Generally speaking, this is the best time of year to turn off the heat pump or air conditioner for a few weeks and get some fresh air flowing through your home.

Research has shown that the quality of indoor air can be worse than outdoor air. That’s saying something, in this age of smog and pollution, that our living room with its radon, dander, moisture, insects, dust, industrial glues that are holding our furniture and carpet together, formaldehyde, aerosols, and etc., is more of a health hazard than inhaling the toxic cocktail that is the air of your local metropolis. And more and more, people are leaving their homes sealed up tight, letting the convenience of the heat pump’s thermostat control the indoor comfort level. When actually, the best way to fight poor indoor air quality, is to simply open up your windows and let the breeze blow through.

Cross-ventilate using a box fan
Some people have attic fans installed which draw air through the entire home and out through the attic. That’s one of the best ways to get the job done, but even without an attic fan, getting some fresh air into the home isn’t so hard.

You can ventilate your home by opening a window (or door) on opposite sides/ends of the home and placing the fan in one of the openings. Direct the fan to blow air OUT of the opening, which will pull air through the home from the other opening.

Switch it up so you pull air through different areas at different times, alternating to keep the flow steady and regular.

Improve qi
Practitioners of Feng Shui will appreciate the effects of airing out their home immediately. Opening up your home’s windows can improve the flow of positive energy dramatically. And if you’re skeptical about the concept of positive energy flow, here’s an article that might explain things a little more clearly as to what you can expect, realistically, from Feng Shui design.

Invite the sounds of nature
One of the greatest benefits of opening up the windows, even in a city, is to invite in the sounds of the outside world. Sometimes those sounds can be a nuisance, but just as often it’s a great reminder that your world is bigger than this small room or collection of rooms. It keeps us connected with the environment.

For my part, I live in a rural area, and when I open my windows at night I hear the songs of night insects and frogs and whippoorwills in the spring, and those are things I appreciate very deeply.

It’s easier for us temperate folk
If you live in a non-temperate area, you might hesitate opening your windows, especially when it’s particularly cold. But fresh air in a stuffy, stagnant space can be an energizing balm for the spirit as well as improve the health of your immediate environment.

Got bug problems?
If you don’t have screens and don’t have the wad of cash to plunk down for them right now, consider a temporary alternative. Many hardware stores carry an adjustable screen which can be inserted into an open window and spread to fit the width. These temporary screens are generally less than $9 apiece (I bought mine for $6.49 at Lowe’s).

Breathe Freely
One thing we all must do is breathe. Better to breathe the freshest air we can than a formaldehyde soup, eh?

Further reading:

• CSU Extension Office

Photo by Padawan *(xava du)

• Getting married
• Having a child
• A child leaving home
• A death in the family
• Moving to a new place
• Getting a new job

Sometimes when we’re in the midst of one of these life changing events, we do something unexpected by those who know us. Our behavior might change a little, we might sell our house or build an addition or plant a new garden. To me, ReEvolving is one of those kinds of things. When I’ve figured out that my path is a damaging one, for myself or others, for the planet I live on or the community I live in, that’s when it becomes time to, as I call it, ReEvolve. And for me ReEvolution is a life-changing event. For me it was gradual, for you, should you decide to do so yourself, hopefully you can pinpoint the day that you made the decision, and then make your life adjustments (where you feel you need them) accordingly. For me it really began with clutter, and in my (still-ongoing) process of decluttering, I learned a few things that I hope will help you feel more comfortable within your own walls.

Get rid of all the superfluous stuff
A purge is sometimes tough to do. I’m a pack-rat by nature, so getting rid of something that I might need one day can almost be agonizing. But if we let our stuff own us rather than the other way around, we may quickly be swamped in our own homes by stuff. So, to purge our belongings we need to classify everything we own by one of four qualifiers:

