What brings true happiness? A healthy lifestyle; a positive attitude, outlook and philosophy; a simple life close to nature; meaningful work; time spent in solitude and stillness, reconnecting with yourself; and surrounding yourself with people, and an environment, a place, that fit with you: these things bring happiness and peace
Continue readingTag: simplicity
Writings of J. Todd Ring: Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty
People everywhere are the same – people are people. We have far more in common than we have differences between us. And all the differences, or at least the great majority, are on the surface only. That being said, we do have some significant differences in psychology, views, values and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Getting Off The Treadmill: Seeking More Through Less
Newer, better, more… Newer, better, more… On and on the circle goes. But when you begin to see through such delusions and self-limiting, self-imprisoning patterns, then the door to true wisdom opens. First, however, you must get off the treadmill of always seeking newer, better, more. If it doesn’t exhaust
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Low tech, high tech
These are just a few thoughts that came to mind, after researching the tiny home and camper van trends, but they have very broad implications, for just about everything. This is not a comprehensive treatise nor a definitive statement, but simply some musings. Low tech vs high tech Pretty cool
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Tiny Homes Now
While sitting immersed in thought this morning, planning out my tiny house design, for the creation of a tiny home construction business, I hear a family walking down the street after the rain, and I think, how wonderful to hear families walking together, and talking happily. I stood up
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Architecture & Home Design: Raising the Bar
This is my favourite home design so far. (Video below) Every home and building should be passive solar, and every home or building should be an Earth Home – meaning, it uses heating and cooling from the sun and the earth. Anything less is radically substandard, and in light
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Advertising, bondage and consumerism
I turn off the mute on the radio, to check if the nauseating ads are finished and we can get back to the music, and I hear, “New York steak…” – so I mute it again immediately; and I think: Advertising = the intensification and multiplication of human wants and
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Smile
It’s sometimes really difficult for me to come to terms with realizing that there are some really horrible people in the world. Like, not just ignorant but just really hateful. […]
Continue readingA politician of rare humility and wisdom
Uruguay is not a very important country in the grand scheme of international affairs, so we don’t hear much about it. Nor about its president, José Mujica. We should hear more. President Mujica is a politician who serves as a model for others of his profession. To begin with, he
Continue readingBoreal Citizen: Bagel on a string: Collapse and the case for simplicity
When we talk about complexity, resources and economic decline, it seems we’ve learned nothing from history. In his talk in Barcelona, [Joseph] Tainter gave the example of the Roman Empire during the 3rd century A.D. At that time the empire faced a serious military crisis: invasions of foreign peoples and
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