Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, allows vision, and gives us the “right stuff” to turn our dreams into reality.
–James Womack
It takes a deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow.
–Ralph Ellison
Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
–John Wooden
When you have vision it affects your attitude. Your attitude is optimistic rather than pessimistic.
–Charles R. Swindoll
“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
– Henry David Thoreau
“Live simply that others might simply live.”
– Elizabeth Seaton
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”
– Hans Hofmann
“You know you have reached perfection of design not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark.”
Henry David Thoreau
Thoughts from Jim;
Do you like to write prose, poetry, novels, fiction? Many of the great writers had safe places where they could pursue their passion of writing. They had their writers huts, poetry sheds, or some area of their home that they could sequester themselves in and just allow the creative juices to flow. Many of the tiny houses and cabins, such as the new Zen model or the Wildflower would be perfect for this in your garden or backyard.
“Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vintage point.”
- Harold B Melchart
“Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom.”
- Earl Shoaf
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life’s about creating yourself.”
- George Bernard Shaw
“Formal education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune.”
- Jim Rohn
“Let go. Learn to flow with all the changes that come up. Loosen up and relax.”
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
“If we don’t try, we will not know.”
Ayya Khema
“The essence of our experience is change. Change is incessant. Moment by moment life flows by and it is never the same. Perpetual alternation is the essence of the perceptual universe. A thought springs up in your head and half a second later, it is gone. In comes another one, and that is gone too. A sound strikes your ears, and then silence. Open your eyes and the world pours in, blink and it is gone, too. People come into your life and they leave again. Friends go, relatives die. Your fortunes go up, and they go down. Sometimes you win and just as often you lose. it is incessant change, change, change.”
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
“Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.”
D. T. Suzuki
Thoughts from Jim;
The winner of the $50 Home Depot gift card in the Cave Man Contest is
JoAnn Melton from St Louis, MO
Have you ever wanted that special place to retreat to? To write, to paint, to sew, to contemplate, to practice yoga?
Take a look below at our Zen Studio!
“Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.”
Karen Ravn
“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”
Walter Winchell
“Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you can’t do this or that. That’s nonsense. Make up your mind, you’ll never use crutches or a stick, then have a go at everything. Go to school, join in all the games you can. Go anywhere you want to. But never, never let them persuade you that things are too difficult or impossible.”
Douglas Bader
Thoughts from Jim;
When I was a junior estimator at a framing contractor, several big projects came in, and I volunteered to take them on. One was Princes’ dream home, another was a large commercial project. A seasoned estimator at another company commented’ “You do not even know what you doing!” and that still did not deter me. That is a fault/strength of mine, some projects may be just too big for me, or too complicated, and surrendering or saying it can’t be done is not an option, yet I admit that I will bite off more than I should at times.
A lot of this trait comes from my childhood of growing up in a farming community of northeastern Wisconsin. We did what we had to do and found a way to get the job done. My sons and family refer to me as a DIY kind of guy and over the years, I have learned that if you really want to do something, finding a way is always possible. I would describe myself as a “do-it-yourselfer” to a fault. And then, it is always wise to remember that calling in a “pro” may be the better discretion of valor. Building a piano, a piece of furniture, a car, running a CAD program, designing a web site, or seeking counseling, it is better to go to the pros.
Take a minute and watch the video, and when your heart is moved to help build a school in Cambodia, help out. It feels good and I am glad to be a part of it. Spread the joy and love to these children. Proceeds from the sale of the download for the CD go to help the children of Cambodia. The download is 99 cents.
Here’s the direct link for the download. Every one helps! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/DavidAult
Long, beautiful, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen… I adore hair!
James Rado and Gerome Ragni, Hair
The great ages of prose are the ages in which men shave. The great ages of poetry are those in which they allow their beards to grow.
Robert Lynd
Even a single hair casts its shadow
Publilius Syrus
People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Thoughts from Jim;
This was a good hair day! They always are when you still have some hair left and are called a vintage man. Anyhow, being a good hair day, life is great, I have great friends and lots of work.
A couple of items that made it a great hair day was getting my hair cut, beard trimmed, and a call from Arkansas that is interested in purchasing a Tiny Green Cabin.
