The Constellation Learning Newsletter
April 2008

I spent the last two weeks in March in a glorious little seaside pueblo watching, as my father would have said, “how the other half lives” That would be the half that lives in huts for homes, scratching out a living like the chickens that wander the dirt paths connecting the small town to itself. Of course, when my father said it, he was referring to the very rich, those with whom he knew he’d never join ranks.

Funny, but after my achingly humbling and exquisitely beautiful experience of living among the rural poor, I see that they are really very rich. And they know it: to have the sun, sea, fish, flower and family. Who could need more? Who would want more?

Ah, but simplicity is intoxicating in its allure. The perfect tonic for an 8-day clock…

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~ Monthly Message ~

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

-- Leonardo da Vinci --

“Eliminate physical clutter.
More importantly, eliminate spiritual clutter.”

-- D.H. Mondfleur --

My recent vacation in my dear friend’s brand new 4-story cliff-side hacienda www.casalaventana.com in the midst of a small fishing pueblo (1000 people) provided much more than just a break from the inordinate snowfall of this weary winter; it provided a space for me to find clarity and energy to move into the next stage of my life, which has become, increasingly, not just living more simply, but about living the philosophy of simplicity. Certainly this simple place lent itself to further examination; heavens, they don’t even get mail here!

I had arrived fairly relaxed, I thought.  Until, in a moment when we finally had no one else around, my dear old friend leaned into me and said in her tender way, “Cindy, my friend, you’re wound tighter than an eight day clock.”

Wh-wh-what??? Who, me?

I was the one who had already made a decision to spend the entire summer on an island in the St. Lawrence and relinquish my space in Toronto. I had already, through five moves in the past four years, eliminated most extraneous “stuff” I once thought important. What was she talking about?

I shall spare you the details of my subsequent path to clarity and a sense of complete peace. The full moon rising on March 21 over the Sierra Madre mountains, its reflection glistening in the river below had something to do with it, but metaphysics aside, the most important catalyst was the really lovely case of food poisoning I contracted two days before I was to leave. 

When one is that sick—and I was—one’s own bed is all you can think about. Three international airports and line-ups at two customs inspections later I fell into my own deliciously familiar bed—dehydrated, exhausted, nauseous and with intimate knowledge of every bathroom in every one of those 3 airports. If they ever make a movie of my life, this will be the comic relief portion. With that lovely image now hanging in cyberspace, let me say I was a champ, traveling alone, a real trooper.  Did I mention the TWO customs lines?

So what’s all this got to do with simplicity, or clutter for that matter?

During those painful few days, things got very simple indeed. I needed nothing except water. I wanted nothing except my bed. And there’s a difference between wanting and needing. We in our western world with instant gratification capabilities often confuse the two. I get it now in a way I haven’t before. I need so little it amazes me—it delights me.

The result of my grand physical purge is several fold: I feel better than I have in years— my body is clean of all toxic substances (including coffee!); I have decided to actually sell rather than put into storage everything I own but the precious few mementos that are dear to me, and I’m moving to my family’s summer home on Hill island May 15th through October. I’ve wanted to do it for years, but maintaining a Toronto residence somehow prevented me—or I allowed it to.
 
It’s a funny thing about ownership: that which you own can often end up owning you.  With every decision (and believe me, this has been a process brewing for years, it didn’t just “appear” in a flash of blinding insight on a particular trip to Mexico), and speeding up dramatically with the relinquishment of cable TV in January, I seem to have rid myself of most of what used to weigh me down, on a physical, emotional, psychological, and financial, and even spiritual level; I am clutter-free.  I feel positively buoyant. 

Don’t know why it took me so long. I guess we choose to make life simple when we decide we’re worth it, all by ourselves, without our spouses, children or jobs to define our sense of worth. It’s so simple, really.

One last thing: I’m going back to Boca for the winter. I’m going to write my next book.

You’re welcome to drop by.  Don’t bring much—there’s 100 steps up to little place I rented.  And you have to carry your own bags up, so pack light. The trip’s easier that way.

And beware the roosters.

They’re wound up like eight-day clocks.

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