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Recipe for Simplicity
© 2000 by Linda
Breen Pierce
"Simplify, Simplify..."
More than a century after Henry David Thoreau uttered these words, his
plea for simplicity has more significance now than ever before. We
work hard and play hard, filling nearly every moment with activity.
Most families believe they need two incomes to pay for a standard of
living that has doubled in the last 50 year. But do we?
Based on my three-year study of over 200 people who have simplified
their lives, I found that we can work less, want less, and spend less,
and be happier and more fulfilled in the process. Here are ten
suggestions to simplify your life. Don't try to simplify your life
in a few weeks or months; most people need and initial period of three
to five years to complete this transition. Small, gradual steps
are best.
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Don't let any material thing come
into your home unless you absolutely love it and want to keep it
until it is beyond repair. Too much stuff -- it's
suffocating us. Purchasing, maintaining, insuring, storing and
eventually disposing of our stuff sucks up our precious life energy.
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Live in a home with only those
rooms that you or someone in your family use every day.
Create a cozy home environment that fits your family. You will
find this is much more satisfying than living in a museum designed
to impress your friends. Spending time and money to maintain a
home that is larger than you truly need diverts these resources from
more fulfilling endeavors.
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Limit your work (outside of the
home) to 30 hours a week, 20 if you are a parent. To live
a balanced life, we need "down" time -- time to daydream,
to relax, to prepare a leisurely meal, to take a walk. If we
surround our structured activities with empty spaces, those
activities will become more productive and meaningful.
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Select a home and place of
employment no more than 30 minutes away from each other.
Commuting time is dead time. It nourishes not the body, the
mind, nor the soul. Preserve your energy and money for more
rewarding life experiences.
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Limit your children's
extracurricular activities to one to three a week, depending on age.
Otherwise, you will exhaust yourself and your children will grow up
addicted to constant stimulation. [My
note: One activity a week is *more* than enough for each
child! Do activities *together* as a family.]
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Take three to four months off
every few years and go live in a foreign country. Living
in a different culture fascinates, excites, and vitalizes us.
It teaches us to live in the present, a core practice of simple
living. We gain perspective when we experience a foreign
culture. We learn how much we have to be grateful for.
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Spend at least an hour a week in a
natural setting, away from crowds of people, traffic, and buildings.
Three to four hours of nature time each week is even better.
There is nothing more basic, more simple, than the natural world.
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Do whatever you need to do to
connect with a sense of spirit in your live, whether it be prayer,
religious services, journal writing, meditation, or
spiritually-related reading. Simplicity leads to
spirituality; spirituality leads to simplicity. Cultivate a
practice of silence and solitude, even for 15 to 30 minutes a day.
Your spirituality will evolve naturally.
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Seek the support of others who
want to simplify their lives. Join or start a simplicity
circle if you enjoy group interaction. Living simply in
our culture can be a lonely journey. Your friends and family
may still be on the work-n-spend treadmill and are unlikely to give
you support. Participating in a study group will give you
support and validation for your choices.
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Practice saying no. Say
no to those things that don't bring you inner peace and fulfillment,
whether it be more material things, greater career responsibility,
or added social activities. Be vigilant with your time and
energy; they are limited resources. If you say yes to one
thing (like a job promotion), recognize that you are saying not to
something else (perhaps more time with family). Live
consciously and deliberately.
Linda
Breen Pierce is the founder of The Pierce Simplicity Study and the
author of Choosing
Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex
World and Simplicity
Lessons: A 12-Step Guide to Living Simply.
She can be reached via her
website.
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