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enterprise
August 2009 
livelihood questions
Posted on May 21st, 2007
by 
maornot
maornot
now i am exploring new ways of making a living that would combine money-making for survival & independence, ideal aspirations & passions, wellbeing of others, balance of time & work, ... some may call it enterprise but that's not what i have in mind. my goal is not to become loaded rich or dedicate my life time to building an enterprise's success. - aspirations that people on zaadz may share too ...
but is my aspiration TOO ideal, considering that you are continuing to live by the hectic pace of modern society, i am wondering
how can one combine all of these into a fruitful ONE and make a living without becoming business-obsessed (means, one's time being eaten up) and keeping the time for free play to be creative and new learning?
these are some of the thoughts crossing my mind as of lately
but is my aspiration TOO ideal, considering that you are continuing to live by the hectic pace of modern society, i am wondering
how can one combine all of these into a fruitful ONE and make a living without becoming business-obsessed (means, one's time being eaten up) and keeping the time for free play to be creative and new learning?
these are some of the thoughts crossing my mind as of lately
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I'm struggling with these same questions. I'm reading a bunch of books on the “simple living” movement and pondering the ways I can release my addiction to Amazon.com, the major drain on my capitol : ) I think that this shift must happen slowly and deeply and with a lot of thought as to the values behind it. It can be a fad one jumps into quickly – which I often do – or it will fall by the way side as too extreme. Things seem much more extreme when I jump right into them. I'm trying a gradual approach this time. We'll see … Good luck with your questions.
thank you for sharing - it is good to feel kindred souls out there. as for me, i am not trying to research by thinking, rationalising or reading too many books (the occasional re-read of passages in DT Suzuki's Zen & japanese culture). i am learning to trust my intuition more and not listen too much to the endless variety of other voices and advice. the result so far has been pleasant surprises, unexpected insights or new ways of thinking about the future. exploring the future seems a constant renegotiation in your mind. Life is art. (i'll post a quick blog entry on this)
i'd love to hear further updates in your gradual approach - good luck to you.
I do appreciate your approach. I think that you absolutely right that you have to find the way to simple living that is right for you and not what dictated in some book. I guess I'm enjoying my reading on the topic because there are so many stories about so many different ways a simple life can look. But I think, if I were to give any advice, I might suggest starting with a fierce assessment of your finances. What exactly are you spending now? What areas of your life are currently costing the most? Do you have debt and do you have a plan for eradicating that? In what ways can you tweak your budget to get your expenses down as low as possible? I've done that once and find I'm gearing up to take another whack at it. I'm also considering what I might start to barter for. I'm currently bartering for yoga classes and I LOVE it. It's a great feeling. Now I want to know what else I can barter for. Good luck!
Sounds like you are enjoying a philosophical and comparative (check out some anthropoligcal cross-cultural comparative research on that matter) approach to a simple life.
i do too. i have a tendency to be too theoretical perhaps so, to outbalance that tendency, i stay away from reading too much (also my practical activities dictate what is left of my time in the day). Over the years i have uncovered a more creative side (that has been there from childhood but never invested time in exploring it) that is going hand in hand with developing my intuitive side and relying less on other people's advice. The environment or culture or society where we live in is not prone everywhere to develop intuition but here in japan (or in my world here at least) i feel it is ideal for my purposes.
Thanks for the thought about bartering - hadn't thought of that! what can you offer in exchange in the case of a larger organisation, i am wondering?
Please do keep in touch how your gadual approach is coming along!