how do you spend your money?

Here's how the average American family spends their annual cash:

(Source: Visual Economics)

And we Torontonians:

2008 AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE

Concept	Amount ($)
Personal taxes	19,365
Shelter	18,901
Transportation	10,229
Food	8,132
Personal insurance payments and pension contributions	4,254
Recreation	4,141
Household operation	3,892
Health care	2,115
Education	2,009
Tobacco products and alcoholic beverages	1,537
Source: StatCan 2009

How do you compare? Me? Not so much. I like to spend ridiculous amounts on fancy rice milk lattes and various vitamins, it seems.

After staring at these charts repeatedly for hours, I only now realize what's missing (and also missing from my monthly spending): charity!

What would the world look like if we diverted just 5% of what we make to the charity of our choice?

mxo

the origins of stuff...

We like stuff.

We want it in bulk, and we want it cheap.

We let it define us, and make us feel bad if we don't have enough.

We like stuff... a lot.

I have spent the past month assessing just how much I like stuff and how much I'm willing to spend on it. I've contemplated what it does to the environment, how it affects what I think about myself, and where it's all going to go when I'm done with it. I haven't, until just recently, thought about where it all comes from.

This past week I started reading a great book: Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie Chang (thanks Vince!)

The book describes what our gluttonous demand for stuff has done to Chinese society. Our want for lots of stuff at bargain prices has helped create an immense population of migrant workers (some 130 million) who flee their peasant roots into cities like Dongguan to work in the factories that make our stuff. The cities are dirty and chaotic; the factories corrupt and deplorable. Workers get paid measly pennies an hour and work far too many hours. This is nothing new. However, what makes Chang's book particularly effective is how deeply personal it is. The facts are delivered through the stories of young girls, some barely 16-year-olds who voluntarily leave everything they know to work in these factories, in hopes of a better life. The picture isn't entirely grim, their stories are ripe with determination and adventure... but I can't help but walk away feeling a little... well... guilty. All of this because we want more stuff?

Then there is Fast Food Nation. Leaving aside all other issues, the movie does an amazing job of depicting the stories and struggles that go into making our stuff. It's hard not to feel incredibly guilty when you watch the tales of the Mexican migrant workers who risk their lives, and various body parts, to work the "C shift" packing meat for a major fast food chain. It's shocking.

When you start to think about stuff in it's entirety - not just how much it costs you, but also what where it comes from, where it will go when you're done with it, and who was affected in the making of it - it starts to lose it's appeal... very quickly.

That's all she wrote.... thanks for stopping by!

mxo

yoga pose of the week: tree

Happy Monday, everyone!

Tomorrow marks day one of my yoga instructor course, and I literally can't wait! I'm bursting! Since I'm going to be working tomorrow, then yoga-ing until the wee hours, I thought we'd do this week's yoga pose a little early.

This week's pose is tree (or vrksasana). It looks a little something like this:

Tree works your thighs, knees, ankles, and spine. It also supposedly stretches your chest and shoulders, though I'm not sure I've ever paid attention to that aspect of the pose. As far as postures in the hatha series goes, this is a fairly "easy" one... except when it's not.

Tree and I usually get along. In most classes, it's a welcome break from the more rigorous postures and vinyasas. I just get to stand there, pin straight, and catch my breath. However, on the days I least expect it, tree can be quite a pain in the behind (not literally; it doesn't work those muscles). The main goal of tree is balance, and sometimes that just isn't happening. Sometimes you feel like a tree in a hurricane, swaying every which way until you fall right out. This is extremely frustrating, and usually comes when you stop focusing on yourself and start looking at your neighbours - a cardinal mistake in yoga!

But even despite the occasional hurricane, I love tree pose and here's why, written oh-so eloquently by the lovely Lindsay of Kiss Me, I'm Vegan:

"I love trees.

I love how tall they try to grow.

I love how strong they are.

How straight they stand.

I love how their branches reach out like fingers spreading into the world.

I love how, despite a storm, or a hurricane, or a tornado, or a bout of lightening destroying and splitting one of their branches, they still remain rooted, they still stand up straight, they still spread their branched fingers.

I love the ebb and flow of trees - how in the cold of winter, they shed their old "skin" of leaves and flowers and bare themselves so nakedly and vulnerably in the winter air for all the world to see. How their branches grow and bud into fully bloomed arms of flowers and leaves come summertime. How they allow their leaves to evolve into bright oranges, reds, browns, and yellows come autumn, opening themselves to experience another side of life, before going naked again...

I love their persistence, their unyielding strength, their expansive growth, their comforting shade.

Their peace.

