Simple Living America

McKibben speaks

2007-12-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

The Problem With Christmas: Are you brave enough to say no to a high-stress holiday?

Bill McKibben, Grist, Nov. 20, 2007

If you poll Americans this time of year, far more of them regard the approaching holidays with dread than anticipation. It has long since become too busy, too expensive, too centered around acquiring that which we do not need. In fact, it's the perfect crystallization of the American economy -- the American consumer experience squeezed into a manic week, a week that people find themselves hoping will soon end so that on Jan. 2 they can return to the mere routine hecticity of their lives.

From that central truth, a few propositions follow:

Replacing regular stuff with green stuff isn't getting very close to the root of the problem. If for some reason you need to give someone a motorized spice rack, then a motorized spice rack with a more efficient motor is quite clearly better. But it's also quite clearly beside the point.

Stuff itself is a problem less because of its environmental toll (though that is quite high) than because it's increasingly meaningless. Think of your friends. Are many of them lacking in stuff? Or is the first question that forms in their minds when a new gift arrives from under the tree: "Where am I going to put this?"

But this pleasure gap allows for a concentrated opportunity to begin rethinking our economic life. If stuff isn't valuable anymore, what is? Time, clearly. A gift of time -- a coupon for a back rub, or a trip to the museum, or a dinner prepared someday in the future -- is a gift whose exchange rate is figured in a stronger currency (if you're an economics major, think euros vs. dollars). Or gifts can come embedded with time already spent: a jar of homemade jam, a stack of firewood in the back yard.

Gifts can also be reconfigured to remove some of the hyperindividualism that marks our consumer society. Ask yourself what you'd rather receive: another thing, or a homemade card saying that, say, a cow had been purchased in your name and was now providing milk for a Tanzanian family that hadn't had milk before. (Note: this line of reasoning is probably especially strong for those of us who are Christians, and recall that the occasion we're celebrating is the birth of a man who said to give all that we had to the poor.)

Since Christmas has long been in the business of baptizing consumption, it's a good place to start eroding consumption's allure. Newfound pleasures from a simpler holiday -- some silence, some companionship -- suddenly start to seem attractive. Maybe that attraction will remain with us yea even unto February.

Continued here.....

GetSat events this Saturday (12/1)

2007-11-28T09:39:00.001-08:00

For our friends in the Los Angeles and New Haven, CT areas, get set for a couple of special Get Satisfied events. (For other events, check the end of this post.)

Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 3:00 to 5:00 pm

GET SATISFIED HOLIDAY PARTY
Celebrate The Satisfaction of Enough during the holidays!

Magdalene Cultural Arts Center
4822 Vineland Ave.
No. Hollywood, CA 91601
(just north of Lankershim Blvd., street parking) Map/directions

For further information, call or email Michael Beck at 818-246-3661 or michaelbecksc@yahoo.com

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Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 7:30 pm

Special screening of the new movie "What Would Jesus Buy?" Joint event with Morgan Spurlock's production company (of "Super Size Me" fame), Warrior-Poets.

Simple Living America hosts a Q&A with director Rob VanAlkemade, Get Satisfied publisher David Wilk and Get Satisfied co-author Katherine Hauswirth following the show.

Criterion Cinemas
86 Temple Street
New Haven, CT 06510 Map/directions

For further information, contact Carol Holst at 1-877-Unstuff

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For more info on ongoing Get Satisfied events around the country, click here, and for locally organized house parties (including a downloadable discussion guide), click here.

People matter

2007-11-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

From an Ezra Klein op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. (Also posted at The American Prospect.)

Winning the rat race by quitting it

We're working ourselves silly thanks to the desire to have better stuff than everyone else.

It's always sad to see Thanksgiving finish. I don't attend Renaissance fairs, so it's the only time of year when I tear at giant legs of roast turkey. I'm also not an insane person, so it's the only time of year when I combine marshmallows and yams. And I'll just admit it: I like giving thanks. It offers an organizing structure within which to create a coherent narrative of the past year. And here's what I find, year after year: People matter. No matter how much cool stuff I purchase while waiting for the Earth to rotate around the sun, come November, all I remember, and all I mention, are people.

The emergent field of happiness studies backs me up. Richard Layard, an economist at the London School of Economics and the author of "Happiness: Lessons From a New Science," puts it succinctly. "Family, colleagues, community," he's said. "We are basically social animals, and most of our enjoyment comes from other people."

Each Thanksgiving, our litany of gratitude suggests that, on some level, we know that. But in the time between each Thanksgiving, we prove, rather decisively, that we don't know it all that well. Because so much as "people" happiness tends to rule our memories, "thing" happiness, or at least the promise of it, has a habit of governing our actions. How else to explain the ceaseless march for more hours at work, for larger incomes, for bigger houses (that, as we're rapidly finding out, we couldn't really afford in the first place)? How else to explain the fact that the United States, alone among developed nations, does not guarantee its workers even one day of compensated vacation time (France, by contrast, guarantees 30)?

