Pretend You’re Moving

In Fear of Nothing, I mention moving as one of the events that can change your perspective on your possessions. Moving is so expensive, in such an obvious way, that you know you cannot move everything. You have to let go of some of the less important items. But you don’t have to wait till you move to get the benefit of this change in perspective. You can start preparing for your next move, even if you have only a vague idea of when it might be. Or you can pretend you’re moving.

Space Journaling

Sandy Grason writes regularly on the use of journaling for personal transformation. I came across an article of hers that addresses the basic problem of clutter in the way that I advocate in Fear of Nothing, by focusing on the quality of space, but with a flair I couldn’t pretend to imitate. Sandy graciously offered to let me repeat her article here.

Book Cover Revealed

Readers have been asking for months what the Fear of Nothing book cover will look like. Finally, here it is.

How I Went From Writing About Computer Programming to Writing About Life

There is good news on the book Fear of Nothing. A week ago I got the 7th draft back from the editors, who say it’s now final. I am now getting the book ready to go to press, and to record as an audio book. It’s my goal to get the book in your hands in time for your new year’s resolutions — which I hope will include tearing up your to-do list (more on that as the new year gets closer).

You Have to Balance Before You Can Juggle

“Please don’t talk to us about living in balance. No one does. Even space shuttles veer off course during the trip, and they have computers to guide them. Just teach us how to be better jugglers.”

That was the desperate plea of a woman who had organized an event at which Joan Borysenko was about to speak. Did Joan fall for this line of reasoning? Not really, even though she today wrote a blog entry supposedly “busting the balance myth.” I don’t know if she really meant that or it was just an attention-getting headline, but after four paragraphs, Joan comes around to admitting that balance is not a myth, but a reality. If we fall over, our productivity suffers. “When I’m in balance,” she writes, “the unbalanced hodgepodge of things on the to-do list are accomplished more effectively.”

Nothing in the News

This short (0:41) news reel catches most people off guard.

Traveling Light

You take for granted that you can check at least one bag when you fly on an airplane, but that is about to change, starting with American Airlines. They’ll be charging a $15 baggage fee for most passengers who travel with baggage. And that’s the fee for the first bag. As of two months ago, a second bag will set you back $25 on any major airline.

Stuff: A More Complete Picture

The key word in Fear of Nothing is stuff. If you’re drowning in stuff, or just slowed down by having stuff in the way, Fear of Nothing is designed to help you reach a more productive understanding of stuff so that you can keep the stuff that helps you and get rid of the stuff that’s in your way. But Fear of Nothing focuses on just one little corner of the world of stuff. Annie Leonard has created a 21-minute movie that shows a more complete picture of stuff — where it comes from, where it goes, and why we all seem to have so much of it. It’s based on the high-school economics model of production and consumption, but fills in the more unsavory details of the process.