“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.”
What does it mean to simplify? My life, my house, my head? Have you seen the folks who live in those tiny houses. I am sometimes envious of those lovely simple spaces. They seem so romantic, so efficient, so easy. Why does life feel so complicated and busy?
And how do we make it simpler?
Following are some thoughts I have on the subject. I have not done or read any scientific studies that show these things help but I am going to give them a try.
1) Simplify my belongings. I have too much stuff. I am fairly careful about buying things and brining new things into my home and my life. Still, over the years the stuff just accumulates, clothing, dishes, nick knacks, books, junk drawer stuff, cosmetics and the list goes on. It is particularly bad for me as an upcycling trashaholic who saves empty, you name it, and sees future value in the most obscure objects. But recently it has become even harder then usual for me to care for the things in my home. (see crafting on one foot) And it seems that a good purging of items is well over due. I will start with my closet as have been staring at it as I write this.
2) Quiet the noise. There is a scene in the movie Living Out Loud filmed in 1998 where Holly Hunter is distracted by a news story and her thoughts go spinning about what to do with all the information she is getting. For some reason that scene always stuck with me I suppose because of its ring of truth.
How much worse that information overload is today. I am terrible about it. The light on my phone flashes and I have to check to see whatever meaningless notification is causing the flash. I am even worse when I am on the computer. I have 10 to 15 windows open at one time hoping around looking for one thing and falling down the rabbit hole of another. But what to do about it.?
My idea, which I have been using for the past few days. Step away, move some muscles and rest your brain. Here is how I do it. I set a timer for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. When the timer goes off I get up and do some very and I mean very easy weight lifting. I am trying to move my muscles not get a workout in, it is more meditative then exercise. It takes only a few minutes but it allows me to gather my thoughts. I am hoping the ones that matter. :-)
3) Purposeful rest. If you are like me you might feel like you are always busy but you also waste a lot of time. I like to watch TV but it is one of my biggest time wasters. This one is a little tricky because it demands that I be very honest with myself as to whether or not I am ready (did I really finish all the things I was supposed to do?) Am I really resting / relaxing or am I avoiding doing something I should be doing? We all need rest and relaxation but how often do we just drift into those places and how often do we arrive there with intent? I will endeavor to rest and relax with purposeful intention so that I appreciate it more and hopefully avoid the slippery slope to slothfulness. (I was going to say laziness but I was on a roll with the S's. :-)
So in keeping with the simple theme, here is this weeks project. I had some plan old tee shirts that needed a little jazzing up. So I went to my trusty computer. Applied my fairly limited graphic art ability and made these designs.
Ran a test print for size and color. Flipped the images and then printed them on some Avery screen print transfer paper and applied them to my shirts.
And there you have it. Three new t-shirts. Easy Peasy and simple.
I haven't worked with these type of iron on screen print transfers that much before. They work pretty well for the smaller prints but they are a little stiff and crunchy so on the larger prints I didn't like the feel of them very well.
I decided to try to soften up the texture on my favorite of the three shirts. So I just crushed it up with my hands several times and then gave the shirt a wash and dry. I like the feel and actually the look of it much better now.
Happy Upcycling,
