Breakfast by Candlelight

Sundays, for us, are power sabbath days. If you’ve never tried a power sabbath, it’s well worth it to ease the burden of everyday assaults on the senses from computers, lights, appliances for even a few hours.

Have you ever been thankful for a brief power outage, for the reminder it gave you of how pleasant a slowing-down-to-deal-with-the-basics-in-life can be? For us, it’s reminiscent of 12-hour daily load sheds in Kathmandu and simple living on expedition, a reminder that we live a privileged life. Access to power shouldn’t be taken for granted. Using less of it each week, of course, reduces our impact.

Reading by Hurricane Lamp

We have a propane stove/oven and heat our house entirely with wood, so the switching off of power isn’t a huge shock. But we live in the Seattle area and mornings can be dark, so candles light our way about the house and kitchen. We highly recommend you try even a morning or evening of power sabbath, so the whole family can check in with each other and simplifying your lives by turning off all links to wall sockets. Try it and see what sort of quiet magic happens.