1. Is it useful?
   I’m a notorious shopper of tools and gadgets. And as a result of my over-shopping, I’ve got some buyer’s remorse over a few things that I bought that are no longer worth anything like the money I paid for them. And worse, I don’t even use them any more. Seemed like a good idea at the time, of course, but how was I supposed to know the Palm Pilot was going to be obsolete with the advent of the smartphone? So, those things that were once useful and might one day be put to some use that as of right this moment is unimaginable, or those oddball things that you just had to have but have never used, those things do not count. Useful is a skillet that you use daily. A screwdriver. Your cell phone. Your lawnmower.
2. Is it beautiful?
   If it is truly beautiful then it’s probably something you’d want to show to your friends. It’s something you take pride in owning. The wall hanging you bought at Wal Mart doesn’t really qualify there, does it? I mean, it’s nice and all, but do you show it off or does it simply cover a spot on the wall so it doesn’t look bare? If it’s beautiful you’re likely going to put it someplace where you can look at it often, it’s not just going to serve as filler.
3. Is it an heirloom or emotionally valuable?
   Your grandfather’s watch. A box of old photographs. Things that would cause you emotional pain to let go of. Be careful, though, because some of us might claim a certain collectible would cause emotional distress to get rid of, like the ticket stub for the Van Halen concert we went to back in ‘83. But if it’s really that valuable to you it should be in a scrapbook, not lying in the bottom of a box in the attic. Those things are “keepsakes,” they’re not heirlooms. Keepsakes go in a scrapbook. If it’s a big thing, a graduate cap or something, take a picture of it and put the picture in the scrapbook and then get rid of the item itself. Keep all your keepsake pictures on a thumbdrive if you want to, or in a scrapbook, but as for the items themselves they are only there to remind you of certain times or places, so why keep the actual item when you can keep a digital copy of ten thousand such items on a thumb drive in your pocket? Get rid of it.
4. Everything else, AKA the Superfluous Stuff.
   Your things do not want to reside under this fourth qualifier, because those that do belong here are the things which you should discard. Those things that belong in this qualifier are not overly useful, intrinsically beautiful or emotionally valuable, and yet they still have a powerful hold over us. I had a jacket in high school that I was very proud of. But as an adult it was out-of-style and wouldn’t fit me even if it was, and yet I was into my thirties before I finally decided to get rid of it. Why had I kept it around for so long? Because I perceived it to have some emotional value. What I came to realize was that my old jacket, and a thousand other things just like it, had a hold on me. I was a slave to it. I took a picture of it and let it go. You can do it. It will be hard, but you can do it.

How much of your stuff would fall into the 4th qualifier? Realistically, and knowing how people in this modern world operate and make purchases (including myself), probably 80% of everything that occupies our everyday space would fall into this category. I’m not suggesting you get rid of 80% of your stuff, mind you, but I am suggesting you overhaul your belongings, get rid of the superfluous stuff that you can bear to get rid of, and analyze where you want to be (in terms of material possessions) in the future. Five, ten, twenty years down the road, do you see yourself still taking care of that digital watch you bought when you were twenty and hasn’t had a working battery in X number of years?

Purify one drawer
Start simple. Pick a drawer in your house. We all have junk drawers, don’t we? Pick one out and purify it. Classify everything in it using the four qualifiers above and then act accordingly. Once you’re done you might be surprised at how light the drawer is. Do one, and then do another. And once you’ve finished your drawers, do a closet. And then do another one. And so forth and so on until you’ve purified your garage, attic and shed, too, and your home is free, open, illuminated and beautiful, and you’ve gained space and health and happiness.

See also:

• Organize your closet like a pro
• A really good guide for streamlining your clothes

Image by Cl@ire Bear

Healthy eating is a topic that gets a lot of attention on [re]evolver. A healthy, sustainable diet is at the core of what it means to [re]evolve in the first place. Bear in mind that there are multiple definitions of the word diet, and when I use the term here I’m referring not to any sort meal plan for reducing calories, but rather, “food habitually eaten.”

With that in mind, here are a few tips on simplifying your diet for the long haul:

1. Drink water.
   This is at the top of the list for a reason. It is the number one best method for attaining balance within your system. It’s as natural as can be, has no calories, no sweeteners, no fat. Attain balance: drink water.
2. Nix the sweeteners.
   Whether it’s sugar, stevia, Equal, Splenda or even honey, sweeteners are something we could all use less of. We’ve developed our “sweet tooth” habits by the sheer availability of sweeteners over the years, to the point that they are now added to virtually everything. And if it isn’t already, we aren’t gun-shy, we’ll put some in there. It’s not something that you have to completely forswear, but cut back on as drastically as you possibly can.
3. Eat religiously.
   Many people don’t really understand what it means to be kosher or to be kosher “observant.” Basically it is a strict way of eating that forbids many unhealthy foods from your diet. I ate a (non-religious) kosher diet for five years and found it to be very fulfilling. The hardest part was eating in restaurants: it’s impossible to be kosher at your average restaurant because it seems there’s pork fat in everything! Regardless, due to the strict rules that go into kosher food preparation, it is some of the healthiest food you can eat.
4. Clean out the junk.
   There are certain snacks that, if kept on hand, equal just too much of a temptation for us to resist. We must. Have. The ice cream. Or chips and dip or chocolate or whatever your brand of devilish delight is. Problem is, sometimes we make the wise decision to refrain from buying those guilty pleasures, only to find ourselves snacking on some replacement junk. The only real cure is to clean out the junk food. Toss it all. And when you’ve done that:
5. Stock up on healthy snacks.
   Fruits of any kind, berries of all kinds. Olives. Nuts (preferably raw). Peanut butter (I like to make “ants on a log” by filling a two or three inch piece of celery with peanut butter and putting a few raisins on top for a very good, healthy snack). Celery. Raisins and other dried fruits. Popcorn. Single-serving tuna. Sometimes I’ll just grab a few cold cuts and eat them rolled into a tube. Whatever you do for snacks, just be sure you leave the honey buns, cookies, fried pies and ice cream on the shelf, you didn’t really hear that stuff calling your name.
6. Stop drinking juice.
   Fruit juice (of all kinds) is something easily misunderstood, because it would seem that if we buy only whole fruit juice that it would be healthy, right? Well, it isn’t, really. Because drinking a tall glass of OJ is just like eating five or six (or more) oranges. So rather than drink the juice of an orange, eat an orange. Or if you must have juice, squeeze it yourself so you can see exactly how much you’re consuming. And remember, even though it is fruit it is also sugar and higher quantities are still not good for you.
7. Avoid Obesogens.
   These endocrine-blocking, fat-building elements could be a large part of the reason we have an obesity crisis in the world today. Start saving jelly and olive jars for containers, or shop around at some yard sales and flea markets for glass containers with lids for food storage and get rid of all your plastic containers, plates, glasses, etc.
8. Use olive products.
   Olives make great snacks packed with healthy fats, and olive oil is one of the best cooking oils around.
9. Refined carbs are bad. Whole grains are good.
   When they did the original food pyramid, bread was a feature item. But was that before or after refined flour got involved? Today, stay away from white or wheat bread, if it ain’t whole grain, it’s not good for you.
10. Eat a few vegetarian meals each week.
    Maybe even try for a big meal on the weekend. Prepare a few vegetable courses and see if you can surprise yourself into becoming a vegetarian. Even if you don’t, though, you can still pick a day a week and eat no meat at all, or a few meals scattered throughout the week. Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, recently stated in an interview with National Geographic:

