My list of books....

In one of my latest post, I was mentioning that I owned 37 books.... and one of you guys asked me what they were.... so here they are!  The 37 books that I keep because I go back to them again and again...  Being an avid reader, would I have kept every book I ever read, my living room would be full of books but that would not make sense right? Just since the beginning of January, you could add 30 books to that list!

Le petit livre des chakras

A new Earth - Awakening to your life's purpose

The path of the yoga sutras

Savvy chic  - the art of more for less

The paradox of choice - why less is more

Wild

Into the wild

Vivre en paix

Apres la pluie le beau temps

Au nom de tous les miens

Je vivais seul dans les bois

Le petit prince

Sur le bord de la riviere Piedra je me suis assise et j'ai pleure

Plaidoyer pour le bonheur

A toi qui n'es pas encore ne

Ou tu vas, tu es

Sacre montagne de fou

The new good life

How not to die

The China study

No steak

Healthy at 100

Whole

The food revolution

Sapiens

The pocket book of stones

petits

National Parks of Canada

Guide des oiseaux de l'est de l'Amerique du nord

Vegan's daily companion

L'alchimiste

How to go further

Guide total survie foret

Total yoga

Yoga for real life

Hatha yoga illustrated

Wanderlust

Hopefully, this is what you were looking for... If you have any more questions, please let me know... always a pleasure to answer...

Now you may ask "Will there ever be more book to that list?"  Maybe... but I only buy books now according to some specific criteria... and keep them for even more specific ones! So this list may grow eventually but not that much...

Oh and yes, I do have a copy of my own book Life Happens Living a healthy life despite a chronic illness that you can get here!

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,

chloe

xox

So long Starbucks...

I have been going to Starbucks every single day, minimum once a day, for the last 13 years... or just about...
I have very rarely missed... rain or shine....  snowstorm or heat wave...  feeling good or sick...
It was my go-to place, my home away from home to talk about life with my love, son or friends...

It was then, only logical, that once I moved to Moncton and wanted to work in a coffee shop, that I ended there... After all, it was giving my free drinks while working and 30% discount all other times! Plus, I spent so much money there, I thought it was time they gave back!

However, last week, I announced that I had given my resignation... and this, which I assumed would cause a storm within my circle, actually was the opposite...  people were very understanding and NOT SURPRISED! Most of them claimed that leaving Starbucks was actually more in-line with the rest of my lifestyle! Even my boss mentioned that, even though she was sad to loose me, she wondered for almost two years what I was doing there...

I ended up being surprise that no one mentioned it to me earlier... such a discrepancy in my life.... and I am ashamed I did not see it earlier!

For some reason, since I moved here, two years ago, I have been on a path to furthermore simplify my life... and shop less... and think before I spend any dollars!  For that reason, I started my 367 days shopping ban last November. Now this challenge as somehow changed me... and following the rules I set for myself has sometimes been easy and sometimes not so much...  I wrote about an update last week which you can read here.  I do not want to repeat myself.

I think that all that reading I have been doing (reading marathon) and all that thinking about my money spent has open my eyes on something I was refusing to see before... One of the thing I have set myself up, as part of this challenge, is to buy more local stuff...  and for some reason, it hit me somewhere beginning of March, that I was actually working in a business that was not at all local!  Nothing is local about big corporations...  and if I tried avoiding them as much as I could (not possible to always do so where I live as there are not many other options for some stuff), why was I working in one? And why was I spending all my free time in it too? Well, spending my free time there only made sense as I had a considerable discount...  but I suddenly realize that I could no longer work there... and every shift from then on made me really unhappy... I then started to look for another job... but stuff like "but you have the perfect schedule" , "you get 30% off", "your boss is amazing", "it's walking distance from home" were holding me there... Stillness is so easy and comfortable. But I know myself now... once a seed is planted, it will grow... give it time! And the time came...  and something really nice presented itself to me...  and I jumped on it!  Not because I am not terrified by change...  because I still am!!!  But because I learned to trust life...  when you plant a seed in the Universe, it will grow and find it's way...  If you do not look so hard, the right things/opportunities/people find you... and this is what happened! Therefore, in order to be honest to myself, I have to try this...