We are a country obsessed with consumption, which would be fine if we seemed to be fulfilled getting bigger TVs but having less time to watch them. But, in the aggregate, that's not the case. "The things that we get used to most easily and then take for granted are our material possessions -- our car, our house," writes Layard. "But there is lots of evidence that people underestimate the process of habituation." The amount of happiness we think we'll get from a new house, and the amount of happiness we actually get from a new house, are not the same.

continued here.....

Ezra also regularly blogs on political and related matters at www.ezraklein.com (It's one of my daily reads.)

GetSat

2007-11-20T03:43:00.000-08:00

Katherine Hauswirth is but one of the Get Satisfied authors who relate their individual stories of finding satisfaction in our recently published book Get Satisfied: How Twenty People Like You Found the Satisfaction of Enough. Each voice is unique..... as is yours. Wander on over to the web site to learn more and also share your experiences and insight.

Here's an excerpt from Katherine's story:

“Ignoring Walden”

As a writer, it is embarrassing to admit that I don’t much like Henry David Thoreau. Every nature book I pick up alludes to Walden, and I’ve read quotes by Thoreau that are singularly brilliant. Despite the reputation that precedes the book and its author, twice I’ve picked up Walden and twice I’ve found myself annoyed by the flowery language and by Thoreau’s entitled-sounding, all or nothing, breakaway attitude toward simple living. I am the first to admit that part of my anti-Walden impulse is just plain jealousy. I have fantasies of living solo in a cabin and writing my opus (although I would prefer not having to build the cabin). But there is more to my self-imposed exile from Walden Pond than green-eyed envy.

Radical simplicity—you know, the quit your job, grow your own food, live off the grid type of existence—works for some. But it scares most of us. It scares some of us so much that we even shy away from not so radical simplicity, where the move toward a simpler existence can mean very gradually weaning ourselves from the comforting teat of complacency while we awaken to the natural world. The start of this personal growth can be nothing more than happenstance—no manifesto involved. My first steps toward simplicity were more like stumbles in the dark. . . . .

I am no Thoreau. I doubt I will ever find myself alone in a cabin for more than a few days. Compared with Thoreau’s quest, my changes have been more timid, more gradual, and more accidental. But still, both my move away from suburbia and my rejection of my nursing career were departures from some very comfortable zones, and it would have been easier, at least in the short term, to avoid those choices. Each transition, though difficult at first, reflected my becoming more in tune with who I really was. I learned the first tenet of simple living: to think and act on one’s own. It feels good to live beyond musts and shoulds, to break from the status quo. My attraction to voluntary simplicity is an outgrowth of this gradual breaking away, of reappraising what is normal, what is enough for me, what I need to feel satisfied.

When I began to read about others who sought life beyond the treadmill of expectation, my explorations were isolated from action. I wanted to immerse myself in nature, but I didn’t want to get into environmentalism. I wanted a less commercial perspective, but I didn’t reduce my trips to the store. Only recently did I connect my disdain for material and mental clutter with what it represents: a turning away from any habit that obscures my deepest, truest priorities. I also started to connect my personal actions with a larger picture. I take pleasure in every opportunity to make decisions, knowing that each one ripples out beyond me, if only in small ways, to the world at large.

In truth, I am still in the stage where I am mostly thinking. I am not a vegetarian yet, but I am eating less meat and exploring the next step (fish only). I haven’t led any protests, but I have written to the government about our energy and foreign relations policies. I haven’t disposed of all my possessions, but I am increasingly likely to put off a new purchase and to share my wealth.

Observation is important to my lifestyle, and I reap tons of satisfaction from considering what’s before me, recognizing meaning and beauty within the seemingly mundane world. I wait for the wren who naps in my porch eaves every spring. I rejoice in the nature trail that’s hidden just beyond the highway, in the wriggly worms that my son Gavin scoops up from the asphalt after a storm. It’s not just nature, although nature is primary. It is also finding an inspiring book among a lackluster garage sale selection or bagging up clothing I no longer need for donation. Countless small things like these bring me pleasure.

In exploring simplicity discussion forums online, I ran into an anti-status-quo faction that had become a new status quo in the narrower world of that group. They criticized people for buying a new washing machine or questioned whether an eager new simplicity seeker really needed that consignment shop trip. These were the deprivation-proud radicals who insisted that simplicity was an all-or-nothing commitment.

On one extreme of the simple-living spectrum are the territorial types who feel the need to surpass others, who equate ambivalence with weakness. On the other are magazines trying to convince us that scaling down requires more purchases: we have to go out and stock up on wholesome, charming, simplicity-related supplies. Sometimes I want to cut through the media babble and be more of an uncompromising idealist; sometimes I want stacks of new boxes and shelves for organizing my kitchen. I can be attracted to either impulse, depending on my mood. But what really feels right is striving for independent thought and shunning programmed activity of any kind. I believe that we can all find ways to lighten our stress as well as our imprint on the earth, but like all change this will happen only in fits and starts, the sum of our own individual paces. . . . .

