Simple? What Does That Even Mean?!

I keep coming back to the basic question of simplicity: What does it actually mean to seek simplicity, and to have a lifestyle of which simplicity is a hallmark or a major component? Different people have different ideas regarding what it means to be simple. A few major themes I've noted in reading and researching on this topic:

• Frugal. Many people equate simplicity with living in such a way as to keep from spending much money. This is not a bad goal, to be sure, but reducing a lifestyle principle to pinching pennies seems rather extreme.
• "Green". This touches a nerve for me, because of all the many things that really irritate me (and believe me, there are a lot--just ask my family), one thing that truly galls me is a catchphrase-driven bandwagon. While I support sustainability, eco-friendly practices and products, and the whole shebang, I really dislike the fact that suddenly in the past few years, everybody has been trying way too hard to fit into this mold, and it shows, because terms like "green" and "eco-"anything are so overused that they are meaningless. Again, this concept constitutes a more-than-worthy goal, but the useful forest has gotten lost in the propaganda trees (which we should all hug now, right?).
• Back to Nature. Grow your own food, store it, be as self-sufficient as possible. [In fact, "Self-Sufficiency" is probably a better label than "Back to Nature". Oh well.] There is a lot to like about this sort of idea. It is similar to being "green", yet somehow less trendy and yuppie. However, this lifestyle is not practical or even possible for many of us.
• Food-Focused. Many people are re-examining what is in our food, how it is produced, and how it gets from its place of production to our tables. This has led to a largely grassroots movement to turn ever more toward local produce and goods, preferably responsibly grown, and, if we're lucky, even organic! Yet again, great idea here, and this one in particular lends itself to being practiced in moderation. However, I might just get a craving for a guava, and then what am I going to do?!
• Reduction. This is good for nearly all of us: Getting rid of not only excess possessions, but also excess complications in life. Simplifying routines, processes, habits, AND our stuff. Really, I just love the idea of tossing out both physical AND emotional baggage.
• Mixed Bag. Maybe the true key to living a realistically simple life, without creating excess stress by attempting to conform to more extreme views on simplicity itself (ironic, no?), is to take elements from differing ideas on simplicity and adapt them as best suits one's own life and style. Buffet-style. Smorgasbord. Mix-and-match. Pick your analogy.

Thoughts? Comment, please! And also, please remember that this was written quickly, late at night, in a stream-of-consciousness fashion! These thoughts are by no means finished. A follow-up post may very well follow.

La Dolce Vita

I started this simplicity web magazine several months ago, and haven't done very much with it. I have invited some people to contribute, and I hope that we will all do so soon, and on a somewhat regular basis. When I began toying with the idea of "Simple Pleasures", I kind of thought that I could learn about simplicity, and use this as a forum to encourage others to find simplicity and make it a goal in their own lives.

That was a fail.

I realized that I still struggle with getting anything about my life to be simple, and I haven't been able to just learn it, as though I could achieve it by memorizing a list of facts or principles. Instead, I'm going to have to begin by trying to figure out how to even "do" anything that could be termed "simple", and I can document my own struggles here.

There is joy in the journey, after all.

Sleep, Baby, Sleep

I spent far too long tonight attempting to get my little one to go to sleep and stay asleep. Fortunately, his grandpa was there to work his magic and get him to dreamland, so it all ended well. But while I was carrying the boy, swaying back and forth while holding him so that he could stare at the mesmerizing ceiling fan, I thought about how precious these moments really are. Most of the time, I'm so tired that I am impatient, in a hurry to get them over with, and I fail to appreciate what it really means to hold a precious life in my arms. I might as well cherish these times, since I am apparently destined to never forget them: Thirty-one years after the fact, my mother still makes a point of reminiscing about my own refusal to sleep as a baby.

Holding a baby, nuzzling the oh-so-soft neck, hearing the laughs that are like enchanted fairy bugles... these are the sweetest of life's simple pleasures.

The Simple Life

It is a challenge to aspire to simplicity when living in one of the least simple places in the world: Southern California. [Need I convince you? One word: freeways.] I think it is worth the effort to take on that challenge, however. My parents are rather good at modeling simplicity. I'd like to learn. I am attempting to be a real person, a person who embraces simplicity not as a fad or tool for self-improvement, but rather as a foundational principle of that most elusive of thing, the good life.

Socrates would assert, no doubt, that the good life is one of earnest contemplation and self-examination. Aristotle would advocate order, moderation, and a sort of benificent pragmatism. For Confucius, it might be the pursuit of perfection of virtue. Me? I'm lucky to make it through a day without any major screw-ups. I haven't realized the good life yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I get there.