Less Is More

No doubt you have heard the expression that “less is more.” It’s a good line to use on kids and ask them why that might be true, but I would say that most people today would disagree. “More is more” is probably closer to the thinking of 2010.

Less is more is the proposal that we need to live more simply. It might be that having less material or outer wealth is the way towards increased inner wealth. Simplicity. Less stuff, less work, less stress, less debt as a way to more time, more satisfaction, more balance, and more security.

I thought about that aphorism because I came across a book called  Less is More by Cecile Andrews and Wanda Urbanska.  It is an essay collection from a number of writers that embrace the simple living movement. Oh yes, it is a movement. It’s not just something you decided to do one weekend or as your New Year’s resolution.

Simple living (also referred to as voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle characterized by consuming only that which is required to sustain life. Adherents may choose simple living for a variety of personal reasons – spirituality, health, increase in time for family and friends, reducing their personal ecological footprint, stress reduction, personal taste, frugality or socio-political goals such as conservation, degrowth, social justice, ethnic diversity and sustainable development.

Not all people who embrace simple living have such lofty goals.  Less is More is sub-titled Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness and it offers a balance of essays from the saving-the-planet approach to the simplify-your-own-life-for-yourself idea.

You don’t necessarily have to sell your home and buy a farm, become poor, live in a cabin with no electricity or travel the roads with just the clothing on your back.  You might just feel like you have come down with some affluenza.

affluenza -1.  a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more. (de Graaf) 2. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by the pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. (PBS)

Downshifting might be the gentler way for you to start a less is more approach to your life. In downshifting, individuals live simpler lives and try to find a better balance between leisure and work. It’s different from voluntary simplicity because of its focus on moderate change and concentration on an individual comfort level.

Tracey Smith is the founder of International Downshifting Week downshiftingweek.com which is the official website for their ongoing awareness campaign.

Maybe you simplify just one part of your life. A good friend of mine who was also a teaching colleague has gone through a long, painful divorce. He continued to teach and he tried to simplify that. He continued to meditate. In fact, I think that took on a new intensity. But, most interestingly to me, he started working on an organic farm.

He didn’t have any real experience other than the backyard gardening. An observer might say that this new commitment was making his life less simple by adding responsibilities and time away from his children. But that’s not the way it has gone. The farm has become his sanctuary. Meditation and work have a very natural connection.

He’s not alone. The World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (AKA Willing Workers on Organic Farms) (WWOOF) is a loose network of organizations in the United States and internationally which facilitate the placement of volunteers on organic farms.

I have had a printed sign over my home desk that says “Simplify your life” for eight years, but I still haven’t totally succeeded.

My approach has been the same as when I thought twenty years ago that I might attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. I did the research. I joined a hiking club and went out every weekend and started building up my endurance. But I had two young children at home. I had my job (though teaching, I did have my summers off).  It was unrealistic. So, I went on a simpler path (no pun intended). I divided the AT into sections. (see my post tomorrow for a bit more on that)

I probably will never hike every section of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. That’s okay.

I love to take photographs. I love to paint and draw. I will never master either art. Sometimes the best thing I can do is to take something I see or photographed and simplify it to a drawing or painting.

Oversimplification is not a good thing, but taking parts of this complex life we live and making them comprehensible, tolerable, even enjoyable, is a good thing.