Simplicity in Living - Blog - SIMPLICITY IN LIVING

Can cleaning be fun?

2/9/2017

by Nikki McKee

We all have our own relationship with cleaning – some of us love it, find it therapeutic and are at ease when cleaning. And for some of us it is a chore, something we have to do and resent doing.

If you fall into the latter category, one option can be to hire a cleaner – this can be a huge support for you and your life. But even with a cleaner, there is a certain amount of cleaning we need to do ourselves – this is simply the way life is.

We can avoid cleaning, we can resent it, we can do it in a hurry and we can get it over and done with. With this approach to cleaning, nothing changes and it's likely those feeling will always be there. Cleaning will always be in the “do-I-have-to?” basket that we’d rather didn’t exist.

But what if we changed tack?

Clutter in Relationships ~ Part 2: The clutter of hurts and expectations

30/7/2017

By Nikki McKee

In a previous blog we talked of the clutter of the clutter of non-communication in relationships. Cluttering our relationships is something we humans are quite good at. Another way we add clutter to our relationships, be they friendships, partners, work colleagues - pretty much any interaction we have with another, is with our hurts and expectations.

If we are carrying around past hurts these get used essentially as a block in our relationships and we shut off from people. One person may have hurt you and then all others get held to ransom because of that. People need to prove themselves before you will let them in, but often the attachment to the hurt is so strong that no amount of proving oneself will open the door. What kind of relationship can develop if the doors are closed, or special keys that are impossible to find are required along with a secret code to open them? The true potential of a relationship is left untouched, or at best limited, and what plays out instead is a relationship filled with baggage that has been carried over from past relationships but in truth is not a part of the current relationship.

Simplicity in Dying

10/7/2017

by Nikki McKee

Recently I took a trip to China. This was the first time I was to travel without my son - he was heading to New Zealand for a couple of weeks with my Mum and I felt uneasy about being in different corners of the globe and not having prepared a will. Obviously I wasn't planning on something happening to me nor was I worried about it - but there was something in me screaming to get my will prepared.

Preparing a will had been on my list of things to do for a while and this was a big catalyst. Suddenly it was at the top of my list, highlighted as a major priority.

Where to start? It all seemed so complicated and how on Earth did I go about the process?

Clutter in relationships – Part 1: The clutter of non-communication

5/6/2017

by Nikki McKee

Clutter is something we can add to anything – our homes, our lives and also our relationships.

Every relationship between two people starts with a huge potential. This potential can become muddied in less than a split second, sometimes even before we have met the person.

How do you add clutter to a relationship and muddy the waters? It’s pretty easy really - you bring in stuff that doesn’t belong.

You can bring your past baggage, you can add in emotions, reactions, hurts, you can stick to ideals and beliefs or have pictures of how you want things to be. One super fantastic way to clutter up a relationship is by not communicating.

Not communicating is a pretty common clutterer of relationships. When done (or not done) continuously, clutter is added frequently and voila, pretty soon things are so cluttered that it can be hard to see through the muck to the purity and clarity that lies underneath.

How does this happen?

A supportive home

6/5/2017

by Nikki McKee

Recently I attended a Universal Medicine Retreat. It was a 5 day retreat which started at 5am and finished around 6pm. This meant leaving home just after 4am with no time other than for waking, dressing and doing my makeup. On getting home, there was time to heat dinner, check work emails, shower and pack my bag for the next day before trying to get to bed as early as possible.

Preparing for such a week was quite a logistical effort. Aside from arranging for my son to be taken to and from vacation care with a different stay a friend’s house each night (off he went with his suitcase) – I had to clear the decks at work and have lunch and dinner organised for 5 days.

But there was another huge part that came with the preparation – and that was the preparation of my home.

Why do we allow clutter?

19/3/2017

by Nikki McKee

When faced with clutter do you find yourself asking how it got there? Or are you well aware of what contributed to its presence?

Clutter is not something that happens to us. It is something we allow, that builds over time and it is our way of living that leads to clutter accumulating. When it comes to clutter we have a choice and once we take responsibility for our part in it we can then ask the question, why do we allow clutter?

As odd as the question may seem, is there something about clutter that serves you in some way?

Complication vs Simplicity

19/2/2017

by Nikki McKee

What is complication and where does it come from? It is something that is naturally occurring or do we play the major part in its creation?

So many of us can get caught up in complication and it can seem to be a part of life. But what if we are the ones who are responsible for the smooth running of life - and equally responsible for complication.

Is simplicity a choice? A choice to let things be as they are, to allow life to unfold and to deal with what is in front of us. No jumping ahead to the future, but staying with what is before us (this is not to be confused with planning, as not planning can be a source of complication too).

What’s in a chore?

21/1/2017

by Nikki McKee

The word chore is not something that feels joyful in anyway. Even it’s definition is unappealing: “A tedious but necessary task”.

What is it about these things that make them so tedious? Unloading the dishwasher, vacuuming, laundry, making the bed...these are all common chores. But need they be tedious?

They are all part of what needs to be carried out in life and avoiding them makes for quite a messy life.

So why have we placed necessary elements of life in the basket labelled tedious?

What if we see it as caring for ourselves and our surroundings - is that really so tedious?

A New Year

31/12/2016

by Nikki McKee

2017 is upon us and in terms of cycles, a new one begins. As with any cycle, as we enter the next phase we have the opportunity to look at what we will take with us.

Are we taking excess baggage or are we moving forward with a lightness in our step allowing for what is there to be there?

Are we greeting the future with open arms or are we bringing the past with us so that the future has no way to meet us?

Allowing for Space in the Body

21/11/2016

by Nikki McKee

Space in the body is a heavenly feeling. I know this and my body calls for it, yet it is not something I allow for every day.

I have always been quite active with my body. Not overly so, but if I go too long without some form of movement my body lets me know. I start to feel uncomfortable and constricted.

And so I have an established rhythm and routine when it comes to exercise. Most mornings I go for a half hour walk followed by some gentle stretching, and a few times a week some light weights.

Recently, I noticed that I’d been skipping the stretching and light weights. My body called out for movement and so I went for the walk, but stopped it there.

A few weeks passed and I realised I was missing the stretching and so before bed I stretched for about 20 minutes.

What happened?