Essentials: Food

Recently, I took you on a short tour of our kitchen. It's small and basic and fulfills an essential function in boat life. Like house-dwelling landlubbers, boat people gotta eat.

On the boat, storage is at a premium. Also, the boat isn't stable - it pitches and rolls along with the movement of the river. We address these issues in the kitchen by hanging things up if they can be hung, and by storing plates and glasses in racks.

Hanging Pans & Storage Racks

A part of communal living is sharing. Food left on the side in the kitchen is fair game, and is usually gone quickly if left out.

Available Today - Pain au Chocolat and Christmas Pudding

For those things you don't want to share, each of us has a food box. Your food box is your private territory.

My food box, stowed up high

You gain a new appreciation and understanding of food living here. We have no refrigerator. It is cold in the boat, and most things will keep at our room temperature.

We're all fond of picking up severely reduced clearance items from the supermarket - it fits the frugal lifestyle. Expiration dates are more suggestions than gospel - I'll now happily eat most expired foods.

We have no oven or toaster - they require too much electricity. To replace the oven, we have a grill outside on deck that makes a decent substitute. For toast, we have a special toasting pan that goes on the hob.

Making toast

Eating this way, something remarkable happens - in line with a minimalist approach to life, no food is wasted. If you buy too much, or cook too much, you share it. Given that the average UK family throws away the equivalent of nearly an entire meal's worth of food per day, there's something to be said for this low-to-no waste effect seen in our communal life.

Once everything is prepared, we retire to the seating across from the kitchen - various stools, chairs, and a big white sofa provide ample perching at mealtimes.

Our sofa, in a slight state of disarray

Like most parts of boat life, food is more complex than it is on dry land. The gain from this additional complexity is a new appreciation for food - storing it, preparing it, and sharing it.

The Evolution of Ownership

Ownership is a funny concept. Variously defined, I've settled on "the right to the possession of a thing".

As children, we are taught what is 'ours' and what belongs to others. We're taught the art of sharing, all the while being reminded that what is ours should remain ours, and should return with us at the end of play time.

As we grow, some of us lose our things by force, or by bad fortune, or by our own forgetfulness. We experience loss and it is painful. We then have to do without our things, or save up to replace them.

With time, we learn jealousy, seeing the things others have and wanting them for ourselves. We look at our own lives, and think, why do I not have these things?

When owning things has meaning, we learn that owning relationships does, too. We obsess over others, we chase others, we feel jealousy when we cannot have others. We plant flags in our relationships.

Finally, if relationships with others can be owned, logically we, too, can be owned. We sell our time to our employers, we declare to partners that we are 'theirs', and we contract out our futures by acquiring debts.

Oddly, it is following this move from owner to owned that we are called fully adult.

I'm not the first one to muse on ownership - plenty of philosophers, sages, and prophets have done so before I moved onto this boat to think about life. Now, though, I understand why it's a much discussed subject:

• The concept of ownership is false. Nothing is ever owned. Things can be borrowed, used, taken by force, but never really owned. Life is finite - what is ours today is lost tomorrow.
• Ownership has a great power over our minds. It drives us to make massive trade offs in our lives. It discourages us from chasing our bliss. It compels us to hoard. At the worst, it brings out our cruelty; it arouses in us greed and malice.
• Rejecting ownership is a revolutionary concept. The established social order is predicated on ownership as a central aim in life. Dropping ownership as an aim is a direct challenge to that order.

So, what can you do to break the habit of ownership? I imagine living life in a barrel or suggesting that you sell all your posessions and give the proceeds to the poor might be a bit extreme. Instead, begin with the following:

• Aim to create more than you consume.
• Be kind to yourself, and to others.
• Give time, rather than things.
• Recognise the abundance all around you. Make a conscious effort to see it everyday.

And ask yourself, if everything you own disappeared tomorrow, what would you really have left?

My Minimalist Birthday

I've been trying to write all weekend. My mind has been bursting full of ideas - generating stubs and threads and interesting points of discussion.