Their stillness." (Read more)

That's all for today... thanks for stopping by!

mxo

29 gifts...

So, it's more than half way through the month and I just realized I completely forgot about one of the challenges!! I forgot about the most important one!! GIVING!

A few months ago, I read Cami Walker's 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life. The book is an autobiographical account of Walker's fight with MS and a "prescription" a close friend gave her when she was in her lowest life-hating, 'woe is me' slump. The concept is simple: give something away each day for 29 days. The gifts don't have to be grand or even material. They can be as simple as offering a smile or kind word to a stranger, but they have to be sincere.

I embarked on my own 29-day gifting challenge back in March and, as in Walker's case, the effects were profound. The challenge allowed me to step out of myself and realize just how much I have to be grateful for; it shifted my perspective completely. For the last three weeks, I have been heavily focusing on how much I have, how much I waste, etc. It's time to start thinking about how much I can give.

So today begins my 29-day giving challenge. 29 days will put me well into November but that's a-ok with me!

Happy weekend!

mxo

1000 Times...

YogaHappenings says: "Before you purchase that next item ask yourself – “will I use this 1000 times?”"

Maya says: Innnnnnnnnnnnnteresting...

my own waves...

There's an epidemic sweeping my generation, an epidemic of flirting with… dare I say… non-conformity. It seems every one I talk to recently is struggling with (or resolving) the same issues I am facing. We 20-something-year-olds are not quite sure if the societal shoe, when it comes to work, actually fits and if we want to wear it. 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, almost every week of every year for 40 more years… really? Making my way up and up some ladder I don't particularly understand, spending more time climbing than enjoying the scenery... seriously? I'm just not sure I want to look back on my life in 70 years and think, "how much better would that have been if I didn't have to spend so much time in that cubicle?" It's not that I don't like to work, I actually thrive on it, I'm just not sure I like the arbitrarily prescribed work-life structure. The balance seems off. I always seem to be chasing time, failing to keep up, because so much of my day is swallowed up by what I'm supposed to be doing.

My soon-to-be brother-in-law is a huge inspiration on this front. He's one of those people who always make you feel like you can conquer the world if you so choose. A few years ago, as a 20-something-year-old, he decided he didn't quite like the societal shoe either... and he decided to do something about it! He now has a thriving resort in Nicaragua (El Coco Loco Resort) and runs a mighty inspiring charity project (Waves of Hope). Moving away to some exotic place isn't exactly my thing, but living a life that I designed, rather than trying to fit myself into someone else's mould, is more and more becoming my thing.

I don't really have much else to say, or any profound wisdom to impart; I'm not there yet. I'm barely coming to terms with exactly how I want to live my life… and that's a far cry from actually doing something about it.

What I do know… for now… I think… is this: you have to speak your dreams out loud if you want even a glimmer of a shot at achieving them. Stay tuned.

I leave you with a short video on El Coco Loco:

Happy Wednesday!

mxo

yoga pose of the week: dancer's pose

This week's yoga pose is: eQua towel!

Just kidding! That's just my new anti-slip yoga towel. After a few near-disasters in some very sweaty classes, I deemed this a necessity and purchased it today with absolutely zero guilt.... and I absolutely love it! :)

Okay, let's get serious...

This week's yoga pose is my favourite of favourites: dancer's pose or natarajasana

(perhaps also dandayaman dhanuransana). It looks a little something like this:

(Thanks Perusals & Peregrinations)

Dancer's pose is a bow pose which involves standing on one leg, kicking the other one out and up (ideally above your head), and letting the pose open you up. The anatomical focus is pretty much everywhere: on the knees, thighs, shoulders, chest, back, lungs... you name it, it's working in this pose. Dancer's pose is an anatomical butt kick.

But that's not the only reason why dancer's pose is my favourite. I love this pose because, on the days when your body decides to keep you balanced and still, it's looks so graceful and it makes you feel like you can take off and fly. I also love the metaphor, described best by Chopra in Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga,

"To hit the target you are aiming at, you must first pull back to a still point that is full with potential... The technology for the success in life is first to pull back to a still, quiet inner place from which you can become clear about your goal, and then act with the full power of your intention. In yoga, the bow poses remind you to dive deep within yourself to find your quiet, unbounded state of awareness. When you act from this expanded domain of consciousness, your intentions will be powerful and success will be more likely"

This is precisely what yoga is about for me - a chance to quietly pull back, regroup and reassess, and then seize my full potential... although, on somedays I just tip out of the pose, land awkwardly on the floor, and have a good laugh. That's pretty powerful too. :)

Namaste,

mxo