Title: The Quest of Simple Living
By: SH Sim
Who
Need Simple Living?
If you are not happy with your present
situations, or even if you are happy, but you are just curious about what this
“simple living” is about, and what it has to offer to make your life more
meaningful and fulfilling, then please read on.
Maybe you are the young ones who are just
starting to venture into working life, or the newly wed who are planning to
have children, or your family have to work harder just to keep up with life’s
challenges. I guess simple living can be for anyone who wishes to find a better
way to spend the rest of his/her lives. Age is not the matter, how you want to live is.
It’s for you when you find that things
are not working out as you have envisioned. You have worked very hard, made
lots of money, but you are not happy still. Or worse, you feel trapped in your
present situations, with debts as high as mountain. If you continue to do what you have been doing until now, don’t expect
to have a different result. To have a new outcome, something has to change,
and more often than not, you will be the one. Do things differently, start a
new venture, learn new skills, think anew, or live life a better way.
Wanting for a simpler life is not
something new. From the Puritans who reinforced the notion of limited
consumption and limited possession, the Quakers’ admonishment of one another to
work a fair day but not an excessively long day, and maintained simple homes,
simple churches and simple lives, to writers and philosophers Ralph Waldo
Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, the desire for simple living has been around
for hundreds of years. Many of us live a life similar to these; we just did not
know what it was called. We may also know of friends, relatives and neighbours
who live a simple and happy life.
The Meaning Of Simple Living
According to Dr. Jerome Segal of the
Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland in
College Park, “advocates of simple living have challenged consumerism and
materialism… although simple living, or plain living… has meant different
things to different groups.”
Let me share with you what others have to say
and what I understand about Simple Living. Jeff Davidson in The
Joy Of Simple Living says that the term simplicity could mean “more
time, less stress, more leisure, fewer bills to pay, less clutter, less to
clean and maintain, greater peace of mind, and spirituality.” Your quest for
simplicity may encompass one or all of these notions.
To Georgene Lockwood, author of The
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Simple Living, “ at the core of the simple
living movement is a desire to have more choices about the things that matter…
Choices about where and how we live, what kind of work we do, how we spend our
time, and who we spend it with are…” It’s about making conscious daily choices.
Linda Breen Pierce, in Choosing Simplicity,
defines simple living as “lifelong processes in which we turn loose of the
quest for more wealth, status, and power in favour of an authentic life of inner
peace and fulfillment.” Duane Elgin in Voluntary Simplicity says,
“At the heart of the simple life is an
emphasis on harmonious and purposeful living”. Richard Gregg, a student of Gandhi’s teaching,
wrote about a life of voluntary simplicity as a life involves both inner and
outer condition. It means singleness of purpose, sincerity and honest within,
as well as avoidance of exterior clutter, of many possessions irrelevant to the
chief purpose of life. It means an ordering and guiding of our energy and our
desires, a partial restraint in some directions in order to secure greater
abundance of life in other directions. It involves a deliberate organization of
life for a purpose… as different people have different purposes in life, what
is relevant to the purpose of one people might not be relevant to the purpose
of another… The degree of simplification is a matter for each individual to
settle for himself.”
It can’t
be better said than this.
Different
Interpretations of Simple Living
Here are some of the common issues for
your consideration:
Deprivation? Not necessarily
Does living a simple life mean rejecting
material comfort? My home is equipped with almost all the modern comfort
available. I don’t want (not that I can’t) to imagine
living otherwise because I enjoy watching movies at home, listening to all
types of music and songs, and I use computer to surf the internet, send email,
write articles, manage my investment portfolios and plan my life goals. These
modern gadgets simplify my tasks and enhance the quality of my life.
However, there are people who would
contend to forego all the technology advancements to live a simple live.
Television is a distraction from doing other things that are more meaningful in
their lives. A radio creates noise pollution and thus will disturb their
peaceful minds. Using typewriter is more preferable than laptop computer. They
would sell their cars and ride a bicycle because it will be good for
health.