These will follow as proper posts before long. But to clear the block and to clear my mind, I first need to give a voice to the weekend just gone.

My birthday was yesterday. December 22nd is a funny day - everyone has Christmas on the brain. Everyone is strapped for cash and for time.

I used to take quite a materialist, scarcity-based view of this day. More stuff going on in the lives of others meant less time for me. Fewer gifts for me, I thought, meant less love. My birthday often made me feel empty and uncared for, forgotten in the hubbub of the Christmas season.

This year, I travelled to Brussels, where a small group of some of the most interesting, beautiful, and achingly cool people I know live. I went into it with the aim of enjoying this company. And, if it all went tits up, there was always the best beer in the world as a back up plan.

How did it go?

I swam. I went to an improv battle in French, and understood most of it. I went to an underground club and danced with abandon to Belgian 80s classics. I stayed up all hours discussing life and programming languages. I met a friend from my high school exchange year in Finland. I drank mulled wine in a Christmas market. I felt like the richest person alive, all for less than 50 Euros.

The time we choose to share with others is our most profound and valuable gift. A few hours snatched out of the day to tell our stories, a message sent from half way around the world, the enthusiastic sharing of our normal lives - this is what actually matters.

Celebrating others has nothing to do with things or organized get-togethers. There was no formal party. No sitting in a circle receiving gifts. No obligation or pressure on anyone to show face. Instead, those that chose to spend time with me in this place were showing that they were happy that I was born because they are happy to be with me now.

As Christmas nears, the best thing any of us can do to show our love for others is to spend time rather than money, and to do this often throughout the year.

Who can you reach out to right now that you care for?

Virtual Tour: The Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of most homes, and on the boat it is no different.

The kitchen is where we congregate as a community. It part of the same multipurpose communal room that houses our sofa and our one TV. The chimney pipe shoots up through the middle of the room, radiating heat.

Our kitchen has a spectacular view.

The window over the sink

On the weekends, rowing teams training at the local club skate past, darting back and forth on the grey river.

The window behind the hob

In the early mornings, mist and fog rise up from the river. Water fowl laze past, whooping and calling to each other. It's like walking into a cloud while listening to a 'Sounds of the River' CD.

The kitchen is basic - we have a gas hob, no oven. We have two hard working kettles - the large one is for boiling river water for cleaning, the small one is for boiling distilled, filtered water for tea.

Our kitchen

We have no refrigerator - the ambient temperature in the boat recently has been about 4 degrees centigrade, which is about as cool as the inside as a fridge. Left overs stay well preserved out on the sideboard.

Like most things on the boat, using the kitchen requires more work, but carries with it a primal satisfaction. And, if nothing else, you can't beat that view.

How to Turn Setbacks to Your Advantage

Setbacks happen. They can be life shattering, like divorce, or mildly annoying, like having to wait for the next bus because the current one is full.

This has been my week of setbacks. It began with a battery that died at a bad time, followed by two difficult days at work, and has continued with the maybe end of a delightful love affair. Suffice to say, I have had better weeks.

When setbacks cascade like this, it is easy to assume that life is heading off on some doomed trajectory. It can feel overwhelming. It can feel like you will be down forever.

The good news is, setbacks are not forever. You can deal with setbacks, and you can turn them to your advantage.

First, you have to deal with the setback:

• Surrender in the moment. When you first meet a set back, you will have an emotional response. Anger. Sadness. Disappointment. Don't fight it - just feel it. 
• Show yourself kindness. It can be as quick as forgiving yourself in the moment, or it can require more time, like going for a run or a swim. Don't skip this step.
• Identify the immediate issue. Once the emotions have passed, identify the issue. If you've missed a bus, the issue is that you will be delayed or that you must find a new route. 
• Act on the issue, not the emotion. Take targeted action on the issue you have identified. If you've been delayed, let someone know you will be late. If you need to find a new route, ask someone or consult a map.

Acting on emotions rather than issues is ineffective. If your emotions are not subsiding, wait. Talk to someone you trust before acting. Talking out loud about a situation diffuses emotions and gives clarity to the real issue.

