Notes from 11/14/98 Chicago Simplicity Meeting
Linda, Joel, Phyllis, Mary, Jill, Carole, Stephanie, JR and Mike, welcomed Kay, Dave, Dina, Jim, Diane, Linda, MaryAnn, Jackie and Don to their first meeting.
The meeting began with a brief round of introductions. Interest in attending included attaining financial freedom (i.e., Joel from the 9/27/98 Chicago Tribune Jobs Section article), to getting together with others who share same/similar philosophy and philosophical values/views of Simplicity.
Mike reviewed the Simplicity Group's meeting style -- a very open and informal discussion, with topics evolving at the meeting from those in attendance. Mike, Joel and JR assist in coordinating the meetings -- Mike as email contact/web site keeping and meeting note distribution, Joel as telephone contact and meeting facilitation, and JR with meeting facilitation and facilitation of the "Your Money Or Your Life Study Group #4". Mary volunteered to coordinate a Simplicity Group Roster, and passed around information sheets. Mary noted that supplying any information was completely voluntary -- the Roster being just a way for all of us to stay connected (thanks Mary!).
Other business included:
11/19/98, 8:30 PM, showing of "Escape From Affluenza", Channel 20 (PBS-Gary, IN)
Discussion then evolved around Joel's recent achievement of financial independence (FI). Joel reiterated following the nine steps in the book, Your Money Or Your Life, and his experiences in life since attaining this freedom in April. Also included were discussions on inflation and 401k use at FI.
The Group then took a fifteen minute break, which allowed everyone to get better acquainted.
Upon reconvening, Mike noted to the Group that they had just briefly experienced a meeting style called "Open Space". Open Space was brought to the Group by Michael Herman, and serves well to generate creativity through open expression of ideas and thoughts, by literally creating enough open space for everyone's expression. Given the previous discussion on financial independence, Mike asked the Group for other topics of interest, and listed them on a white board:
Explaining Open Space, Mike suggested the Group could form 2 or 3 subgroups to discuss the above topics. The Group concluded the topics were all related to money (i.e., one big topic called money, with six focal points of discussion). The Group also wanted to "stay together" as a group, and decided to take one point at a time. Beginning with early retirement/living off of interest income, the Group began their open space discussion.
Many great comments, observations, insights, and ideas were generated by the Group over the next two hours. Joel discussed his experiences with interest income, Mike explained Your Money Or Your Life's (YMOYL) graph of income, expenses, and interest income, while Don brought 'choices' to the discussion -- "...it's not about making $100,000, it's about your expenses. If you make $100,000 and spend it all, you're still poor."
Other comments included:
We concluded the lively and informative discussion at 11:55.
Our next meeting is Saturday, December 12, 1998, 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon.
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And a recent email quote from "Mark"...
Paramahansa Yogananda's book ,"Man's Eternal Quest," he explains that man is engaged in an eternal quest for that 'something else' he hopes will make him happy, complete and unending. For those who have sought and found God, the search is over: He is that something else.
Be simple as you can be and you will be astonished how wonderful life can be.-Paramahansa Yogananda.
