Anyone Else Struggling with Defining "Enough?"

Wanted to post this yesterday but it was one of those days!

While on retreat last weekend I embraced simplicity in every part of life. My schedule looked like this:

Wake up and watch the sun come up.
Do some yoga in my room.
Coffee.
Look out the open window. Listen to a neighboring farmer's rooster crow and cows moo.
Breakfast.
Meet with spiritual director.
Reading, praying, or walking until lunch.
Lunch.
Reading, praying or walking until dinner.
Dinner.
Reading, praying and thinking until I was sleepy.
Bed.

No calendars. No to-do-lists. 

I took very few things. I needed very few things.

I thought back to the two week cruise we took last year. One suitcase. And that was for a variety of activities from formal dinners to walking miles in large cities and hanging out by the pool. If I can live with so little for half a month, do I really need all this stuff the rest of the time? 

Longtime readers of this blog will recognize this recurring theme, but for all my purging it still feels like too much.

Wednesday, a friend lent me a book she's read twice and loved, Almost Amish.

Later, I ran across a challenge from a blog I follow written by two guys who call themselves The Minimalists. 

So starting today I'm taking up this challenge for May: giving away every day of the month the same number of things as the day that it is. So today I'll get rid of 1 thing, on the fifteenth 15 things, until I get to the 31st. It's actually meant to be a game you do with a friend to see who has to quit first. I mean otherwise at the end of the month you are going to find 31 (!) things to give away.

I'll be keeping you posted from time to time throughout the month on how the game is going. Play along and share what you've gotten rid of and how you feel about it!