I have a confession about Living Lightly. Sometimes it feels like I am cheating.

When I created this article I was delighted. It felt like I was really getting to the heart of Living Lightly, my philosophy, my purpose, what I want my life to be about. Though the ideas are still forming and will continue to evolve, gaining clarity and brevity, this short post and slightly complicated graphic, represent another step in my journey toward learning to Live Lightly.

So you might think that pushing publish on this article would have filled me with a sense of accomplishment and lightness. I confess that I was surprised again to feel an inkling of Live Lightly Guilt, aka LLG. It whispered, ‘nice article. Well done. It was a little on the short side. Did you run out of ideas? No no no, I mean it’s good. But your other articles were so long, and full of stories. Bit impersonal don’t you think? You don’t want people to think you were just calling this one in do you?’

Hello Live Lightly Guilt (LLG).

And so, Live Lightly Guilt picked up confidence and by this morning, had me convinced that this article was insufficient. Luckily, I am now learning to stand up to LLG, realising that it is just another monster in the closet, and that I simply need to switch on the light. Today that meant acknowledging the guilt, and, even though I felt very silly, speaking up and admitting the guilt to my confidant, Live Lightly’s Editor in Chief. The very act of admitting and communicating my vulnerability, along with Mum’s wise reminder to share my experience here, vanquished my LLG instantly.

I reminded myself that being able to convey my philosophy, in the following words, is something I could not have done before now. That I dreamed of being able to do ten, five, two years ago, two weeks ago, on Monday. That to convey an idea of such gentle compassion, and revolutionary optimism, with increasingly concision, is brave and beautiful and spreads tingles through every inch of me.

Living Lightly is

SELF DISCOVERY through, DESIGN, Dream to Action. MINDFULNESS, reflection in action.

I am present in PLEASURE, gently NOURISH myself, embrace LUXURIOUS SIMPLICITY, ILLUMINATE the spheres of my life, discover my SWEET SPOT.

I create BEAUTY. COMMUNICATE with vulnerable grace. ILLUMINATE my World, in LOVE.

These words represent a huge step forward, years of self-discovery, dedication, some difficult choices, joy and experience, yet I was all too ready to believe the niggly doubts of LLG that said it (or is that I) am not enough.

I feel like I am cheating. Like I’ve found a cheeky loophole.

In Living Lightly I have created so much space and time for myself. I have time to do yoga, and take baths, and wander around the farmers market, and work in gorgeous coffee shops, or sitting in the park. I can travel whenever and wherever I decide. I’m in this beautiful space, with so few limits. I create beauty all day long, long wonderful passion-filled hours, only ever joking about Monday-itis, Hump Day and TGIF. I spend very little, I don’t really shop or go to fancy restaurants or buy the latest gadgets. And I love every Luxuriously Simple moment.

When so many others seem to be working SO hard, racing from the office, to home, to appointment, to meeting, exhausted, stressing about time and money. When I talk to an old friend and they laugh ‘I wish I could make pretty things but, you know, I have a real life’. When I create something that perfectly captures my passion and intent, and LLG pipes up with a critique ‘C+ Too idealistic, nice colours’. I catch my straight-A detention-fearing self thinking that I must be breaking the rules.

Am I cheating?

In choosing to live with Luxurious Simplicity, I consciously create space for beauty through consistent choices. Some choices are very simple. ‘Do I need to buy this dress?’ Is it beautiful? Does it make me tingle? No. Others are more difficult. ‘Do I undertake a journey that will allow me to discover myself, illuminate my life, and ignite luminous change in the world, even though it is unconventional, and difficult for others to understand and I have so many doubts and question, and it not at all what I think my Loves expect of me?’ Yes, much more difficult.

So much of what we hear is about MORE. Having more, doing, more, being more. More words, more money, more things, more responsibilities, more security, more status, more popularity, more features. Shinier, newer, faster, stronger, fitter. To choose to have LESS? To want LESS? Simpler, calmer, quieter, slower? Ludicrous. Irresponsible. Starry-eyed. Backward. Or worse, Boring. Austere. Puritanical. Simplicity has really lucked out in the marketing department!

When I wrote my article yesterday, I had a thought that it should be more. That more words and stories would make it more valuable.

When I dug down I realised I was afraid.

That without the clutter and busyness of more words, my core idea would be sitting out in the open.

Naked.

No Distractions.

Sometimes I feel this way too. When I get a little scared, or come across a bump in the road, or my heart is a little broken, and I have far less things to distract myself with than before, and I feel exposed. I find myself filling up my schedule, and taking on more work projects, and building up the layers of comfort around me again.

But then I remember to Breathe, and look for beauty, and find pleasure, and I feel that delicious feeling of lightness returning.

I remember that LESS creates space for beauty, freedom, love, quality, substance, illumination. More. Muchness. Wow!

When I can sit in stillness and space, nourish myself, radiate gentle loving compassion, and design my dreams into action, I am Living Lightly. It is simply revolutionary.

And then I don’t feeling like I am cheating.

I am ready to put my core idea out in the open. Naked.

That is all.

In every decision and action, this is my North. To which I will aspire and measure my journey. With which I will flirt outrageously, in the hope that one day, I will inhabit it’s delicious muchness.

So delight. Delight in and on and around and through. Be delightful. Choose delight. Delight yourself. Delight your Loves. Delight strangers.

And don’t believe your Live Lightly Guilt; it is just scared because Delight is more powerful, and game-changing and revolutionary than it can imagine.

I would be delighted to Tweet you!

How do you delight?

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