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Katherine Hauswirth is a writer (technical by day, creative by stolen moments) who lives near the Connecticut shoreline. Her blog, Inching Toward Simplicity: Pragmatics and Prose (http://inchingsimplicity.blogspot.com), includes both real-life tips and philosophical musings on the effort to simplify. She has been published in The Writer, The Writer’s Handbook 2003, Pregnancy, Pilgrimage, Snowy Egret, Funds for Writers, Writers Weekly, and many other print and online publications. Her first book, Things My Mother Told Me: Reflections on Parenthood, is available on amazon.com.

Intolerable beauty

2007-09-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Chris Jordan, Circuit Boards #2, New Orleans 2005

A very worthwhile story on Bill Moyers Journal yesterday about photographic artist Chris Jordan. From the accompanying page on the Moyers site:

Former corporate attorney turned photographic artist, Chris Jordan explains that he never used to be focused upon making a social statement with his work. "All I was interested in about photography was aesthetic beauty...places where color appears inadvertently."

Yet after photographing a large pile of garbage that he deemed "really beautiful," friends began to point him toward the social repercussions inherent in his work regarding waste and American consumerism. "It's something that I truly cannot take credit for, is finding my way to consumerism as my subject. Because it found me."
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Jordan's latest project, Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait, seeks to make tangible statistics about our country's consumption that involve such large numbers that they are difficult to fully fathom on the page. "Our minds are just not wired to be able to really comprehend and make meaning of, and feel, numbers that are that huge," Jordan explains. "I think there's this worldwide cultural craving for a more sensible approach to our consumption."
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Size plays an important part in the new series, with certain pictures over 10 feet high and 25 feet wide. "I want people to realize that they matter," Jordan describes. "As you walk up close, you can see that the collective is only made up of lots and lots of individuals. There is no bad consumer over there somewhere who needs to be educated. There is no public out there who needs to change. It's each one of us."

Simple Living America NewsSummer 2007 newsletter column

2007-08-15T07:01:00.001-07:00

Simple Living America News
By Carol Holst

Simple Living America has a new website, a new quarterly newsletter, and a new way to Get Satisfied! All traffic from our old URL is now forwarding automatically to our consolidated site at www.getsatisfied.org, so check out the heaping helping of satisfaction! Enjoy the information galore; 50% member discount on pre-ordering Get Satisfied [Easton Studio Press, October 2007]; house parties and other events; public postings on The Satisfaction of Enough; and of course low-cost ways to renew your Simple Living America membership this year if it slipped past. Now is the time if ever there was one to come aboard or stay aboard and ride the Get Satisfied campaign nationwide.

I’ll just highlight one of the above items in the final paragraph of my column, so you can glide on to the other cool features in this newsletter: vital columns from Cecile Andrews, Wanda Urbanska, and Frank Levering; praise for Sarah Susanka’s new book, The Not So Big Life; news on the “What’s the Economy For, Anyway?” Conference, and our popular newsletter feature, “Outside the Covers: Honoring Other Get Satisfied Stories.”

Thanks to Dr. Yukio Okano’s cutting-edge work at Kaiser Permanente, Simple Living America has been given the honor of presenting a session at their 2007 Behavioral Health Symposium, further indication of exciting mental health advances in this field. It will be held on October 26 at the Pacific Palms Conference Resort in Industry Hills, CA, and is designed for Kaiser physicians and health care professionals getting CME credit, although anyone may attend upon submission of registration and payment of fees to Kaiser (see www.getsatisfied.org Events page, click here for fee schedule). Principal speakers will be Peter C. Whybrow, M.D., Director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior at UCLA and author of American Mania: When More Is Not Enough, and Cecile Andrews, Ed.D., author of Slow Is Beautiful and The Circle of Simplicity.

All SLA newsletter columns and archives are posted at the main site here.

Get Satisfied

2007-07-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

Are you satisfied?

There’s nothing like finding satisfaction in life, especially the satisfaction of enough. Just try to grasp one without the other! Our culture is great at making both seem out of reach, where neither hares nor tortoises quite finish the race no matter how hard they try. But how many people really want to be suspended in comical animation indefinitely? Those days are over and a movement toward satisfaction in America has begun.

Our new web site has launched. Be the first on your block to check it out.

www.getsatisfied.org

Outside the Covers:Honoring Other GET SATISFIED StoriesSpring 2007 newsletter column

2007-06-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

Each Simple Living America newsletter highlights one of the 400 diverse samples received about “the satisfaction of enough” that is not included inside the covers of our book due out later this year.

