Copyright 2003 Linda Breen Pierce. All rights reserved.

My Wish for You

Have you ever been inspired by a book but then failed to integrate what you learned into your life? I have. For example, when I read books on writing I often experience aha moments throughout, but that doesn't mean I can turn those insights into great prose. There was, however, one notable exception in my experience. And that was The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. In her book, Cameron offers enlightened wisdom on the creative process. She describes the spiritual dimension in creating art in a way that spoke to my heart. But she did something else. She asked me, as a reader of her book, to step up to the plate and account for my own creative process. She asked me questions that were difficult and sometimes uncomfortable for me to answer. She suggested practices and tasks for me to complete. She kept asking me (dang!) how I did the previous week on my assignments.

When I finished reading (or perhaps I should say living), The Artist's Way, I owned the aha moments I felt. They were now a part of my life. For years now, I have followed the suggested practice of writing the morning pages Cameron recommends to keep your creativity flowing. They are still working their wonders.

In fact, I used those creative practices to produce my first book, Choosing Simplicity, which features the real life stories of people who have simplified their lives. Choosing Simplicity is based on my three-year study of over 200 people from 40 states and eight countries. Observing others can be an effective way to learn about something. Reading about others' challenges and successes can also give us support and motivation to continue on our own journeys.

It is my hope with this book to help you go beyond being enlightened and inspired about the benefits and challenges of living more simply. I want you to actually experience it in your life--to feel the immense joy and fulfillment that simplicity brings. Like The Artist's Way did for me, I hope to offer you a tool that will allow you to take whatever you learn from this book and make it an integral part of your life. I want to give you the means to continue on your path of simplicity for years after you read this book. In this book, I will ask you to do the work that's required to make this happen.

Simplicity touches our lives on many levels, from the deeply personal (your sense of self, your inner world) to the global issues of environmental sustainability and social justice. In this book, we will explore how simplicity can improve our lives as individuals and the lives of those in our family, our local community, our country, and our world.

Whether you work with this book alone, with a partner, or as a participant in a simplicity study group, I hope it will be a challenging and exciting adventure for you.

What Inspired this Book

Necessity is the mother of invention and occasionally of books. It certainly inspired this book. It all started in February of 2002, when I facilitated a simplicity workshop in my local community. At the end of the workshop, 20 people expressed interest in exploring simplicity in greater depth. Many were interested in a simplicity study group, a small group of people who meet for 10 to 12 sessions to discuss how they can live more simply. Others could not participate due to conflicting schedules or distant locations.

I conducted an orientation meeting for those interested in a study group. We immediately faced our first challenge: what were we going to talk about? After all, voluntary simplicity-living consciously and deliberately, focusing on what you truly need or genuinely cherish-is a huge topic, covering diverse areas such as the stuff cluttering our lives, time, money, work, and caring for the earth.

And which of the available simplicity study books and guides would be our best choice? A simplicity study guide provides the structure and suggestions for discussion for the group's sessions. Many of the existing guides focus on several of the topics we wanted to explore, but no single one covered the full scope of our interests. The group's enthusiasm was strong; we wanted to tackle it all. It was in response to this need that I decided to write this book. Our local study group served as my guinea pigs to test out the lessons included in this book.

I was also concerned about the people who could not join the group, but who still wanted to explore simplicity in depth. While a group learning environment can provide a powerful, inspirational experience and a much-needed sense of community, some people prefer the solo route. Sometimes it's their only option. Their schedules or family obligations make it impractical to participate in the group sessions, or they cannot find others (or don't want to search for them) in their community to join them. In response to this need, I've designed this book to be used either by groups or by individuals working alone.