“It’s very clear that the more meat you eat, the earlier you die. Cut out as much meat as you can. Don’t cut it out completely. That’s boring. Maybe go down to twice a week. That will have a huge effect (on your quality and quantity of life).”

Image by Jurvetson

Obesogens are endocrine disruptors that disrupt the way the body uses fat. They reprogram your metabolism to build and store fat. Sure, you only get trace elements with each exposure, but the effects are cumulative, so the more exposure you have the worse the situation becomes.

The three primary sources of obesogens are:

• Bisphenol-a (BPA) – found in many plastics.
• Organotins - come from biocides and pesticides.
• Phthalates - found in cosmetics and plastics.

Consider for a moment how many things you buy which are packaged in plastic. This could be scary when you first think about it. I don’t think I’d be very far off if I guessed 80% of everything you buy in a grocery store is packaged in plastic. Even when we buy produce these days most of us bag our items in individual plastic bags.

Here are a 10 things you can do to take stock of your situation and evaluate your risk, while minimizing your family’s exposure to obesogens.

How to avoid obesogens:

1. Stop using plastic food containers for your leftovers.
   For food storage use glass containers, aluminum foil and wax paper.
2. Don’t use items made with phthalates.
   Shower curtains, cosmetics bags, fishing worms, raincoats, backpacks, rubber hoses…there are potentially thousands of products in the average home that are made with PVC.
3. Ask the butcher to wrap your meat, poultry and seafood in paper.
   Not plastic.
4. Buy strictly organic food.
   It’s good if it’s labeled organic, but you can go one step further and find a CSA farmer in your area and purchase all your fruits and vegetables from them. That way you’re not exposed to any obesogens at all, they’ll just hand you a weekly bushel of goodness. And don’t forget about the farmer’s market.
5. Get rid of your plastic cups, even the dishwasher safe ones that you use every day.
   Use glass or aluminum to drink from, or consider buying a [re]evolver Sigg bottle (all clans available). Aluminum and BPA free, baby!
6. Avoid HFCS.
   The corn-growers association claims high-fructose corn syrup is as harmless as sugar despite the educated opinions of doctors worldwide.  Fact to remember: HFCS is found in 70% of all prepackaged food!
7. Avoid Meat that was raised on hormones.
   If that cow wasn’t grass fed, you might be consuming obesogens.  Same goes with chickens and pigs, too. Go with free range, grass fed and preferably local.
8. Avoid Styrofoam.
   Styrofoam is one of those things that leak obesogens like crazy, so you might consider taking your own cup, canteen or mug (or Sigg) along with you when you travel. If offered a Styrofoam cup, just present your own cup and ask if they can fill it instead.
9. Grow your own.
   Meat, poultry, vegetables, fruit…Even if you live on as little as one sixth of an acre in an urban area you can support a family by growing your own food (and still have some left over!).
10. Ban disposable plastic!
    When considering the incredible feat that the invention of plastic was, it’s important to consider that we invented something that will last practically forever, and then we turned it into a disposable resource. Now we’ve got billions upon billions of tons of plastics that won’t rot, forming a continent-sized pool of sludge in the center of the Pacific Ocean. And now that we know about obesogens, those plastics are proving to be dangerous to humans as well as to the environment. Will that be enough to finally stop the growth in the use of plastic?

It is plain to see that the trend of obesity in America has increased in lockstep with pesticides and plasticizers, but in the end its our individual health that’s at risk, so as usual this is all a matter of personal choice. How much convenience are you willing to surrender and go back to old-fashioned, simpler methods?