Featured writer this issue:
Tom Turnipseed

Escaping the hammering yammering of television’s incessant talking heads, who hype out-of-control war and weather, and blather on about Armageddon, I seek satisfaction and refuge on our backyard deck where the mating songs of birds and cicadas and the flickering of fireflies soothe my soul on sultry summer evenings. Last evening at twilight, I gazed upon my vegetable garden adorned with reddening tomatoes, butternut squash turning from green to orange, and bright yellow okra blossoms becoming green okra pods.

Suddenly, a bold little hummingbird darted up to within three feet of my face, hung still in midair and looked directly at me before deftly inserting its long, slender beak into several nectar laden flowers in a pot on our deck, then flitted away into the woods beyond our yard. Those woods appear just as they have for hundreds of years—long before European colonials first came. About twenty feet away, our rustic bird feeders hang from a large oak tree attracting a variety of colorful birds to watch. An appreciative cardinal flew up within 5 or 6 feet of me. A small squirrel scampered up on the deck, as if to say hello to me, before being chased away by our cat, Muck.

I know the birds and squirrels sense that I’m an ecologically kindred spirit who wants to share our common habitat. It sounds simple in our hectic high-tech culture but connecting with the natural world could be our last best hope to avert an eco-catastrophe caused by our pernicious propensity for greed and violence. The bane of our very existence is the more-you-have-the-better-you-are credo along with the worship of a God who says we should kick-ass to get it and dominate nature. ..

Twenty-three per cent of mammals, 12 per cent of all birds, a quarter of conifers, a third of amphibians and more than half of all palm trees are threatened with imminent extinction, according to the scientists’ estimate. The further extinction of between 15 and 37 per cent of all species by the end of the century could be caused by climate change alone. The scientists say, “Because biodiversity loss is essentially irreversible, it poses serious threats to sustainable development and the quality of life of future generations.”

Tom's column continued here....

All SLA newsletter columns and archives are posted at the main site here.

The Fruits of EqualitySpring 2007 newsletter column

2007-05-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

The Fruits of Equality
By Cecile Andrews

In my book, Slow is Beautiful, I explore one of the fundamental causes of our frenzied society: the gap between the rich and the poor. Recent research (see Greed and Good by Sam Pizzigati) has found that the biggest predictor of the health of a nation (particularly as measured in longevity) is the wealth gap and the size of the middle class. The bigger the middle class, the greater the life expectancy. It’s not just because the poor have bad health care; everyone is affected. The rich person in our society is no better off than the average person in a country like Denmark or Holland where there is much greater wealth equality. One of the reasons seems to be that when this kind of gap occurs, everyone is chasing after higher status and this striving for status undermines our health in many ways. Recently I discovered a good example that illustrates this: Equality is also one of the biggest predictors of educational achievement.

US News and World Report (March 26- April 2) had a special section about ways we can learn from the rest of the world. One article talked about how Finland has some of the best schools. Finnish 15 year-olds score at the top in reading, math and science in an international ranking. They’re also top in literacy. The U.S., on the other hand, is way down the list at about 18th, 22nd, and 28th, respectively. Finland also has the smallest gap between the best and weakest students, and is number two in gaps between schools.

The article talks about what Finnish schools have done to bring this about. For one, teaching has high prestige, up there with doctors and lawyers. Classes are small. And one of the most interesting facts is that there are no “honors” classes or “college prep” classes. Finland got rid of the class system of vocational and college-bound schools and created comprehensive schools where even the learning disabled are in the same classes as all the rest.

Cecile's column continued here....

All SLA newsletter columns and archives are posted at the main site here.

WorldwatchingSpring 2007 newsletter column

2007-05-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

Worldwatching
By Frank Levering

With Wanda in New York last week, I had the tall order of filling in for her as an interviewer on our Simple Living show in Washington, where our crew paid a visit to Worldwatch Institute and its downtown offices on Massachusetts Avenue. It’s always a pleasure to visit the folks at Worldwatch – this is the third time in the past three years we’ve shot there. We’ve gotten to know well Gary Gardner, until recently Worldwatch’s Director of Research, and Research Associate Eric Assadorian, who also serves on our National Advisory Board. In addition to being unfailingly generous people, dedicated in their personal lives to simplicity, these are two of the best-informed and keenest analytical minds on global environmental issues you’ll find anywhere. Their work in Worldwatch’s annual State of the World report along with parallel publications Vital Signs and Worldwatch magazine is always authoritative and compelling. But I’d never met Worldwatch’s energetic president, Christopher Flavin.

Now that I have met him – and had the pleasure of interviewing him – I better understand why Worldwatch is arguably the planet’s single most respected and comprehensive source of information on the global environment. From the time in the early ‘80s when Chris Flavin came to Worldwatch as a young researcher, he’s set the bar high. I can remember reading his cogent pieces back in the early days of State of the World, when my activist Quaker father, Sam Levering, would buy each new State of the World by the boxload and hand out books as gifts to friends and acquaintances. Though Flavin still researches and writes, his primary job is keeping the Worldwatch ship afloat, which often involves partnering with other organizations, and always entails meeting financial obligations. Though by some measures Worldwatch is not a large ship, by others – the impact, for example, it has on individuals worldwide and even, in some cases, on governments – Worldwatch is a mighty boat in endangered waters.

