Simplicity doesn't mean rural living
Adopting a simple life doesn't require moving into rural areas. In fact, the majority of persons choosing a life of conscious simplicity live in cities and suburbs.
It is much more accurate to describe this as a "make the most of wherever you are" movement, adapting ourselves creatively to a rapidly changing world in the context of big cities and suburbs.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
Poverty is involuntary and debilitating, whereas simplicity is voluntary and enabling.
It is very misleading to equate simplicity with poverty, even if some spiritual traditions have advocated a life of extreme renunciation. A life of conscious simplicity can have both a beauty and a functional integrity that elevates the human spirit.
The simple life is sometimes viewed as an approach to living that advocates a barren plainness and denies the value of beauty and aesthetics. But rather than a denial of beauty, simplicity liberates the aesthetic sense by freeing things from artificial burdens.
RELATED IDEAS
- Millennials are showing interest in simple living, in pre-consumerist and pre-industrial ways.
- It seems like a moral way to live and it makes you into a better person.
- The struggle of living simple and frugal builds up new skill-sets, a certain independence and better health of the mind and body, by being close to nature.
... you can use on any area of your life, and in fact on your life as a whole:
- Collect everything in one place.
- Choose the essential, the things most important to you.
- Eliminate the rest. Don't get sentimental.
- Organize the remaining stuff neatly and nicely.
Stop reacting to life and start responding to it.
If you want to really change, you need to start reframing your mindset. You’re not in control of everything that happens to you, but you are in control of how you respond to what happens to you.