Two more things to consider, these added 4-5-10:

1. Canned food liners.
   Buying canned food may not be the great health option I thought it would be. Turns out the liners in those cans are made with BPAs.
2. Avoid buying things made with “Fragrance.”
   Cleaning products, cosmetics and other personal care products having “Fragrance” in their ingredients list is a key that the product is made with phthalates and other toxic chemicals. The term Fragrance is a trade term for synthetic scents. Look for products with fragrance only derived from essential oils and organics.

More info:

• Newsweek
• Scientific American

Image credit (vegetables): meganpru

But there are options for us. Not all of them are exactly savory, but for me it’s sometimes enough to know that I have the power to do something about the situation.

First, obviously, and just to get this out of the way: I can quit. I can pack up my belongings and hit the road. I’ve quit jobs before. I’ve felt the unbridled exultation of escaping the clutches of a particularly demonic manager. I’ve breathed in the air of freedom. So don’t get too cozy thinking you’ve got me wrapped around your finger, okay? I’ve lived in squalor before and, though I’d rather not, I can do it again. The material world is only material, anyway.

Sure, it becomes more difficult the longer you’re with a company. You’re invested in many ways, and you depend on its success. But–and this is particularly true of larger companies and corporations–every now and then a “reorg” comes around and next thing you know that boss you loved working for has been shipped off to some other dark corner of the dungeon because management decided she was “too easy-going,” and now you’re stuck with Count Olaf, who hates every suggestion you’ve ever made, looks at you with a combination of disgust and barely-hidden rage, and whose greatest joy in life is to see you wallow in abject hopelessness. It may sound like a segue to a cheap dime-store novel storyline, but many people are living that dime horror every working day of their lives.

In those situations, sometimes it’s better to just cut your losses and seek greener pastures. Especially if it’s gotten to the point that you’re miserable. If they’ve succeeded in bringing you down that low, so that you cannot bear the thought of going to work one more day, then don’t. And don’t be apologetic about it, and if they’ve been that horrible to you and you’re pretty certain you’ll never be going back there again, slam the door on your way out and don’t give them the satisfaction of a two-week notice. I don’t like burning bridges, but sometimes you just have to make a point. If you’re quitting a company with a workable HR dept., don’t skip the exit interview, in which you can make all your complaints known.

If you’re job isn’t that bad, if you’re not intolerably miserable, there are things you can do which might improve your work experience.

Give me some of that, whatchamacallit–”Job Fulfillment”
First, understand that there are three classifications of jobs:

• Jobs occupy our time but don’t stir our passion. They don’t engage our creativity. They are things we do to get money so we can do stuff. That’s all it is, a paycheck.
• Careers are accompanied by an advancement ladder that a person can climb. There are perks to the career that you won’t get with a simple job, just be wary of the day you reach the top of your ladder. Your career may digress back into a job.
• Callings are different. With a calling you get fulfillment, you approach the associated tasks with vim and vigor and passion. You love what you do. You’re motivated to continue doing it no matter what. In a calling, the paycheck is secondary, the true benefit is the calling itself.

Believe it or not, jobs and careers can be made into callings. You just have to find the intrinsic meaning or value of what you do there. Even if it’s nothing more than making and fetching coffee, make it your personal calling to craft the finest possible cup o’ Joe in the office and suddenly you might find your services in demand. If you approach it like a job, however, and continue to serve up the same vitriolic wastewater that everyone else gets, there won’t be any reward at the end of the day. And there shouldn’t be.

Ways to improve your work environment.

• Make a list of ways your boss could improve your work environment.
  Pick one (that won’t be offensive to her/him) and make it a suggestion. Such as: Can we telecommute one (two, three, four, FIVE?) day a week? Make sure to list the advantages to the company of having this new benefit and don’t bother mentioning how much better it could make your life. Your happiness will be secondary in their decision, if it even registers at all. Their job is to ensure production, and you being happy is only a minor consideration toward that end.
• Find your own niche.
  You may have twenty coworkers who do the same job as you. When the manager looks out across the people she’s hired to do those twenty jobs, she sees each of you for the value you bring to the company. To make yourself stand out, find a niche. Become the go-to guy (or gal) for a certain something that helps the machine run more smoothly. Start a blog for your department, begin combining how-to documents and writing new ones with the intent of forming a knowledgebase, investigate how social media can make the team more efficient, work with IT to develop a WAP tool which might improve everyone’s production as well as reducing their stress. These suggestions work. I know because they are some of the things I’ve done in my department to make myself stand out.
• Make your job more fun.
  The easiest way to do that is to choose to allow your job to be fun. Smiles are infectious. Sometimes this is impossible, true, but until you try to have fun you’ll never know. I know a waitress who confided in me recently that she made much better tips when she was smiling and energetic, as opposed to the days when she wasn’t in a good mood and let it show. Makes sense, doesn’t it? The same rule can apply for your own workplace. People will be happier to be around you and work with you if you have a welcoming attitude. Think about this: Have you ever heard a morning radio show where the hosts weren’t rambunctiously excited and giddy? Do you think DJs are that incessantly happy, or do you think they realize no one would listen to a boring show full of dullards who don’t laugh or joke or even try to be happy and entertaining?