Frank's column continued here....

All SLA newsletter columns and archives are posted at the main site here.

The Tipping Point and Simple LivingSpring 2007 newsletter column

2007-05-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

The Tipping Point and Simple Living
By Wanda Urbanska

My line of work—promoting simple, sustainable living via public television—is an incredibly rich and rewarding enterprise. Not “rich” as in lucrative. Quite the opposite. In fact, from the start, it’s been a labor of love. But “rich” as in textured, meaningful, making-a-difference kind of work. What a labor of love. As we begin production of the fourth season of Simple Living, I look back with fondness on the many friends we’ve made along the way—and the many visions we’ve seen of sustainable living, the many idealistic people we’ve met who are working to make the world a better place, working hard to curb the effects of climate change.

Visiting Samso Island in Denmark in November 2004, which is the Danish government’s experiment in getting an island community to achieve energy self-sufficiency this decade, made an indelible impression and has remained a tremendous inspiration. So was my lifetime career highlight of interviewing President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter in Plains, Georgia back in April 2005. President Carter was light years ahead of the American public when he advocated dramatically increasing fuel mileage on the American fleet in the 1970s, only to be roundly opposed by American automakers and ultimately defeated by the electorate.

But perhaps the proverbial tipping point has arrived. Maybe the public is finally starting to wonder if climate change is real and is concerned about the crazy weather patterns we’ve all been experiencing lately. (Frank and I lost our first cherry crop in 17 years due to an Easter freeze, after enjoying spring weather at Christmastime.)

Wanda's column continued here....

All SLA newsletter columns and archives are posted at the main site here.

Simple Living America NewsSpring 2007 newsletter column

2007-05-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

Simple Living America News
By Carol Holst

Our Spring newsletter is blooming all over the place, with Wanda Urbanska’s thriving “tipping point” column, Frank Levering’s grounded piece on nothing less than the fate of the world, Cecile Andrews’ blossoming views on equality, and a new section called, “Outside the Covers: Honoring Other Get Satisfied Stories.” Each newsletter will highlight one of the 400 diverse samples received about “the satisfaction of enough” that is not included inside the covers of our book this year, and the featured writer for this issue is Tom Turnipseed.

The glorious spring renewal season also signals Simple Living America’s annual renewal cycle. All memberships begin anew in one month with your click to join today at www.simplelivingamerica.org/membership. This year, members at the $25 Simplifier level receive a 50% book discount on Get Satisfied (up to five copies), free “I simplify” post-it notepads from recycled materials, and the quarterly newsletter. Members at the $100 or more Sustainer level receive all of the above and the popular third season of the Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska national public television series (8 DVD programs) as a special thank-you upon request.

True to our mission of providing the American mainstream with a means to fulfillment and sufficiency, work on publishing Get Satisfied: How Twenty People Like You Found the Satisfaction of Enough this year continues by leaps and bounds. The book is being handled by Booktrix and Ripe Media, complete with national marketing campaign and new web site coming this summer to www.getsatisfied.org. After the flood of 400 sample submissions received by Feb. 28, SLA’s book committee finalized 11 women and 9 men across the country – with ages ranging in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s – to influence the mainstream with their compelling stories. The Foreword is being written by Peter C. Whybrow, MD, author of American Mania: When More Is Not Enough and director of UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Stay tuned for lots more news, so don’t forget to renew your membership.

Other Simple Living America excitement these days includes advancing work in the population-at-large courtesy of Pollux Group, Inc. on our simplicity measurement research with Virginia Commonwealth University and a plenary SLA session scheduled at the 2007 Kaiser Behavioral Health Symposium on Oct. 26 in Los Angeles. Keynote speakers will be Drs. Cecile Andrews, Yukio Okano and Peter C. Whybrow.

When the next Summer newsletter rolls around at the end of July, Simple Living America’s home on the web will automatically begin forwarding to www.getsatisfied.org, where all traffic will consolidate when it launches. Forthcoming issues of our newly-formatted newsletter will be available online there, as well as in members’ mailboxes.

Carol's column continued here....

All SLA newsletter columns and archives are posted at the main site here.

"I simplify": clothing

2007-04-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

From Thomas Traherne, 1637-1674:

A naked man is
the richest creature
in all worlds,
and cannot be happy
til he sees the riches
of his very nakedness.

Each week I have been posting a little verse or text related to a consumer product that “I simplify," in connection with Simple Living America’s distribution of free “I simplify” buttons around the country.

"I simplify": the computer

2007-03-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

Jacking up human brain power
Immensely needed
Sorely abused
There is no hope without it
Every keystroke a direct hit
But on what.