I had yet another reason to write this book. It has been three years since my book, Choosing Simplicity, was published. Since its publication, I have given keynote speeches and workshops on simplicity in the United States and Europe. I worked with Vicki Robin, Duane Elgin, Cecile Andrews, John de Graaf, and other simplicity advocates to organize The Simplicity Forum, an innovative think-tank and activist group of leaders in the simplicity movement. Collectively, there has been substantial brainstorming, learning, and refinement of ideas taking place. In this book, I hope to draw from that learning process to provide a clear and concise roadmap for those who seek to bring simplicity into their lives.

Who Should Read this Book

I wrote this book for both the curious and the committed. Perhaps you are new to this area or have signed up for a class on the subject. Others may approach the subject from a more practical view; they are already sold on the concept and are eager to integrate simplicity principles into their lives.

This book may be used by individuals working alone, two people working together, classes in an educational setting, or by community groups who meet together to share the learning process. It is relevant for many segments of society, including college students, working people, full-time parents, single adults, and those who are retired or financially independent. While a life of simplicity may appear vastly different from one person to the next, or at different stages in one person's life, the overall principles are the same.

How to Use this Book

Simplicity touches almost every aspect of our lives--work, relationships, leisure, spirituality, health, money, material possessions, housing, transportation, community, and environmental issues, to name a few. While a commitment to live simply can be daunting, its rewards, as you'll learn in this book, are substantial.

In this book, you will be called on to define a life of simplicity unique to you and your family. You have inside yourself the intuitive knowledge of how you can best live more simply. My role is simply to help you access that knowledge. I purposely left space on each page for you to record your reactions--mark it up, make it real! Feel free to disagree with me; sarcasm and humor are welcome. Note also the points that speak to your heart.

This book breaks the subject of simplicity into manageable pieces--not exactly bite-sized, but sufficiently distinct to digest without feeling overwhelmed. Each lesson features one or two interrelated topics. You will read a general discussion of the topic, followed by lesson assignments--questions and exercises for you to review and complete. It is a good idea to read the general discussion portion first, let it percolate in your subconscious for a few days, and then apply yourself to the questions and exercises. Take notes of your responses to later share with others in your group, or if you are working by yourself, write your responses in a journal (see Individuals Working Alone below).

After you complete the group session or individual journal session, you are invited to undertake one or more lifework assignments designed to help you further integrate the lesson into your life. These tasks may require some time and effort. If you take notes on your progress periodically, it will motivate you to continue. If you are a member of a group, feel free to share your progress with the group during the Check-in procedure in subsequent lessons (see Appendix B).

You may also want to do further study on your own by referring to the Recommended Resources at the end of each lesson. Throughout the book, I refer to web sites and resources to be found on the Internet. If you don't have a computer with Internet access, you are likely to find one in a public library or Internet café.

Finally, there is an Annual Check-up for each lesson, consisting of questions to contemplate and actions to take for the following year. After you complete each lesson, make a note in your calendar for one year later to review the Annual Check-up section.

The following sections describe various ways to use this book--as a member of a study group or circle, working with one other person, or working alone.

The Study Circle

According to the Study Circles Resource Center, "a study circle is a group of 8 to 12 people from different backgrounds and viewpoints who meet several times to talk about an issue. In a study circle, everyone has an equal voice, and people try to understand each other's views. They do not have to agree with each other. The idea is to share concerns and look for ways to make things better. A facilitator helps the group focus on different views and makes sure the discussion goes well."

The concept of study circles is not new. They were used by the Chautauqua movement in the late 19th century. Subsequently, Sweden adopted study circles as a popular form of life-long education. Currently in the United States there are study circles focusing on a wide range of topics including simplicity, race, education, neighborhoods, criminal justice, growth, and youth violence.

Cecile Andrews, author of Circle of Simplicity, is known for introducing the study circle form of learning to the field of simplicity. Today, there are hundreds if not thousands of simplicity study circles throughout North America. The terms simplicity discussion group and simplicity study group are used interchangeably to describe the simplicity study circle.