Back To The Village? No…
People who prefer to live near to nature
would want to move to rural areas to simplify their lives. They would plant
their own food, rear their own chickens, chop woods for fire or live in
isolation. This kind of simple lifestyle will complicate my life! I found that
it is perfectly achievable to live a simple life in big city too. But the facts
remain that in the city, there will be more temptations to draw us back to the
track of more wealth, fame and/or power. The power of mass media, the ugly
heads of peer pressures are more intense in the city. People tend to compare
more, trying to "keep up with Jones". Our success in simplifying life
will depend on our determination to
succeed.
For Lazy People? Hardly
Some people think that simple living is
easy living. It’s for people who have no ambition, lazy and complacent. But the
fact is it is far from being easy, especially not from the beginning. When we
begin a new journey to simplify our lives, there will be hard work. We have to
look deep inside ourselves, to search for what we really want in life. Then we
have to draw up plans to simplify the different areas of our lives, adjust and
learn more ways to make our lives simpler and happier. The journeys are often
rocky; full of temptations that can derail us. But if we have the courage, discipline, perseverance and a
far-sighted vision to carry us through, life will be easy then.
Being Cheap? Say Who?
Simple living is not living “cheap”, but
more of living “purposefully”, or “consciously”. It will generally involve a
more frugal spending habit though. Always buy things that we “need” and look
for cheaper alternatives if they serve the same purpose. Money is like our
“life energy”; we should not waste them. When buying clothes, we look more for
comfort than to pay for “brand premium”. We eat-in most of the times, though we
give ourselves a treat occasionally in restaurants. We live in a double storey
house because we spend most of our time at home, at least for now. And we ride
in a nice car. However, these luxuries do
not strain our lives, financially or
emotionally.
However, I have friends who would like to move to a smaller place, with
less furniture and fittings. It will be easier for them to take care and
maintain, especially if both of them are working. And it will lessen their
financial burdens too. Some of the working mothers have resigned from their
jobs to become homemakers. Taking care of their children and families become
first priority. It has simplified their lives in many ways.
Anybody Can Do It?
Yes, but people have to adjust themselves psychologically and emotionally when scaling down. My believe is
that as long as people are not living below the poverty line, they should be
able to simplify their lives, if they
want to. More often than not, people who are living a “complicated” life
may have done it unknowingly, misguided by many unethical advertisements or
simply by mistakes. Sometimes, a wake up call like this is all they need to
start the process of undoing their misery, leading to a simpler and happier
life.
What
Simple Living Means To Me
Each
one of us is unique. We grew up in different
background and environment. We have different sets of thoughts and values in
life. But most probably, we have one thing in common i.e. to live a happy and
meaningful life. Through reading and searching for a better way, I have found
living a simple life appealing.
I have learned that to be truly happy, I must know what I want in life. Then I must
have plans to achieve my life goals. But when my life was complicated by many
demands that needed my undivided attention, my chances in winning the game of
life would be slim. Thus I decided to simplify my life so that I can attend to
what I really need to be happy. That’s the very essence for me to live a simple
life – to focus on achieving inner peace and fulfillment,
by loosening my desire to acquire unending wealth, fame or power.
Living a simple life has taught me to be
more grateful for what I have, instead of craving for what I lack. It’s about
having “enough”; feeling contentment. It allows me to feel that I have enough
food and clothing, enough time and money to enjoy a life that is full of love,
joy and happiness. Don’t get me wrong, I still pursue goals, but my pursuits
won’t run or ruin my life. I can gravitate toward what I want, while enjoying
what I already have at the same time. I
began to see that I already have all I need to be happy.
What’s Next?
Whatever your notion or definition of
simple living is, there will be two steps that you need to take. First, you
must invest the time and energy to discover what makes your heart sings, and
what brings you happiness. In other words, what matters most to you. Then, you
must proceed with a plan to create the life that reflects the unique human you
truly are. One of the ways to help you find out who you really are and what you
truly want, is by learning about others who are in the process of doing the
same, who generously share their stories in magazines, books and web-sites.
Reflects on their stories. Then make your own decision.
There is no rigid rules or approaches to
a simpler life path. It is a “relative” concept, and your way to simplify your
lives will be as varied as we are as human. Read books to learn more, think
logically and sensibly, and use a “trial and error” approach as you go along.
The most important thing to remember is that your choices in living more simply must fit your own unique situations
and aspirations.