I am sitting in a sweet mountain cabin at the base of Mount Hood, Oregon. It is near a cabin, a home really, that I lived in ten years ago. It is on a forested three acres, split by a river. Whenever I return to this area, I walk my old property (not trespassing mind you – the owners have given me permission to do so), and many memories come flooding back. I am reminded that the years I lived in the woods I learned a lot about what it means to “live true.”
My LiveTrue Book collection is comprised of nonfiction books, yes, but creating it stemmed from wanting to put together writings on all what living true to oneself, others and our world can mean. Living in the woods for several years taught me much about living true on these three levels.
Live to true to myself:
Moving away from the city to the woods allowed me to learn more about my natural pace in day to day living. In the city I was easily influenced by its pace – fast, busy, too often never feeling caught up. Being away from this energy helped me find my own energy pace, which still has a clip to it, but when surrounded by nature, slows down to a steady, more relaxed pace.
Living true to myself also meant starting to write nonfiction seriously. When I moved to this cabin I had a book contract for my first book. Living the writer’s life –and what that meant to me-started me off on what truly felt like it was mine to do in life.
Live true to others:
This time of my life was a great time in my married life. I had been married about seven years when my husband and I moved to the mountain. Our time in the woods, tending to a vintage cabin and the property that surrounded it brought us even closer.
Live true to the world:
It was during this time that I first got involved with community efforts to protect the natural environment. I protested nearby logging proposals, and served as a pro bono managing editor of a newsletter sent out to local communities to help keep them abreast of local issues and how to take action.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. How about you? What time in your life have you learned about what it means to live true to yourself, others and our world?
I have recently connected with the concept of living simply, through Joshua Becker’s website: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/. I came across him on twitter and his message immediately rang true to me. Living simply involves buying things that one needs as opposed to conspicuous consumption. I never realised how much I yearned for the simple life until I came across Joshua’s blog and the timing could not have been more perfect. Indeed I am at that stage in my life when I feel contended and at peace, however, being surrounded by consumerism presents a constant challenge and so it was a gift to come across a concept that mirrors how my husband and I live our life. We are blessed in that we have a good life: a house of our own, good health and a very good marriage. We have very strong values and among them are living within our means and never trying to keep up with others by buying things we don’t need. Being true to myself means living a simple life, one that brings me joy and peace. My husband and I enjoy sitting in our garden, where we have many of our meals or walking in the countryside. Individually, I love cooking, while he loves carpentry and making things in general. We are both very much into healthy living and so he cycles and swims regularly while I exercise on my stationary bike daily. I am grateful for the life that we have and simplicity is at the heart of it.
Nina, what a lovely comment. I resonate with so much of what you say. I will check into Joshua Becker’s site! ~L