Simple Kind of Life

I recently saw the interview that Oprah did with Tom Shadyac, the director of big time comedies like The Nutty Professor and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Tom Shadyac is an interesting guy with some pretty awesome ideas around the nature of human beings and how to reach true happiness. Tom previously lived in a mansion in California that consisted of 17 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, huge kitchen, you get the idea. He talked about how in everyone's eyes he had reached much success but Tom was still unhappy. He was overwhelmed with all the people he to employ just to manage his large estate -- pool manager, kitchen manager, tennis court manager, etc. He said, " I needed a manager to manage all my managers." So what did Tom do? He left that life behind and bought only what he needed. The idea behind his philosophy is humans should only take what they need, just like animals. What did Tom need? He needed a double-wide mobile home, a nice mobile home, but just a mobile home. After watching the video tour of his home, I saw how nice it was, and how few belongings he had. Stepping into his closet he said, "I haven't gone clothes shopping in like 10 years." I was amazed but inspired by his lack of needing things. Tom basically said what defines happiness for each person is different, just don't take more than you need. For Tom, happiness was riding his bike, making more time for play, spending less time managing a lifestyle that was more than he needed. Tom also bought another mobile home which serves as his office. His team meets there and it had a nice eco-friendly feel. After reading up on Tom and his recently released file, I AM, I have to say, I'm taking a bigger look at what I need and not taking more than I need. I think the US is especially bad about doing this, as if owning more stuff proves to everyone else how much happier we are. I also watched an old episode of Oliver's Twist, Jamie Oliver's cooking show before he got famous and started a Food Revolution. I thought about this ideas around food as well. As Jamie is shopping, he is buying fresh ingredients, better quality food, then driving off to his simple home on his Vespa. Europeans seem to value quality vs. quantity so much more than Americans. We seem to speed through everything we do, including buying conveinance foods, and not make time for relaxation and play. When I am on my computer I am likely listening to a song, talking to Josh, yelling at the girls, and working. Not only am I less productive when I am like this, I hardly enjoy any of these things on their own. I like listening to music but it's not as nice if I don't get to pay attention to the lyrics. I like talking with Josh, but it's hard to carry on a valuable conversation when I'm so distracted. Being purposeful about what I'm doing and working towards more simplicity, seems to make a lot of sense for me. I've been thinking about changes I want to make in my life that will allow me to achieve this purposeful life. Eating good quality foods, enjoying the process of making something not rushing towards the end, slowing down to do something right, spending time doing the things that make me happy. As we have started building towards our next steps -- buying a home -- I'm keeping this in mind. Just because we can afford something, doesn't mean we need it.