces and trying to create a whole lot more of it.  It is a slow process.

The lessons I have learned on the road are many and I will continue to write about them.  For now I can tell you, I am not the same.  This journey has changed me in a way I can’t yet explain.  It has taken me so deep within my own Self-ness and showed me things I may not have seen otherwise.  I have a stronger relationship with myself, and a deeper spiritual connection.

I have a feeling that something more is about to emerge; a deeper sense of purpose, a new mission, and a freedom that can only come when we are able to identify our self imposed prisons and release ourselves.