Just remember: you have the power to leave. It may not be the most desired option, but it’s certainly there if you need it.

Image source: magical-world

1. Badminton
2. Baseball
3. Basketball
4. Bicycling
5. Bocce
6. Bowling
7. Boxing
8. Canning
9. Canoeing
10. Chopping wood
11. Climb a tree
12. Cornholing
13. Dancing
14. Dodgeball
15. Dogsledding
16. Field bowling
17. Field hockey
18. Fishing
19. Football
20. Frisbee
21. Gardening
22. Golf
23. Hiking
24. Hockey
25. Horseshoes
26. Hula hoop
27. Hunting
28. Ice skating
29. Jump rope
30. Kayaking
31. Kickball
32. Kite flying
33. Lacrosse
34. Laser Tag
35. Martial Arts
36. Paintball
37. Ping-pong
38. Pitch -n- catch
39. Rappelling
40. Rock climbing
41. Roller blading
42. Sailing
43. Skateboarding
44. Skating
45. Skiing
46. Soccer
47. Softball
48. Swimming
49. Tag
50. Tennis
51. Trampoline
52. Unicycling
53. Volleyball
54. Walking
55. Wii games

Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments.

Image by dOOMZ. This article first appeared in Unabashed.

Men already do this to a certain degree, especially the ones who wear suits to work. They might change from blue or black to gray, but that’s about the extent of it. Their most significant symbol of originality? Their tie. But even with the tie there are boundaries. Women don’t really adhere to any rules like this. They can switch from day to day using all the colors of the rainbow and pretty much any style they choose–pants, skirts, dresses. All in infinite styles and infinite designs. All this makes streamlining a wardrobe potentially a staggeringly difficult prospect. But it is possible!

Men and women alike will generally try to foster an individual style as much as possible within the confines of what is considered acceptable attire. Some women will prefer short skirts, while others will wear primarily slacks or longer skirts. Some will try bright colors while others will stick with shades of gray. Men will switch from khakis to jeans to pants, jackets, polos, sweaters…there are so many variations it’s no wonder our closets get so crammed. We can’t figure out what to wear! Even people who decide to let their freak flag fly will stay within the margins of what is acceptable amongst their peers. And in the end what’s left? A closet crammed full of things we rarely ever wear, on the off chance that it might either come back into style or we’ll lose enough weight to fit back into it.

You wear 10% of your clothes 90% of the time. If you’re like most people, that is. So what’s the best thing to do, in light of this bombshell information? Drop some of the clothes. You don’t even have to get rid of 90% of them. There are plenty of people who could use them, who wouldn’t just leave them in a closet to take up space. Can’t figure out what to keep and what to get rid of? Well, that’s why we’re here. Here’s your handy guide to getting control of your closet.

Remember, you only have one body! The best way to know when you need to cull some clothes: your closet is stuffed full. If you have clothes squeezed into your closet so that you can barely push them apart on the rod, it’s time to start thinking about what you can do without.

Cull what you can do without. The rule is this: if you haven’t worn an item for at least a year, get rid of it. Or do this:

1. Sort your clothes by season.
2. Keep the current season’s clothes in your closet, and stash the off-season clothing in the attic or somewhere out of the way.
3. When the season changes and you break out your clothes for the new season, consider which pieces you didn’t wear last year, the probability that you won’t wear them again this season. Those are the ones you NEED to get rid of.
4. Put away the previous season’s clothes for storage and repeat the cycle.

After a couple of years you might be surprised to find that you have enough room in your closet for both sets of clothes.

Stay as basic as you can.
These days it can be necessary to have different sets of clothes suitable for different occasions. You need clothing appropriate for your job, but you also need clothes for working in the yard around the house. You need winter and summer clothes, and you need some out-on-the-town clothes, too. For people who like shopping, it can be very easy for a closet to get out of hand. Here are a few tips on how to keep a handle on things. Keep in mind that I’m a guy and I write from a guy’s perspective, but these same rules can be applied to a woman’s wardrobe, too. My wife regularly asks me to help her with her wardrobe/closet:

• Rule No. 1: Try not to get fancy. I like to adhere to what  I call the “Blue Oxford Rule.” That is, a blue oxford shirt is a one of those classic items of clothing which never goes out of style. It’s simplicity at its finest. It can be appropriate for just about any situation, summer or winter. A blue oxford is perfect with khakis or jeans, looks great with a tie. If you need to dress it up a bit add a jacket. If you’ve got one that’s gotten a little older and is worn, make it a shirt for working in the yard. Roll up the sleeves and it’s perfectly casual. Really, you can’t go wrong with a blue oxford shirt. Keep two or three in your closet and you’ve got a shirt to fit almost any situation. Try to keep the rest of your wardrobe just as simple and classic.
• Rule No. 2: Buy clothes with interchangeable parts. Mix and match. If you have a pair of shoes that you’re not afraid to wear with any style of dress, then your job is done. Just about any shirt can be worn with jeans and chinos. Throw on a blazer and you’ve suddenly transformed into business casual.
• Rule No. 3: Invest in your clothes. Spend a little more and buy clothes that are well-made and it’ll pay off in the long run. Have four or five shirts that are high quality rather than twenty of low quality.
• Rule No. 4: Buy  iconic. Some pieces of clothing will never go out of style. A cashmere sweater, an oxford shirt, Levi’s jeans, chinos. They’re iconic and clean and they always look good. Buy clothes that won’t go out of style.
• Rule No. 5: Pick a color that looks good on you and stick with it. If blue is your color, buy primarily clothes that are in shades of blue and most of your wardrobe will match. There’s no need in having seventeen long-sleeved t-shirts in seventeen different colors.

Recommended links:

• Tips for women.
• The Uniform Project.
• A uniform for everyday life.
• The 20% rule.

Image credit: dansays

This is no crusade against television. But naturally it’s television that comes first to my head when I think of vegetative states. We blame television for many of the ills of society, so this is the first alarm triggered in my head. But… the longer I sit at this computer…My joints get stiff, I get sore in places (knees, lower back, wrists…), and I just feel generally not good. And I never sit for more than an hour or two without getting up and doing some stretches or getting something to drink.

Physically, there’s a condition called “thrombosis” in which blood clots begin to form in our bodies after long periods of sitting. People die of this, most notably on long plane trips, but it has occurred on the ground, right in front of the old boob tube. And the computer, as well. But thrombosis is an immediate threat. Over the years, people who sit a lot are generally weaker physically than people who don’t. They get sick more. They’re not as healthy.

It should be no surprise, then, that those same people have mental and spiritual faculties that are in sad shape, too. When our bodies start giving us trouble, our minds worry about those issues. And our overall well-being–our “spiritual health,” if you will–declines along with everything else. High doses of inactivity pave a road directly to heart disease, diabetes, and studies have even shown that it can be a cause of Alzheimer’s Disease. If you’re an office worker stuck at a computer screen, or a truck driver, or even a police officer who sits in a car all day, you’re as much at risk as the person who plants in front of the television and doesn’t move for five hours straight. Especially if you go home and plant yourself in front of the television and don’t move for five hours straight.

And all of this evidence points toward one simple fact: the more active you are, and the more active you remain, the healthier you will be in mind, soul and body.  So: live longer. Take a walk.

There are ways these days of reducing the amount of time you veg out:
Sure, you could get rid of the television altogether, but it’s not necessary. There are still ways to minimize your time in front of it. You could get a DVR and record the shows you want to watch, and then watch them according to your own timeline (BONUS: skip the commercials!).

For ways to get active and stay active (and have fun doing it), try our Alternatives to Exercise.

For ways to simplify your television diet, check out the Video Rebel series on DVICE.

Along this same vein: many other forms of entertainment can be minimized as well. Your email and RSS feeds, for instance. Restrict yourself to email to specific times of the day, keep your inbox empty and your RSS feeds few.

Simplicity means different things to different people. For one person simplicity might mean watching one hour less television per day, or eating 200 fewer calories—simple changes they can make for the sake of simplicity itself. But other people may aim for a more Spartan approach with stern discipline, seeking a rigorously simple, frugal, and austere lifestyle. There are no absolutes. As with most things, whatever works best for one may not work at all for another, but there are certain guidelines which can help anyone get started on the road to living a more simplified lifestyle.

Why simplify? Because property can add stress. Being surrounded by uncountable knickknacks and forgotten belongings can too. Anything that takes time away from comfortable relations with yourself and the people you love can be stressful. By eliminating the things in your life that are non-essential and spending your time doing that which is most important to you, you might not only extend your life, but increase the quality of the life you live. You’ll appreciate the change, and so will the people you love.

Simplifying your life won’t to be instantaneous. It’s something you must cultivate, like a garden. In this garden you must grow a healthier lifestyle. Where once there was a jumble of weeds and grasses, now there are fine rows of plants, all bearing the fruit you’ve planted. In this list there are a lot of ideas that might initially be considered unrealistic, but if you think in the long term, you might see that they’re not as bad as first believed.

1. Minimize your vegetative states.
This is in reference to any form of entertainment that involves staring motionless for extended periods of time. Accomplish this according to what you are willing to surrender. If you absolutely must have cable or satellite TV, get a DVR and record the shows you want to watch, and then watch them according to your own timeline. But consider that your life might be much better if you just cut the cable altogether. There’s still plenty of programming that you can get over the air, and you can still DVR your favorite shows.