And no long after I gave my resignation, it started sinking in that I could no longer go there as a customer either... that would be AWFUL! Imagine working in a local coffee shop and spending your money on a big corporation who does not need it? There is no way I could do that... so I decided that I would go as long as my discount applied or as long as I had not started working in my new job - which ever came first! Well, the discount thing is off as of today - and I am starting work on Thursday in my new coffee shop  ( Cafe c'est la vie )... therefore I took my last free soy chai and stepped out... knowing that I would not be back anytime soon!

Some may think that I am silly to write a post about this... but Starbucks has been a HUGE part of my life...  back in my hometown and here, where I basically met everyone I know in Moncton. It is a 13 years old habit that I have to break...  and habits are habits... never easy to get rid off!  I know I can do this... but I also know that I need to write about it... because writing about stuff helps me... and sometimes helps you too!

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,

chloe

xox

7 months down... 5 to go...

It's been 7 months already...

This post is less about what I bought or not...  Although I have to admit that I did buy a few tops - new and in regular stores...  :-(
but I could not find what I needed in thrift stores or in any "sweat shop free stores"...
made me realize that we do not have very many options...  here, where I live anyway... and no longer having a credit card poses a problem to buying on-line...  I was told that I should look into getting a pre-paid credit card for on-line shopping...  maybe I'll look into that before I buy something next time...

besides that, I have been doing good...  I really do not feel like shopping...  maybe the fact that there really isn't that much close to me that I love helps... but still...  it's progress...

as I mentioned before I have rediscover the joy of reading and I am now up to 27 completed books in my reading marathon! halfway through the year and I already have more then half my objective of 42 books completed...

I still need to work on more yoga and meditation... my problem is that I have a hard time finding a consistent time of the day to do it...  my schedule changes too much from day to day... but I will get there...

what I really wanted this post to be about is what those last few months made me discover about myself... what matters more to me but also what matters less...

1) where I live is important - rather pay more on rent and live in a clean well maintained apartment

2) what is in my apartment matters much much less... as a matter of fact, I sold my couch and put my bed frame up for sale... love to sit on the floor and can put my mattress directly on the floor which makes my tiny bedroom look more decent in size - actually, anyone would come in here and would assume young adults just starting off in life are living here! and I don't care!!!

3) my kitchen table is too big - will put it for sale soon and get a smaller round one...

4) following my whole food plant based diet is the most important thing BUT what I eat is not... I can very well eat the same thing all week and be fine with it! I realize that even though I love eating this way, more then I ever loved eating in my life before, food is not that important to me.. it's a mean to end... the end being staying alive and healthy

5) while I am on the food subject... I love to cook...  BUT love it more when it can be all done in a day or so for the week...  I mean I love doing it because it provides me and my family with real food but if I can, I'd rather be reading, having tea, walking outside or doing some yoga...

6) books, music, movies, etc... I don't care for them... I have a grand total of 7 CD of music... and 37 books...  and I am not planning on getting anymore anytime soon...and I do not own any movies/tv series... I listen to music on youtube, take books from the public library and this way I save ton of money and clutter in my home! movies? tv series?  Netflix...  much cheaper then cable!

7) I care about clothes... at one point in my life it was an addiction.... I had to buy them... whether I had the money or not... and most time I did not have the money because I'd spend it all... well, on my clothes.... lol
therefore I used credit... and got into some pretty serious trouble...  that I am still paying for today - but in 12 months I'll be all right.
today, I still love clothes... and just as I realize, at the beginning of my minimalist journey, that having tea in a coffee shop is something I will never let go off, buying clothes is something I will never let go off either.. not because I can't!  because I don't want to!!! I will be smarter about it...  I pay cash now...  no more credit... I try to go into thrift shops...  and locally own store or local seamstress... I will buy fair trade as much as I can...  and I have develop my own style so I am no longer a victim to trends that come and go every month or so... I now know what I love and wear my clothes until they "die" on me but I will keep on buying them...  after all I keep saying minimalism is not about deprivation but choice... well I choose to have less in my home (less furniture, less books, less music, etc) but more in my wardrobe...  just because...  I can choose!!! I just want to be smarter about it now!

all in all... those months have made me realize that I can be very happy with very little stuff as long as I have a nice wardrobe, cheap healthy food, my yoga practice and a public library close by...

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,

chloe

xox