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                <h1 class="p-name entry-title post-title" itemprop="headline">Bring on the Change</h1>
                
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                    <h3 class="h-adr" itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress"><span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="addressLocality">Athens</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/jrnl/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Georgia</a>, <span class="p-country-name" itemprop="addressCountry">U.S.</span></h3>
                     &ndash;&nbsp;<a href="" onclick="showMap(33.958016998057886, -83.4080862457218, { type:'point', lat:'33.958016998057886', lon:'-83.4080862457218'}); return false;" title="see a map">Map</a>
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                <time class="dt-published published dt-updated post-date" datetime="2016-01-01T02:13:13" itemprop="datePublished">January <span>1, 2016</span></time>
                <span class="hide" itemprop="author" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">by <a class="p-author h-card" href="/about"><span itemprop="name">Scott Gilbertson</span></a></span>
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            <p>I&#8217;ve been thinking about this little mantra ever since I saw it six or seven years ago. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve ever seen what I consider the secret to happiness so succinctly and completely captured. </p>
<p>I&#8217;m reprinting it here because I&#8217;ve been putting into action lately. And the author of this little guide happiness, Mark Pilgrim, removed his entire online presence back in 2011. When he originally published it in &#8216;09 or so he said he was on step 4. I assume he eventually made it to step 8.  </p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Stop buying stuff you don&#8217;t need</li>
<li>Pay off all your credit cards</li>
<li>Get rid of all the stuff that doesn&#8217;t fit in your house/apartment storage lockers, etc.</li>
<li>Get rid of all the stuff that doesn&#8217;t fit on the first floor of your house attic, garage, etc.</li>
<li>Get rid of all the stuff that doesn&#8217;t fit in one room of your house</li>
<li>Get rid of all the stuff that doesn&#8217;t fit in a suitcase</li>
<li>Get rid of all the stuff that doesn&#8217;t fit in a backpack</li>
<li>Get rid of the backpack</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>I would say I am simultaneously on steps 2 and 4, with 5 and even 6 in sight. </p>
<p>For the record, while I understand wandering monks and the like, right now I personally have no desire to go beyond step 7. Still, if I learned nothing else from Tolstoy, I did learn that you never know when you&#8217;ll end wandering.</p>
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