Over a year ago, we reflected for several weeks on a lovely treatise, Simple Living, by Sister Jose Hobday. Since my life this week is far from simple, I want to share verbatim from the initial chapter of this book, in lieu of forcing the effort to write something original of my own.
Simple living is not about elegant frugality. It is not really about deprivation of whatever is useful and helpful for our life. It is not about harsh rules and stringent regulations. To live simply, one has to consider all of these and they may be included to some degree, but simple living is about freedom. It’s about a freedom to choose space rather than clutter, to choose open and generous living rather than a secure and sheltered way.
Freedom is about choices: Freedom to choose less rather than more. It’s about choosing time for people and ideas and self-growth rather than for maintenance and guarding and possessing and cleaning. Simple living is about moving through life rather lightly, delighting in the plain and the subtle. It is about poetry and dance, song and art, music and grace. It is about embracing life with wide-open arms. It’s about living and giving with no strings attached.
Simple living has fewer knots and more bows than scattered and cluttered living. More standing on tiptoe, more quiet waiting. More openness to the next moment. Or the next day. Or the next year. The options are more obvious if one is living simply. So are the choices.
Simple living is as close as the land on which we stand. It is as far-reaching as the universe that makes us gasp. Simple living is a relaxed grasp on money, things, and even friends. Simplicity cherishes ideas and relationships. They are treasured more because simplicity doesn’t cling nor try to possess things or people. Simplicity frees us within, but it frees others, too. People don’t have to compliment our clothing or admire our collections. They aren’t distracted from what’s real. Simple living is a statement of presence. The real me. This simplicity makes us welcome among the wealthy and the poor alike. The poor are not offended by our dress and the rich are not threatened. This applies to clothing, housing, and transportation. To live simply we have to live in such a way that simple people feel welcome in our home. When they come to visit, they don’t have to worry that they might soil good furniture or break expensive glassware or leave fingerprints on something precious.
These thoughts resonate deeply with me. Do they resonate with you?
Until the next time, go well
Pam
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