Don’t forget DVDs: television shows are bunching together DVDs now for almost every broadcast program. If you truly love a show, you can always wait for the DVD to come out. If you do that, you can watch the show without commercials, which will lead to less temptation to make purchases of things you didn’t need in the first place. For ways to simplify your television diet, check out the Video Rebel series on DVICE.

Along this same vein: many other forms of entertainment can be minimized as well. Your email and RSS feeds, for instance. Restrict yourself to email to specific times of the day, keep your inbox empty and your RSS feeds few.

2. Simplify your wardrobe.
Wouldn’t it be great if, like superheroes (or Santa Claus), we had one completely-individual costume that we wore every day and we looked amazing in it? Well. I think it would be. But, seeing as that’s not really practicable, I guess I’ll stick with this plan.

Stay as basic as you can. The rules of this, as with most everything, are dramatically different between women and men. The simplest rule you’ll find is to sort your clothes by season. Keep the current season’s assortment in your closet, and stash the off-season clothing in the attic or somewhere out of the way. When you break out your clothes for the new season to put them in the closet, consider which pieces you didn’t wear last year, the probability that you won’t wear them again this season, and get rid of them if you can bear it. At the same time, while you’re putting away the previous season’s clothes for storage, do the same thing. Consider what you didn’t wear at all this year and get rid of it. After a couple of years you might be surprised to find that you have enough room in your closet for both sets of clothes.

3. Downsize your auto.
There’s never been a better time to downsize the family auto. Gas prices and the economy have SUVs from coast to coast sitting idle in driveways, their owners praying for a break in the trend. Car companies are clamoring to maximize efficiency. People are beginning to think less about what kind of car they would look best in, and more about what can get them from point to point without draining their bank account. And don’t look now, but ugly cars are rapidly becoming trendy. Remember the Geo Metro? 58mpg, yum.

4. Be satisfied with your job.
The clock on the wall…If you hate your job, quit and get a better job. Haven’t you heard? People don’t stay in the same job forever any more. It’s almost expected of you to quit. Besides, employers in general aren’t exactly brimming with devotion to the working stiffs, are they? When you finally find that one thing, when you’re doing something you enjoy, or at least doesn’t make you hate waking up in the morning, dedicate yourself to doing it to the best of your ability. Don’t worry about promotions and raises, those things will come if you work hard and take care of your company. Try to work close to home, and if you can’t, move to where you work.

* The value of your life will exponentially increase if you don’t have a big commute. Shoot for a job where you can telecommute if your boss will let you.

5. Simplify your diet.
Drink only natural liquids, eat only whole foods. Coffee, tea, water, wine, milk–just look at the ingredients and if you see “High-Fructose Corn Syrup” as an ingredient, pass. As a friend of mine once said: “Coca-Cola will put the fat on the butt.” And he was right.

As for whole foods, well, we all know that’s what’s best, right? It’s best to pick your veggies and fruit right out of your back yard, yes? And we also know that in a modern, industrialized society that’s not even remotely feasible (in general. There are cases that prove this is not an absolute). But we do the best we can. A good rule of thumb is to restrict your grocery shopping to the outside aisle of the store. And always if at all possible, buy local. The most important thing is to stop buying foods that are packaged with weird ingredients listed. There are still some packaged products that are made with a few, simple ingredients.

Also: It’s a good idea to cut back on your meat intake. Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, recently stated in an interview with National Geographic that “It’s very clear that the more meat you eat, the earlier you die. Cut out as much meat as you can. Don’t cut it out completely. That’s boring. Maybe go down to twice a week. That will have a huge effect (on your quality and quantity of life).”

6. Declutter and Organize.
This is really a lot more simple than it sounds. Pick a closet, drawer or cabinet and purify it. First, declutter: get rid of what you don’t need, don’t use or don’t want any more. And then: organize. Put all your pens in one place. Put your note pads in one place. Designate a place for everything in your home and stick to it. That way if you ever need anything you’ll know where it is. Beware: your friends might start calling you a neat freak, but in this case that’s a good thing. When you finish, relish the victory, and then plan to take on another drawer, closet or cabinet soon, and keep going until you’ve purified them all. And, most importantly, keep it that way!

There is, of course, the advanced version of decluttering.

7. Downsize your lawn.
Think: pavers. Think: ground cover. Think: cut less grass. And make it happen. Here’s a nice article on making a smaller, nicer lawn. And instead of using chemical fertilizer, consider making a compost pile to sprinkle on your lawn and keep it healthy and green.

8. Downsize your debt.
It’s hard, but it can be done. I’ve done it myself. In 2002 I had over ten thousand dollars worth of credit card debt. With the level of my income, there was no way to pay this amount off quickly, so I dedicated myself to paying it off slowly. I began spending as much as I could on the debt, and in the meantime I lived as frugally as I possibly could. Everything that I needed, I bought the cheapest, off-brand version I could find, and I bought very, very little that I didn’t need. As a result, in three years of hard-scrabble work, I paid off the debt. I now have no credit cards. I do have a mortgage and one car loan, but other than that I live by what I make and nothing else.

