David Michael Bruno

The "Magic" Economy - Put Away Your Wand

Here’s a sanity assignment. Listen to this brief story,

How to Spend $1.25 Trillion

And read this breaking economic news,

Fed Signals Stepped-up Efforts to Spur Economy

Then checkout this website,

U.S. Debt Clock

Solution? Mix martini, find leather armchair, turn off reading lamp, weep in the dark. Or, stop participating in this reckless economy. You have more to contribute to the world than debt. Even when all the world around you isn’t living responsibly, you can. Do!

Gatherers of Gatherers - 100 Thing Challenge People

A few weeks back, when Leanne and I were visiting old friends and making new ones in Nashville, a saying came up in conversation. “We are,” someone said, “gatherers of gatherers.”
That notion has been ruminating in my subconscious. This morning the idea surfaced. Over the next couple of months I’ll be making some changes to guynameddave.com and launching a new website (finally!) 100ThingChallenge.com. The changes to the first site are intended to embrace my authorial life and keep myself focused on what I value most. The creation of the second site is intended to gather.
It is clear to me as the creator of, but also an observer of the 100 Thing Challenge that 100 Thing Challenge people are “gatherers of gatherers.” People who are willing to make difficult life choices in order to make their lives better are people who other people want to be around. They are gatherers that inspire other people to be gatherers.
One of the coolest aspects of the 100 Thing Challenge is that I am totally and completely inspired by people who are doing it in their own creative way or using it as a springboard for some other awesome project. I feel “gathered” and inspired.
I don’t expect that the new 100 Thing Challenge website will be “the” place were all gatherers of gatherers gather. (I don’t expect anyone will understand that last sentence after reading it just once.) I simply hope that it’s one great place online where people can share amazing experiences and invite others into a better lifestyle. See you there in a little bit.

What will you be known for?

Sometimes the “What will you be known for?” question irks me. Like there is going to be one thing about me that everyone who shares at my funeral will say.
“Dave was the guy who loved a good joke!”
Well, of course I love a good joke. And I love telling good jokes, which, I might add, happens all the time. It’s uncanny. Even so, is humor my “What will you be known for?” attribute?
Let it be known that I’d like to be known for, not only how funny I am, but also how wise I am. I’m not interested in being the funniest person alive. I’m not capable of being the smartest. I just want to be remembered as joyful and thoughtful. And compassionate. and creative. And proactive. And restful. And all sorts of things.

Anyway, I was giving some thought to all this on my compute home from work. I was thinking about the obvious. We will never be known for anything worth being known for if we allow inconsequential things take up most of our attention.

I asked my oldest daughter, who has been riding horses for years now, “Would you rather have $10,000 or a horse?”
“Does the horse come with tack, food, and medical supplies?”
“No, you have to pay for that. You just get either ten grand or a horse.”
She said she’d take the money, save it, get a job to earn more, and prepare for a time when she could really afford to own a horse. This made me feel all sweet inside. Rightfully so. She’s a great kid!
But the nutty thing is that, if instead of buying her countless Christmas and birthday gifts and odds and ends throughout the years (most of all of which she no longer has or no longer wants) we simply tucked the money away, she’d be able to afford a horse by now.
There is, of course, value in buying gifts. I’m not advocating a lifestyle of everyday stodginess in pursuit of someday happiness. Sometimes, though, we know the things we’d like to be known for. But we get ourselves distracted by things and activities of lesser concern. It’s not worth it.
As best as I can tell, there is only one surefire means to avoid whiling away life on things and activities you don’t want to be known for: sacrifice.

3 Consumer Justifications That End In Crap

There are at least three excuses those of us with too much stuff use to justify our excess.

It would be wasteful to get rid of it. Uh, no. It was wasteful to get it in the first place. Now it’s just plain stupid to allow it to keep cluttering up your life. What’s wasteful is the mental and physical space that the stuff you don’t need and don’t even want is taking up. Stop wasting your life. Get rid of the crap.

I might need it some day. The moment this justification passes your lips you know it’s not true. Seriously. Here, try this experiment. Go into your garage, find that box you haven’t opened in a decade, dig inside of it, and pull out that graphing calculator. Now go stand in front of a mirror and, speaking out loud, convince yourself that you might need it some day. Liar, liar, pants on fire. Get rid of the crap.

It has sentimental value. Then why did you bury it in the closet? Besides, you don’t even like the uncle who gave it to you. The nostalgia you’re really missing out on are all the good times you could be having if you weren’t constantly reshuffling stuff inside your garage and closets. Get rid of the crap.

One thing is for sure. If you use these three justifications to keep loads of stuff, at the end of your days you are going to have, well, loads of stuff. Do you want the end to be filled with crap? Purge the things that are messing up your house and dominating your material and spiritual space. Then go live a joyful life that blesses others.

Materialism and Joy

Essentially, if you are not resisting materialism, you are being manipulated by stuff. The reason for this is that materialism is like a one-way conduit through which someone else controls you. Someone passes stuff and ideas about stuff through the conduit of materialism and, like it or not, you do their bidding.

Joy is a conduit, too. Many things both material and incorporeal pass through the conduit of joy. It also controls you. Although, joy operates in both directions; you and someone else can send stuff through. It’s a lasting pleasure to lose control of yourself on account of joy. It's being manipulated by love.