I decided to live more deliberately, because, well, I read a Thoreau quote about living more deliberately, and it resonated. I couldn't afford to move to the country, so I’m doing it here.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. To front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die. discover that I had not lived. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For, 1845-49

I sequestered Kirby's Garden because I wished to live deliberately. To live ‘off the grid’, as much as possible, while inside it, and see if I could not re-learn what my garden had to teach, and pass on some knowledge before it came time for me to pass on this life’’. Stephen Kirby (2015)

My Six Point Plan for Living Deliberately, until you understand :
Food:
Simple foods, simple beverages.
Clothing:
Simple clothing. simple shoes, simple accessories.
Shelter:
Simply smaller but not tiny.
Transportation:
Simple and reliable vehicle, bicycle, public transportation, walking.
Work:
Simple, as only absolutely necessary to cover the outflow of cash for survival.
Recreation:
Time to Think:
Simply to use my intelligence, conscience, and common sense capabilities at or near genius level as much as I can manage.


Why?
Simply for the pleasure of knowing that by doing this you will experience more and more frequent aha moments of understanding, aha experiences of being, anytime, anywhere.
And as you get more practiced at doing this, you will be able to extend your aha experiences of being into longer and longer durations of the human concept of time, timeless being, and those aha experiences will become the za-zen equivalent of moksha, of nirvana, of bliss, of catharsis, of revelation, of nous, of nekyia, the list is long…

I am an everyman. If I can do it, anyone can.
Stephen Kirby, Senior Program Designer 041516
aha moment: from Dictionary.com
noun, informal.
1. a point in time, event, or experience when one has a sudden insight or realization.
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