And guess what she wants to use it for?
A mobile beauty salon! Well, we have established a list of possibilities for a tiny cabin, and this is a new one and a good one. The cabin would pay for itself in short order in lieu of a lease on a store front building or cubicle.
Years ago, people in business frequently had a small building out in front of their home, Thomas Jefferson’s attorney had a small building out by the street, as well as many doctors, dentist, seamstress to name a few. Now we are seeing part of marketing by tiny house builders for stay at home businesses such as; garden offices for those that commute via internet, writers, poets, artists, lawyers, candlestick makers, etc. When I was in Alaska visiting my son, several years ago there were coffee shops in tiny building all around Anchorage. Some even sat on trailers so they could be mobile.
What use can you envision for tiny houses?
Speaking of tiny houses, and tiny cabins….Tiny Green Cabins is a custom cabin builder and tiny house builder. We have had several inquiries lately into building playhouses and garden sheds. Yes, we do build playhouses and garden sheds.
I was given by a dear friend, a book for reading titled “The Shadow Effect” and finding it very interesting and enlightening. So, besides my hair day, quotes that mention something about shadow work are interesting to me. After some reading and exploring, it seems to me that our government and businesses have a lot to do with our shadow sides.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, you are a leader.
John Quincy Adams
An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.
Buddha
I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.
Julia Cameron
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
Leonardo da Vinci
Thoughts from Jim;
Are you ready for a quiz?
Here are 4 statements, which one is true.
Living in unusually tiny homes;
(a) Is advisable only for poor people in Third World countries.
(b) Is advisable only for people in the US who lost their homes or jobs.
(c) Is not much better than being homeless.
(d) Can help everyone break away from the debt trap that makes work, not fun, the central focus of our lives.
The answer is “D”
Think about it, living in a tiny house, small home means a radical reduction is expenses; i.e. no mortgage - heck in most cases your 20% down payment will pay for the Tiny House; you would own your home instead of the home owning you - which would free up your time to really do what you have been dreaming of doing. And think of all the others bills that would be reduced, heating, cooling, groceries, and so much more.
Think about the space in your home that you heat and cool and hardly, if ever use it. Take a formal living room, it may occupy 7% of your total home space and yet you may use it less than .005% of the time. Yes, I know, it is still nice to have, and yet when you start adding all the other costs associated with keeping that room up, and your energy expended caring for it, wouldn’t a person rather pursue what they really brings them alive. So, is this a wave of the future, like the airplane that everyone scoffed at, or the computers that people thought on a few would have?
What do you think?
The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mood of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; for happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up.
Charles Langbridge Morgan
Cultivate your garden… Do not depend upon teachers to educate you … follow your own bent, pursue your curiosity bravely, express yourself, make your own harmony In the end, education, like happiness, is individual, and must come to us from life and from ourselves. There is no way; each pilgrim must make his own path. “Happiness,” said Chamfort, “is not easily won; it is hard to find it in ourselves, and impossible to find it elsewhere.”
Will Durant
Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it half an hour a day. Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Lewis Carroll
It is very dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities which one has oneself prevented from becoming realities. A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it.
Soren Kierkegaard
Thoughts from Jim;
The American culture has glorified the benefits of materialism and trivialized the heavy price that many of us pay for unthinkingly going along with the other sheep who perennially strive for ever more stuff. If you travel around the world, or speak to people who’ve done that, you will find folks in other nations who have much less money and stuff than we do, yet they are far happier. I have been involved in service projects in the Appalachians and got to know folks with a lot less stuff that were far happier than a lot of my friends and myself were in Minnesota years ago. So what do you really want? More and more stuff, or more time to enjoy what you have?
Living small in a tiny house, microhome, or tiny green cabin can give you the freedom and time to make some really creative choices. Want to write poetry, a book, take up painting, going back to school, or the freedom to live in the North Country and then move your home south when the snowbirds head south, or follow a whisper from Spirit to see where it leads.
Let your mind explore the possibilities, and maybe, just maybe you will have a lot of fun doing what you always dreamt of doing.