Each week I post a little verse related to a consumer product that “I simplify," in connection with Simple Living America’s distribution of free “I simplify” buttons around the country. Call me at 1-877-UNSTUFF for batches of up to 100 pins, made from recycled materials. And as always – especially since simplifying is different for everyone – I hope that you’ll post comments below with your perspectives on any subject.

"I simplify": shoes

2007-03-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

From Kozan Ichikyo, 1360 AD --

Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going --
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.

"I simplify": books

2007-03-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

Our wonderful friend Cecile Andrews says that books are exempt from the less-is-more lifestyle. If I don't watch it, though, my little apartment will be engulfed in all the great books that are coming out and that have been published over the years. So I basically try to make sure that all my books fit on my eight bookshelves, which usually means employing the trusty "one in, one recycled" guideline that I recommend in terms of toys for overloaded children.

By the way, I got a call from the national Chicago office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America two days ago, and they are sending out their delightful new book, "Sustaining Simplicity: A Journal" (spiritual but not religious). Let me know if you'd like to enjoy it after I have perused.

Now Simple Living America is joining the trend by publishing a book of authentic personal stories from the public in 2007, supported by a national marketing campaign, on the theme --

GET SATISFIED: How Twenty People Like You Found the Satisfaction of Enough

After a flood of 400 sample submissions, 11 women and 9 men in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s have been selected across the country to influence the mainstream with their compelling stories. Simple Living America members will receive a 50% discount on the book (up to 5 copies) during our new membership cycle this year launching soon.

Many thanks for a ton of fascinating work go to Ripe Media, Booktrix, the SLA Working Group book committee (Michael Beck, Stan King, Maria Hodkins, Jill Aylard), as well as Simple Living Network for taking charge of the Bibliography. Watch for SLA's new website coming to www.getsatisfied.org and have fun while you get satisfied!

Each week I post one way that “I simplify” on this blog, in connection with Simple Living America’s distribution of free “I simplify” buttons around the country. Call me at 1-877-UNSTUFF for batches of up to 100 pins, made from recycled materials. And as always – especially since simplifying is different for everyone – I hope that you’ll post comments below with your perspectives on this or any subject.

A Well Behaved Cell Phone

2007-03-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

Carol's post about cell phones (March 3) reminded me that I had never planned to have one. But then a good friend insisted. And she made it too easy: she slid me onto her plan at minimal cost and fuss.

It's a basic cell for basic convenience. Yet, it's one more chunk of stuff, and I've gotten to where I let new stuff into my life only if it follows my rules.

Rule # 1 – I'm the boss. It stays in my car in a paper bag. (I've got a perfectly good phone at home, thank you.)

Rule # 2 – I'm the boss. The ringing is no annoyance at all if the phone's turned off – which it usually is unless I'm driving somewhere and I'm expecting a call.

Rule # 3 – I'm the boss. I will not be beholden to two voice mail systems. I monitor voice mail at home. Of course my cell phone is glad to take all messages the ether wishes to offer it. I scan them every month or so.

Rule # 4 – When I step back for that wider perspective, I am extremely grateful for the simplicity movement.

Our consumer society is an anomaly if human history is any guide, let alone what science teaches us about evolution. We are programmed for scarcity but are now bombarded with abundance – not just available to us but relentlessly urged upon us.

It is easy to succumb – to act as if life were about the care and feeding of our stuff, rather than our souls.

But I don't have to fall for it – after all, who's boss here?

"I simplify": "I simplify" buttons

2007-03-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

"I simplify" buttons manufactured from recycled materials aren't the usual kind of consumer product that I post about each week, but they are definitely a Simple Living America "product" that I wish I could simplify! I know it's a good thing, of course, but I am once again down to less than 100 pins and need to place another 1,000-lot order. (Even at only 23 cents each, all we can manage.) SLA gives out up to 100 buttons free for good cause, and I'm glad to say that every week there are fascinating requests from good causes around the country.

But now I'm completely out of the boxes that are the right size to send the 100-lot batches! And yesterday I had to stand in the post office line a half-hour to mail some out! Plus I needed to put a little gas in the old Prius in order to get to the post office! This "I simplify" campaign is getting out of control, all suggestions welcome.

Well, I'm sure it will get better when Simple Living America starts offering recycled "I simplify" post-it pads free with membership in our new cycle launching next month.

"I simplify": the telephone

2007-03-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

Note from (almost) the last living soul in Los Angeles without a cell phone:

I know that you all have been concerned about me for some time. What could possess me to travel the labyrinth of L.A. freeways at all hours without the comfort of a fallback cell phone? What could I be thinking to willingly miss the excitement of knowing whether or not I'll have a signal when I need it? How can I be truly happy without corrective eye surgery to see the numbers on the cell? But most of all, how is it possible to make a difference in this 24/7 culture of influential power calls when relying only on limited devices that I can actually hear?

I'll need to call you back on that.
Love,
Carol

"I simplify": the lightbulb

2007-02-24T11:02:00.000-08:00

For my weekly consumer product focus in this "I simplify" series, today I'll take a page (the front page) from the Los Angeles Times with the following excerpt and URL. I simplify the lightbulb as much as possible by using compact fluorescents and here are the reasons why!

