Diamond-Cut Life

Later this week I plan to post on election results and also on how to save 40-50% on your electricity bill like my household does.

But this morning is that one single morning of the year in which daylight savings time yields us an extra hour — which we can fill as we choose. Given that ‘time poverty’ is considered such a problem these days, what are some cool ways to use the precious extra hour? Since the Diamond-Cut Life is about raising our quality of life while chiseling down our consumption, I especially advocate time-uses that feel good to us afterward, not just in the moment.

Here are my ideas on how to use the extra hour we gain from falling back, and feel free to add your own.

• Cook a healthy, delicious meal instead of using frozen food or going out. Sip a glass of local wine or microbrew while cooking, lounge gracefully against the counter, and act like you really know what you’re doing. See Cooking For Climate Change.
• Go through your closet and drawers and fill one large bag with clothes and shoes you find irritating, i.e. that don’t accentuate your real and true beauty. Give them to Salvation Army or a locally owned thrift shop. See Unclothing The Horse. Pretend you’re a horse, since horses are so beautiful and require few clothes.
• If you do that and fill two bags and you have a few girlfriends, then plan a Naked Lady Party. (No guys allowed. Make them fill their own bags and organize their own party.)
• Have a car-free day and use your extra hour to travel wherever you need to via walking, biking and public transit. See The Very Best Diet.
• Entertain that creative idea for self-employment that’s been incubating in your brain for weeks (or decades). Write a juicy, one-page vision of the cool service or product you’d like to offer the world, and what your life would be like. Then glance at Top Ten Tips For Entrepreneurs.
• Go to church for once. Step around your puddle of skepticism and smarty-pants thinking; church is good for you. See I Love Church.
• Get sultry and steamy with your beloved. Especially right after you come home from church (which is my plan for today). Step out of that everlasting ‘let’s get these things done’ mentality (am I the only one prone to that?)  and into lover’s space, instead. See Diamond-Cut Marriage.
• If you don’t currently have a beloved, this is definitely the day to ask someone out. He or she will be so relaxed and expansive from having an extra hour to themselves today, your chances of a ‘yes’ will be significantly higher than usual. Pick up the phone right now (email sucks for romance). What, you’re still sitting here reading this?

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