@Sinead: wonderful comment Sinead - thank you for sharing here. It sounds like you have lots of experience of letting things go and the sense of freedom that comes with it. I know Mark, who was featured in the article you posted; he is a wonderful person. I adore what he is doing and he has a pure soul to match

I’ve moved country a lot over the last 6 or 7 years, and as a result have had to pack my life in my rucksack. Moving can be stressful, but it’s a great way to lose all the accummulated ’stuff’that has piled up. And I always end up giving a lot of stuff to charity or passing it on to friends who need it. It gives one a sense of lightness and freedom to just leave all the clutter and head off with one bag.

We really don’t need much to have happy, healthy lives, but advertising brainwashes us to think we need every new flashy gizmo on the market. They use beautiful, tanned healthy looking models in exciting situations, surrounded by similar smiling, exstatic ‘friends’ looking like their lives are complete because they own the latest phone, camera, car, sofa etc. It really is a good way to make the vast majority of us working folk feel like we are missing out. I guess it’s just up to us to use our brains and remind ourselves that these are expensive, well staged ads and life is nothing like they are trying to portray it usually.

We need to find joy in the little things, nature around us and the company of good friends.

Here is an article about a guy who took simple living to the extreme and has decided to live without money. he lives in a caravan in the woods, uses solar power, finds lots of free food outside restuarants and also forages for food in the woods!

http://www.ecoboom.co.uk/forum/topic.aspx?categoryid=2030000&topicid=564

This would be a really tough transition for most people to make but he seems genuinely happy. Good for him!

Who knows, we may be inspired to do a bit of foraging this weekend!