Once the immediate issue is dealt with, turn the setback to your advantage by following these 3 steps:

1. Analyse. Your life is your best teacher. How did this setback arise? What emotions did it bring up? Why? Were they a help or a hindrance? Was it easy or difficult to address the issue at hand?
2. Prepare. This new information is valuable. It shows you what steps you can take to prevent or mitigate similar setbacks in future. Did that run really clear your head after an argument? Would it be worth picking up a transport map?
3. Harness. Every setback is an opportunity. It is a chance to improve, refine, change direction, and to become a better you. Harness this. Find the good shit in the bad shit.

With practice, turning setbacks to advantages becomes habit. You can master this alchemy, starting now.

What has set you back recently? How will you turn this to your advantage?

Essentials: Work

Keeping a boat running is a lot of work.

On the boat, everyone has a set barge task. Well, everyone at the moment except for me.

The assigned barge work amounts to 2 hours per week. Currently, there are more people than set roles. As the newest person, I haven't been assigned an official task yet.

While waiting for my name to be added to the communal white board task list, I asked the admiral if I could come and help on his newest boat instead.

Up on deck

Currently docked in a shipyard in Brentford, this barge was not more than a hull when the admiral bought it.

I spent a bright Sunday afternoon in December on this new barge, with the admiral and 3 of my shipmates.

The dock at low tide

The setting was one of nautical industry. The admiral was buzzing, seeing his dream of another house barge emerging from the strong steel hull.

My reception on board wasn't entirely warm, however. From one shipmate, I was met with a blunt "Construction work is not for girls" before being promptly ignored.

The day was clear and bright

I find that the best way to deal with being dismissed is to show intent through action. I got stuck in wherever I could, first sweeping and making tea, then moving boards and insulation.

Once it was seen that I was there to work, I was shown how to use the circular saw and the jigsaw and asked to cut some board.

Then, I put up a wall before finally finding my niche - adding silicon sealant to windows and installing them up on deck.

The admiral gave a lot of thought to the windows, looking to make sure plenty of natural light will fill the cabins and hallways below deck. In this way, I worked happily until the sun began to set and all the windows were in.

Satisfaction

As we lost the light, we stowed tools and stacked wood. We tidied everything away, ready for the next day.

Until my contribution is decided at home, I will get stuck in where I can, adding my labour to the communal pool to help make things happen.

It is an essential of boat life - everyone works. Our work has a tangible meaning - the result is something we can see and feel and experience. There is immense satisfaction in this.

3 Simple Ways to Care for Yourself

When you are setting your priorities in life, how do you make sure to look after yourself everyday?

Blogger Minimal Student writes a thought provoking piece on persistence, a lesson she learned over time through running. It is an excellent article, but perhaps the most profound snippet is found toward the end:

I had neglected my body for years, but now it was one of my highest priorities. Being healthier became a part of my daily life, rather than something I begrudgingly tried to fit into it.

Why is caring for ourselves something that we try to 'fit in' around everything else?

We see around us global epidemics brought about by poor lifestyle. Obesity is outwardly visible, and stress, anxiety, and depression are hidden. Both are precursors to more serious conditions, like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and stroke, among others.

These epidemics have their roots in a failure to prioritize self, in favour of prioritizing the external. I understand why this happens - if we aren't deliberately focusing on our well being, it is easy to get distracted by the life going on all around us, rather than the life we are living.

So what can we do about it? Here are 3 simple ways to start caring for yourself today:

1. See caring for yourself as a part of your day. If you conceive of self care as naturally as waking up, getting dressed, or brushing your teeth, you will do it. Adopt the mantra - Taking care of my self is part of my day, not something that I squeeze in. 
2. Do it for yourself. Don't lose weight for your partner. Don't stop smoking for your kids. Don't start eating healthy to be on trend. Do these things for you. Know that you are doing them for you, as a way to show yourself love. Don't share that gift with anyone else. When you regularly care for yourself, you will be a better partner, parent, and friend just by being yourself. 
3. Stop rushing and start planning. By now, it's clear that self care is pretty damned important. What do we do for important things? We plan. Take time today to plan for self care tomorrow. Pack your running gear tonight. Make a shopping list for the ingredients that you need to pick up tomorrow. If you go into self care in a rush, you will carry that negative feeling of rush and stress with you.

