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I bought a chest of drawers today on craigslist, and met a treasure of a woman. She was an extraordinary ordinary woman – a mother, a professional, and a self-confessed former shopaholic. Somehow, as we discussed her dresser, there emerged a deeper exchange about the changes in each of our lives and the world around us.

We shared our deep desire for life to slow down, mourning the hectic nature of modern life. She shared her desire to step out of the routine and into a simpler, more authentic way of being. She said that she isn’t shopping now like she used to, and that she is beginning to explore alternative health care approaches. A woman yearning for change, feeling the possibility of it just around the corner and not sure what it is she will need to do to grasp it.

Over the past year our family has made some pretty radical changes to move closer to how we want to be living. I have witnessed the same in countless friends and family members. My father is driving the SUV less, and making coffee at home. Two friends have downsized their jobs to work part-time in order to focus on family and personal growth. My brother has sold his car, is biking more and finally learning how to cook.

Change is coming

Some changes are being made out of a yearning for a simpler, slower life that honors our need for community and connection. Others are being made out of economic necessity as we realize that we cannot continue living at the level we have become accustomed to. We are only just beginning to grasp the lifestyle implications of the economic challenge our world is facing.

I don’t intend to glorify the economic crisis, nor imply that lifestyle changes alone will be enough. I do, however, celebrate this air of change I am sensing from every segment of our society. I am witnessing and celebrating a new societal level of consciousness about what we buy, how we live, and what it means to live as part of a community.

We loaded the dresser into the car and I wanted to hug her. I know she was feeling that spark of real human connection as well, and I have been savoring that unexpected beauty all afternoon. The dresser is just what we needed, but what I received from her was far greater – a brief but magical glimpse into the changes in one woman’s life within the broader context of the transformation we are all facing on some level.