9. Buy better.
If you want something, fine. Buy it. But don’t buy the cheap version, buy the nice version, the one that’ll last for a very long time. You spend a third of your life in your bed. Why wouldn’t you buy the very best bed you can get? And, staying true to number eight above, save up the money and buy it–don’t charge it. Take care of the things you buy. Shining and cleaning your shoes can add years of life to them, whereas if you don’t shine and clean them once in a while, you won’t be wearing them for very long. And filling your home with knickknacks won’t generate nearly as much envy or conversation as one or two inspiring, artful pieces that you cherish.

10. Downsize your home.
Once you’ve purged your belongings, you might realize how little space you actually need. If so, congratulate yourself and then buy a smaller house. Just remember, people have a propensity to expand to fit their surroundings. If you buy a big house, but don’t have enough stuff to fill it, watch out, because soon enough you’ll have so much stuff you’ll be wanting to get an even bigger place.
___

Image by Brian Hathcock

In actuality, Feng Shui is one of the earliest disciplines which attempted to codify the influences of weather, Earth, cosmology and energy (known as qi) and apply them to spatial arrangement and orientation in order to result in a harmonious balance between humans, their residences, and nature.

Feng Shui principles are said to benefit your career, wealth, health and relationships, and it’s also supposed to make you lucky. Skeptical? Well, consider it this way: if you balance your life (yin and yang) and improve the flow of energy (qi) around you, can you visualize the effect on your life? Your happiness, satisfaction, spiritual and physical health would all improve. Positiveness breeds positivity, after all. By balancing our relationship with our environment, there’s no way our outlook couldn’t improve. As humans, we are defined by our moods as much as anything. And, as for the general luck, which is what is said to be most impacted by good qi (the energy Feng Shui attempts to balance), with a positive outlook and a high level of energy, things that happen that might be considered bad luck by some people don’t quite affect us as strongly as it would if our energy levels were down. It’s the same thing as saying that we can handle the day better on a breakfast of fruit and grains than we can on sugar and fat. To me, an improved mentality is how good luck is defined. The same things happen to the same people, but positive people respond positively to those things, while negative people respond negatively. By thinking of Feng Shui in that way, even skeptical Westerners can better understand and accept the tenets which the discipline hold most true. And if you still think it’s magical, well that’s all right too.

Optimizing the Flow of Qi
One problem with trying to adopt Feng Shui principles into your life now is that most people who might be interested in it are people who already have homes and jobs and lives. Why is that a problem? Because one of the primary things Feng Shui is useful for is to reveal to us a place to live. To build our home. A place which would be in harmony with its environment, ensuring good qi. If you already have a home, then you’re already trying to backdoor qi, and qi doesn’t like to be railroaded. But all hope is not lost. By remaining positive you can still direct positive energy. Don’t railroad qi, soothe it into the empty spaces. Analyze where you live now, try to determine if you might have just a little good qi, and hope that you can design your domicile to direct the flow in such a way as to maximize what little there is. And over the long haul, find a good vein of energy flow and, through landscaping, soothe it delicately toward your home. Attract it.

This can be done with landscaping: trees and shrubs and gardens and ponds. Reflecting pools are wonderful for qi, and a row of trees can funnel energy like nobody’s business. Once you have qi redirected into your home, now it’s time to modify the inside of your home to make it more attractive to qi, allowing it to flow in and through and then out again. The exit can be as important as the entry, keep that in mind. You don’t want the energy to back up and grow stale, it has to get out, run free and flow.

That’s it in a nutshell. Once you’ve got good qi flow, you’re in business. Literally. Your should become more energetic and lively, happier, and yes, even luckier. When things are going well they seem to just get better and better. That’s how important energy flow is to a home.

Feng Shui Luopan
A luopan is a kind of compass developed in ancient China. Geomancers analyzed Earth formations and watercourses and astronomers charted the skies, gaining insight into the flow of energy throughout the world. With the knowledge they gained, they developed the luo pan. The luopan illustrates not only direction (by pointing to the magnetic south pole), but also the energy of each direction, depending on the landform or heavenly body to be found there. By interpreting the information on the luopan we can determine energy paths (possibly a relation of Ley Lines) so that we know the best place to establish residency, as well as how it would best be oriented.

A modern compass has four or eight directional markings, while a luopan has 24 directional marks. This translates to 15 degrees per direction. The Sun traverses one point of degree across the ecliptic in 15.2 days. If you mark a series of 24 points on the ecliptic it creates a cycle of 365.25 days, which means that each degree on a luopan approximates one terrestrial day.

The Significance of Meditation
One last thing to consider is the potential impact of meditation on the flow of qi. Sometimes when I meditate I like to envision qi flowing around and through me like a bright wind filled with light. It helps me find my focal point. And you know what? I don’t really believe it’s all imaginary, I believe that is how qi flows, how it interacts with us. So never underestimate the power of meditation.