These 3 simple ways to care for yourself can be applied to anything you would like to do to show yourself care - it's the same whether you are looking to take exercise as much as if you are wanting to meditate. 

Do those things every day that will help you to be the best you. You owe it to yourself.

Essentials: Fire

I am learning the essentials of boat life from my shipmates.

The first thing I was taught, before anything else, was fire.

The Stove - Where Fire Lives

It is December in Northern Europe. Our boat has no central heating; no switch that you flick for instant, climate controlled warmth. We're on the river.

Without fire this boat would be a very cold place.

The first person home after 4pm is responsible for lighting the fire. Then, coal needs to be laid on the fire every hour on the hour (a rule that is useful; if you come home at 7:30, you know that the fire is ok until 8).

Adding quick burning fuel to heat up the fire

Each of my shipmates so far has shown me different techniques that they use to build, feed and manage the fire. Fire craft is personal - no two approaches are exactly the same.

At the 10 or 11 fire feed, you're looking to have 3 layers of coal. The flue needs to be opened when the coal is laid, and then dampened (with the flue key at a 45 degree angle) once the stove door is closed. This will keep oxygen flowing to the fire, but not as much as when the flue is open, allowing the coal to burn slowly.

The wood has caught and will help the coals to catch

That's how the boat stays warm as we turn in to sleep.

We're reminded of the importance of the fire every morning when we get out of bed.

Lifting up the duvet and climbing to the floor, the boat is about as warm inside as it is outside. Changing out of pajamas and into clothes is done as quickly as possible. Breath steams in the icy air.

It is harder work to stay warm in a home like this - but it is a deeply satisfying chore. Making fire is a communal activity, where we all contribute. Feeding the fire is a little pleasure - when you are feeding it, you are in the warmest place in the entire boat.

I've come to see the fire as both beautiful and useful, and to view my responsibility to is as my first priority when I am home in the evening. With a bit of effort from all of us, I have faith that wintering on the river will be much cozier than I thought possible.

How to Prioritize

Is your to do list longer than your arm? Does thinking about the things that need to get done discourage you?

We often choose to spend our time without thinking about it. Our lives are filled with external distractions - advertising entices us, our bosses ask us to work late, and our tech bings and flashes with news and updates.

Getting a bit of head space, then, is a challenge. With the constant distraction and the endless ways we could spend little bits of our lives, how to choose? How to decide?

I went to a time management seminar at Inner Space. The seminar details were posted at work, but I think our HR team didn't know that Inner Space is a hippy haven. This wasn't to be your typical time management seminar, drawing grids and deciding if something is both important and urgent or not.

Instead, the seminar leader encouraged us to focus on our ultimate aims in life. Not on hitting targets. Not on achieving the highest profit in time for quarter end. Instead, she suggested the following 3 aims:

1. Unconditional contentment
2. Unconditional love
3. Unconditional peace

These 3 aims are focused on your internal state rather than on the external world. They are also achievable, regardless of what is going on around you. 

The seminar ended with the leader advising that, if we consider our aims in all that we do, and if we let go of the things that won't help us achieve these aims, many things on our to do list will fall away.

Think about something on your to do list right now. Ask yourself - will doing this thing lead me closer to a state of internal contentment, love, and peace? If it won't, then is it truly necessary?

The more you do this, the more you may be surprised to learn how many things on your to do list are externally motivated and directed: 

• Are you chasing that promotion to increase your esteem in the eyes of others, or are you doing it because you are passionate about it, and it will bring you contentment in your work?
• Are you trying to lose weight to appear more attractive to others, or are you trying to improve your health and fitness so that you can pursue your passions and show yourself love?
• Are you buying things for your home in order to display it with pride to others, or are you working to create a space where you can find peace?

