Baby Steps

"What I cannot build, I cannot understand."
~ Richard Feynman

So. I earn a not insignificant salary. Part of it is removed before I see it, and goes into my pension. Another part is removed and placed into a money market account. I voluntarily stick another portion of it each month into a checking account that covers our bills and living expenses, plus a little bit extra.

I get excited when I see how much I have left over; I view my "pocket money" as potential short-term education, the possibility of new goods and/or services to purchase, capital for the month, the world and the intertrons are at my beck and call. Granted, many of my pursuits are educational and revolve around learning new skills and experiencing new things - but I have my shopping sprees. I'm not immune to the latest fashions. I'm vain. Today I consciously changed my perspective and viewed it not as money itching to be spent - but as a resource to conserve.

I need to:

• Decide what I truly value.
• Discover what steps do I need to take in order to get to a place where I can choose to spend my time and money pursuing my values.
• Stop selling my time to insignificant (or harmful) people and things.
• Be mindful.
• Stop shopping.
• Cut the multitasking.
• Consciously acknowledge beauty, no matter where I am, what I'm doing.
• Stop relying upon things that others have built and learn how to do things myself.
• Eliminate debt. 

And thus, with an extra chunk of change that I'd forgotten about, I bought the bread machine we'd put on our registry, at deep discount. Baby steps.

Dancing makes me happy. I went to the custom-made silver Latin lesson at Elite last night for $10 a person (only 6 people) and spent an hour doing samba basics and probably burned 700 calories; my hair was almost shower-wet at the base of my neck, and my clothes were soaked. Money well-spent!