I’ve taken the time, now and then, to reflect on what I’ve written on this blog, and what sorts of patterns or themes I can see emerging. I thought it might be time to do that again, only this time, I’ve decided to reflect on which posts have seemed more meaningful to you.
Of course, I don’t really have a measure of “meaningfulness.” All I have is a measure of which pages have received the most views. So here is what I found:
If I ignore my “About” page as well as views that come to my Home Page/Archives, my Top Ten viewed pages are:
But that didn’t seem quite fair to the more recent posts. After all, you would expect any blog post from four months ago to have more views than something that was posted just a couple of days ago.
So, knowing just enough about statistics to get myself in trouble, I calculated the average number of views per day, then for each post I calculated the cumulative sum of what I would expect to see for page views if those views were evenly distributed across the total number of posts available on any given day.
Living simply, right?
Anyhow, here is the revised Top Ten List:
Actually, #9 and #10 were tied, along with Day 105: Chip. But hey, it’s not as though I need a 99% confidence interval on these numbers….
I find it interesting that no matter how I count page views, one of my simplest posts has consistently been the most popular. I mean, what could be more simple than trying to build a daily practice of sitting quietly and being mindful in the moment?
Likewise, the simple call to stop at some point in the day, again for quiet, mindful reflection, puts this whole process of living simply into perspective.
A few of the top ten are de-clutter posts, which I suppose is to be expected since I’ve written so much about this process of culling and shedding and clearing. I think I might need a little more time to reflect on why these three posts have caught your attention more than others.
And I think it’s fitting that at least one of my “discipline/practice” posts made this list as well… a reminder of just how much depends upon making a commitment to an ongoing, daily process.
The remainder all seem to touch upon appreciating the moment at hand as fully as possible–be that through acknowledging the gifts others bring to us, or through graciously accepting the gift that is every single day.
As at other times when I have taken a moment to drill down into this blogging process in greater detail, I’m not sure if I’ve really learned anything that will help me live more simply and directly. If nothing else, though, it does provide me with another lens through which to observe myself as I make my way down that path.
And thanks to you for coming along on the journey with me this far. I literally couldn’t have written today’s post without you!
365 Simplify 
I read the early posts online when you first started, then later figured out how to get WP to email them to me each day instead. I wonder how that impacts your page counts.
I don’t know–I never got past Intro to Stats!
You are a true Steward of simplicity. I hope you’ll Continue to Give us reminders to Stop what we’re doing and Sit from time to time.
It’s great to watch you Cull the essential from the extraneous and Convert unwanted stuff before it Expires. It’s also fun to watch as you Discover new places to explore.
Here’s to an Unscripted life!