Following this simple self interrogation technique, you may find that some items remain on your list, but the motivation behind them is clarified. By knowing that you are working on something that will bring you closer to your aims, you will find that life becomes less of a chore and more of a joy.

Take a look at your to do list right now. What will those things help you to achieve? 

Minimizing Fear

Fear is a funny thing.

It is at once an instinct that keeps us from harm, while also being an irrationality that holds us back. Plus, it feels bloody awful in the moment.

An unexpected side effect of the last several months has been the decrease in the fear that I feel. As I moved away from the end of my marriage, as I got my mind sorted out, as I started to make decisions, and when I started to work on Operation Greenrock - at each step, the fear that I carried lessened a bit.

That said, I still have fears...

Arriving home on a December evening

I feel fear in the dark. The end of my walk home takes me through a very dark park to the river's edge, where the waiting lights of the boat eventually rise up out of the river.

The piss loo window on a Tuesday morning in December

I feel fear sitting on the piss loo (so named because we have a separate loo for doing "big jobs") in the early morning, thinking about what creepy crawlies might surprise me mid-stream.

My (incomplete) fear inventory from there goes something like this:

• Fear of taking risks
• Fear of not being able to take care of my self
• Fear of foxes, rats, bees, and spiders
• Fear of losing face
• Fear of missing out 

What can you do about fear?

The key to reducing fear involves three steps:

1. Surrender to it in the moment. Fear, like all emotions, is inherently valid when you feel it. Ride the wave out and be kind to yourself afterwards. Remember: your feelings don't define you.
2. Build a body of proof that you are stronger than you think. When you are doing something that shows objectively that you are capable, be mindful of it. Pause and become the observer. Take note. Say to yourself, "Look what I can do". 
3. Set yourself challenges. As you build up your body of proof that you are stronger than you think, set yourself small challenges to your fear. When I still felt a powerful fear when faced with making decisions, I started out with making a very small decision, like what to eat for dinner.

Reducing fear over time involves a cycle of steps 1-3, not always repeating in that order, with an emphasis on diligent mindfulness throughout. 

As I continue pursuing a more minimal lifestyle, minimizing fear steadily is as important to me as minimizing the amount of stuff in my life.

What are you afraid of? What one thing could you do today to challenge your fear?

Watch and Learn

I'm posting this a day later than I wanted to. It has been a challenge to get my rustic internet solution up and running, but I am pleased to report that it is working now. Sort of.

I digress - I have moved into the boat, and I have had my first night on the water.

Rule #1 of introducing yourself to a new culture: Watch and Learn

In a new environment, it is safe to assume that you know next to nothing about how things work. You might have an idea or two, you might have read something somewhere... no. The real experts are the ones around you.

My first day on the boat began with moving everything in. With the help of two of the coolest guys that I know, Joe and Norbert, we were able to get everything from the old flat to the boat in one trip in a Zipcar Touran. 

Job done, and following a well-deserved beer in the pub, I returned to my floating home to face the reality of what I'd chosen to do. I got down to the more-complicated-than-in-a-flat task of unpacking and finding homes for my things.

Dressing a duvet in a small space is a challenge. Unpacking a large suitcase in a small space is a challenge. Deciding how to use the shelf space is a challenge. But in the end, I think I got it looking quite good:

The view from the front of my cabin

And the view from the back of the cabin!

The big reveal? All the walls in my cabin are painted with chalkboard paint! This ensures I will always have something to do, even when the generator isn't running and we have no electricity.

My first observations:

• Despite reducing the amount of stuff that I have by 50%, it still feels like way too much
• Fire is incredibly important
• Cold is a state of mind

Moving in to my new home, I was struck by how it reminded me of my adventures long past, moving into a new culture in a far away place. It's not so much a house share as it is a little community, with a culture all its own.

All told, it was a more comfortable, warmer first night than I would have imagined. I am fully in my role as an observer, watching, learning, and asking questions. I will draw on those old memories of patience, get-stuck-initude, and creativity as I work to integrate myself here. 

With some luck, I should start to get the hang of things fairly quickly.