“SIMPLIFY Your Life.” “Inner Simplicity.” “Living the Simple Life.” “The Art of Stillness.” “The Stillest Day.” “Fifty Days of Solitude.” “The Secret.” “The Happiness Project.” “A Short Guide to a Happy Life.” “Spark Joy.” “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.”
These are some of the books I’ve been reading or rereading lately. Simplicity, stillness, solitude, happiness, joy, tidying up. Kind of boring, eh? They’re more like contemplative literature. As in “contemplate” which means kulang ang mga pinggan. Hehe.
These are the extremes in my daily life now: “boring” books and electronic dance music. So, I’m reading about solitude while nodding my head to EDM.
I’m expected to have more time for solitude now, that is, if “contemplate,” er, konting plate means TMAD—two meals a day—and OMAD—one meal a day. It’s more like TMAD for me—perfect for the TaMAD kumain. But I’m not tamad kumain. I can fill up the “contemplate” with a mountain of yummy goodies. I mean, I gained eight pounds in one week while in Cebu.
With TMAD, instead of having breakfast in the morning, that precious hour is now used to contemplate on what to eat for brunch and dinner, since these are my only meals for the day.
The lesser the number of meals, the more I appreciate food and its effects on the body. Low-carb fasting has made this possible. Before indulging in high-carb goodies, I have to ask myself, Are all that worth the side effects the morning after? Brain fog, high blood pressure, skin allergies, rhinitis, body pains, the blues. A low-carb doctor calls those days of indulgence as Choose Days. Choose to eat high-carb, and prepare for the morning after.
I thought simplifying is only for decluttering and asking, Does this spark joy? I didn’t know I’d find a way to declutter my food intake, too.
My daily menu tends to be the same now. The only soups I like are bulalo and pork sinigang. I don’t like tinolang manok and tinolang isda. And I gotta feeling I’m getting tired of pork adobo, chicken adobo, pork ginataan, chicken curry, and fish, the mere thought of having these makes me crave for lechon and dinuguan. If only I can afford to feast on steaks daily—yeah, I’m living in the wrong country.
I guess the longer I stay in this diet, er, lifestyle, the lesser items there will be in my daily menu. Fingers crossed. Puera buyag.
One lesson I learned: dieting is easier than decluttering. The spring cleaning has been ongoing for three years now. Since I’m not Marie Kondo who only has to hold a book and give it away if it doesn’t spark joy, I have to read each new book and reread the old ones before I can decide if they spark joy.
As for the diet books that still follow the Food Pyramid, I don’t have the heart to throw them away. Should I put warning signs on them? “Bad for your health; for research purposes only.”
So, this is what simplifying is. Everything and everyone around you should spark joy. And to respect people who have also chosen to simplify their life, and if that includes excluding you from their future, then let go and let God.