But I have to admit that the last sentence in the excerpt partly relates to me, in that I don't seem to see as well with this vital lighting and so far can only use it in less crucial places like the kitchen (some interesting culinary concoctions have resulted). I've tried it in the bathroom and at my desk with less interesting results. I'm buying what's supposed to be the equivalent of my old 100 wt lightbulbs (have consulted at a couple of hardware stores), so if anyone can advise me with insights in the comments below, I'd sure appreciate it!

Battle of the Lightbulbs by Marc Lifsher & Adrian G. Uribarri
Los Angeles Times, 2/24/07

"A new light is about to burn more brightly: the stubby, squiggly fluorescent bulb. Environmentalists love it, Wal-Mart is promoting it and Australia is eyeing it as an easy way to save energy and curb global warming. Now, California lawmakers are giving it some wattage by considering a ban on the sale of old-fashioned incandescent bulbs beginning in 2012.

The proposed switch represents a revolution in a lampshade, because incandescents account for 95% of light bulb sales. Replacing each descendant of Thomas A. Edison's invention with a low-energy, long-lasting, compact fluorescent bulb would slash electricity consumption by 75%, proponents say. . .

. . .Many energy experts applaud the California bulb ban bill as a natural move by government to raise energy-efficiency standards, akin to requiring new homes to have high-rated thermal insulation and double-pane windows. "There are sound economic reasons for this," said Peter Navarro, an energy economist at UC Irvine. "If you just rely on the marketplace, you're not going to solve the problem."

The bulb bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), called outlawing traditional incandescent bulbs "a simple idea" that would save resources while causing little or no inconvenience to consumers. "When you're running short of power, one thing you can do is find a way to make that energy go farther," he said. It's too early to tell how the bill, which was introduced Thursday, will fare in the Legislature and with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But some consumers queried in discount store aisles say they just don't like the bulb's shape or the light it gives off. . ."

For the entire article, see:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bulbs...

"I simplify": the bed

2007-02-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

Randy's post below regarding new research on the health benefits of napping made me think of that ubiquitous consumer product: the bed. Simplifying the instrument of our society's repose takes many forms among my friends, including fold-up futons, sleeping bags, and a simple mattress on the floor. As for me, I've solved it by sleeping in the same basic bed throughout various moves for about 35 years now (the last 17 alone), in honor of my best gifts to humanity conceived there. Now, if I could just find some time to actually nap in it these days. And, in the right circumstances, I might gladly replace it still.

The Art of Being Awake

2007-02-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

Guest blog by Kim Sisto Robinson

The Art of Being Awake

We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand…and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late.

-- Marie Beynon Ray

Recently my son, Alex, strolled upstairs and suddenly, without warning, he was six feet tall with an auburn mustache. I felt panic shoot through my body like a kind of adrenaline after a fright—for just yesterday, it appeared, I was changing his diapers, burping him, kissing his beautiful bald forehead, and reading him The Velveteen Rabbit. I still smell the fragrance of baby powder on his skin; feel the heat of his breath on my face.

There appeared to be a beginning and an ending, but somehow, I had missed the middle. Was I sleeping during this transformation? A Buddha was once asked, “Are you God?” “No,” he replied. "Are you an angel then?” they asked. “No,” he replied again. “What are you then?” they asked. “I am awake,” he replied. Obviously, I was not, and when one neglects the middle, they neglect the extraordinary heart of living.

Most people spend their hours worrying about the past and contemplating the future. We try to grasp onto what is slipping away; we try to embrace what is already gone, without success. Why are we so obsessed with yesterday and tomorrow? In the midst of our obsession, we miss out on the present moment, the inhaling and exhaling of moments.

While chatting with my friend the other day, we had discussed how we could make time last longer. “I just can’t figure it out,” my friend said, unsmiling. “I’ve even tried getting up early and going to bed late, but this hasn’t added any more minutes to my day, only exhaustion and black rings under my eyes. It’s as if I’m holding one of those hour glass timers, and the sand is spilling out over all over the place!”

Sometimes I feel as if I am scooping up the spilled sand as urgently as I can, as fast as I can, holding onto as much as I can carry, but the moments have already evaporated. The only thing we can do is love the moments when they hit us directly in the face; gulp them down like long cool drinks.

My son, Alex, was in Pampers just yesterday, and today he could have braided the auburn mustache on his sixteen year old face. Was I too busy rushing through life, grasping onto things that didn’t matter? Admittedly, I was excessively consumed with the past and the future to savor the moments—all of those beautiful, impermanent, irretrievable moments.