The benefits of participating in a simplicity study group are many. First, it offers participants a supportive environment to explore a way of life that is not always valued by mainstream culture. Second, learning potential is multiplied by group interaction, especially in the area of problem solving. For example, if you are striving to cut back your work hours to spend more time on other important priorities, eight heads working together are often better than struggling on your own. Finally, in our community-deprived culture, a simplicity study group provides a peer group, a tribe of sorts with which we can identify.

Finding or starting a simplicity study group is not difficult. Even in the smallest communities, there are generally 8 to 12 people who would be interested in participating. The Appendixes A through D provide all the information you need to start a group.

Working with a Partner

Perhaps you don't want to participate in a group, but you have a friend who is interested in learning more about simplicity. Working with even one other person has benefits. Just establishing a time and place for regular meetings will encourage you to do the work in this guide. When you listen to each other's responses to the questions and exercises, you act as a witness for the other, offering validation just by listening. Working together, you create an environment of support, encouragement, and fruitful brainstorming. You and your partner can follow the same procedures outlined for group sessions (see Appendixes A and B).

Individuals Working Alone

You don't need to be a member of a group to benefit from this study guide. Working alone, you can do the suggested exercises at the end of each lesson. Then, instead of sharing your thoughts in a group, you will record your responses in a journal or on your computer. It is important to record your thoughts in some fashion rather than just allowing them to roam about in the caverns of your mind. Recording your thoughts is a way of catching them, of making them real. Otherwise, they have tendency to be vague and fleeting, making it difficult to build on them.

If you're not comfortable with writing as a way of talking to yourself, you can speak into a tape recorder instead. Imagine yourself sharing your thoughts with a very close friend or significant other. At the end of the course, you will have a series of tapes of your work. Like a written journal, it can be helpful to listen to these tapes at some point in the future.

A Message to College Students and Young Adults

I have a special place in my heart for young adults. This stems in part from the fact that I learned my most dramatic lessons in simplicity during the three months I lived in a bush village in Senegal, West Africa, when I was 20 years old. That experience had a profound impact on my life during the decades to follow. If I could grant you any wish, it would be to spend a few months in a less industrialized country. It could give you a perspective on life that would influence every aspect of your future.

As a young adult, you have the freedom and idealism to create your life from scratch--what work you will do, where to live, how to live, what's most important to you. As we age, we become less facile at learning and changing. For example, a four-year old will learn a second language more easily and quickly than a 40-year old. The same holds true for simplicity. The sooner you start on this journey, the less you will have to unlearn.

I hope with this book to offer you an alternative to the work-and-spend treadmill that characterizes the mainstream of North American culture. It is also becoming increasingly clear that the future of the earth and quality of life to be experienced by all peoples depends on you. Whatever choices you make in your life will greatly affect how coming generations will live.

As a student you can use this guide individually, as a member of an informal study group on campus, or even in a course on voluntary simplicity or related subjects. Since this guide is also for the general public, you might find some portions of the lessons to be irrelevant to you right now. For example, if you are a typical college student, you are unlikely to have a large home filled with expensive furnishings and screaming children, a full-time job, and a long commute. But you do live somewhere, have to transport yourself somehow, and still have plenty of things in your life. Most of what is in this book will have relevance to you right now.

A Message to People Who Live Outside North America

Even though I am a dual citizen of Ireland and the United States, I have lived most of my life in the United States. Consequently, this book is necessarily written from an American point of view. However, having spent time in Europe, I know that the life questions confronting North Americans are not unique. While cultures and values may vary from country to country, the concepts discussed in this book are universal.

As for citizens of less-industrialized countries who aspire to the North American way of life, this book will illustrate how the so-called American dream does not always deliver what it promises. You will learn that there is a substantial price to be paid for our materialistic emphasis. Hopefully, this book will guide you on which aspects of the American dream are worth working for and which are not. You can then avoid making the same mistake as many North Americans who equate a very high standard of living on a material plane with a high-quality life.

And now let's get to work!