Just because I am an advocate of the simple lifestyle, I don’t think it is always wrong to want more things. In my opinion, the ‘rightness’ just depends on your choice of things and what you plan to do with them.

Some things I currently want:

• to be eleven-stone-nothing
• to write a book and have it published
• to pay off the mortgage so Dave can work from home too
• a VW campervan (run on biofuel, of course)

I recently read How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield. As a motivational tool, it’s useful, though as a guiding philosophy to live your life by it falls short. There’s a notable absence of discussion about what ideas God might have on the subject of our goals and ambitions and what we do to reach them. Since I care quite a lot about his thoughts on the subject, I am not enamoured of Mr Canfield’s idea that ‘If you want something enough, the universe will send it your way’ (I paraphrase him, but that’s the gist). That idea just doesn’t tie up with my theology, in which a loving God both gives and witholds things in our best interests.

I have picked out a few of the useful bits of the book, though, and am putting them into practice. I’ve made an inspiration board with pictures and targets and well, inspiration, which is on the wall above the computer. I haven’t started carrying index cards with my goals written on them, mainly because I only leave the house two or three times a week, and spend almost all my waking hours sat in this very chair, so it hardly seems necessary. And, truth be told, I think that sort of behaviour is, well, a bit odd.

I’ve also recently listened to this talk about contentment by Graham Tomlin, which tied in with the book in an interesting way. I think the main point he makes is that contentment is relative: the more stuff you have, the more you want and the less fulfilling each new acquisition becomes. There was also some talk about the Trinity in there as well, but I’m afraid that part washed over me a bit, even on the second listen, because I was mulitasking and paying the car tax or something dull like that. Well worth a listen though.

So. How am I doing with my goals? Well, I’ve lost 10 lbs so far. I have an outline for my book, though that’s about as far as it’s got, because work that earns me actual money keeps getting in the way, and I’m not about to start turning that down. I’d originally set a target of next Easter to get it published, but fear that was hopelessly optimistic. Paying off the mortgage is going well, and we’re overpaying each month, so when the next statement arrives (in February) it should be good news.