Living in the present moment takes practice. One cannot just wake up one morning and exclaim, “Today I am going live in the present moment!” It’s like anything else that makes one healthy; it takes work. Gerry Jampolsky, the founder of the first Attitudinal Healing Center says, “It is possible to focus on peace for just one instant…let your attention come to the quiet in the center of your heart.” This means we need to stop being preoccupied with the past: our should-haves, our could-haves, and our what-ifs. We need to wake up and smell the cappuccino. We need to simply be.

I believe if we lived in the present moment, the mental health field would be almost non-existent. Dwelling on “what was” and “what will be” is the cause of depression, anxiety, stress, and numerous medical disorders. Think about it; how can one be anxious if they discover the peace, which resides within? We have the power to seize every moment and hold it in our hand before it melts!

This is what I know for sure: the breath I’m taking now can never be salvaged; the middle can be filled in by living it; silence is where we find God; letting go of the past will set us free; tranquility is impatiently waiting; staying awake is an art, and nothing truly matters but the breath we are taking now.

Now when I kiss my son on the forehead, instead of smelling of baby powder, he smells of spice, musk, something masculine. I inhale deeply, holding in the perfume as long as I can.

Kim Sisto Robinson is a poet, recent graduate and educator from Duluth, Minnesota. She has a special affection for The International Center for Attitudinal Healing (www.attitudinalhealing.org)

Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z

2007-02-12T23:20:00.000-08:00

From AP: Study: Napping May Help Heart
By LINDSEY TANNER (AP Medical Writer)

New research on napping provides the perfect excuse for office slackers, finding that a little midday snooze seems to reduce risks for fatal heart problems, especially among men.
In the largest study to date on the health effects of napping, researchers tracked 23,681 healthy Greek adults for an average of about six years. Those who napped at least three times weekly for about half an hour had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from heart attacks or other heart problems than those who did not nap.

Most participants were in their 50s, and the strongest evidence was in working men, according to the study, which appears in Monday's issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
The researchers said naps might benefit the heart by reducing stress, and jobs are a common source of stress.
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.
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Exactly how stress is related to heart disease is uncertain. Some researchers think it might be directly involved, through unhealthy effects of stress hormones, or indirectly by causing people to exercise less, overeat or smoke.

The researchers in the latest study factored in diet, exercise, smoking and other habits that affect the heart but still found napping seemed to help.

Previous studies have had conflicting results. Some suggested napping might increase risk of death, but those mostly involved elderly people whose daytime sleepiness reflected poor health, Trichopoulos said.

His research team studied a broader range of people, ages 20 to 86, who were generally healthy when the study began.

Still, it's possible that study participants who napped "are just people who take better care of themselves," which could also benefit the heart, said Dr. Marvin Wooten, a sleep specialist at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee.

And the rest......

Credit: AP Photo/Bob Child

"I simplify": dishes

2007-02-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

Rather than doing the dishes, this quick post will be about how I simplify that noble consumer product itself -- the dishes. When she was setting up her first apartment, I gave most of my dishes to one of my daughters, since I had no attachment to them. Then I realized that I probably didn't have very much to eat on. Luckily, this saved me from washing dishes for a while and I also lost a little weight. Eventually, though, I broke down and figured I better get another set of basic dishes. I had some good luck with thrift and discount stores.

I'll confess, however, that sometimes the way I simplify dishes is by using a paper plate when I'm rushed. I know that it's an environmental travesty, but I admit it to show that simple living is truly up to each person to weigh for themselves. If we're each doing the best we can under the circumstances we are faced with and if we each keep the joyful big picture in mind, then the simplicity field can know no bounds.

Third Season of Simple Living TV series is here!Winter 2006-07 newsletter column

2007-02-09T08:20:00.000-08:00

Third Season of Simple Living TV series is here!
By Wanda Urbanska

It’s hard to believe that, as of this writing, we’ve completed another season of our SIMPLE LIVING television series. It has begun to air on PBS stations around the country in many markets and will start up in many more in the coming weeks and months. (For more information about it, contact your local PBS station. If it’s not currently on their schedule, by all means, request it.) In our home market of North Carolina, Frank, Henry and I tune into our show at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday evenings. It’s an end-of-the-weekend, start-of-the-new-week ritual.

It’s always gratifying to celebrate work completed, to enjoy the fruits of your own labor, kind of like sitting down to an elaborate meal that you’ve spent weeks planning and hours preparing. You can just sit back and relax. (The cake has either risen or it’s not. There’s nothing you can do about it at this point!) We love revisiting time spent with the folks who are on the program; watching them on screen reminds us of the day or days we spent shooting them.

This past Sunday, for instance, January 21 in our market, was defined by cool winter weather. (We try to keep the thermostat low at our place—or off entirely—so often snuggle together under blankets on the couch.) The show last week was on “simple weddings.” We profiled a couple in nearby King, North Carolina who decided to tie the knot on a strict budget. Their goal was to have a wedding that cost 1/3rd of the average American Wedding. (Without giving away the show, I can say this is a goal they easily met.)

Wanda's column continued here....

All SLA newsletter columns and archives are posted at the main site here.