“To live more simply is to live more purposefully and with a minimum of needless distraction.” Duane Elgin


1. Reducing materialism. Voluntary simplicity is not the same as austerity. Rather, it is about living with less so as to free ourselves from the burdens of materialism.( i.e. Everything we own needs some maintenance, time and money to be spent on it.)

2. Being authentic. Voluntary Simplicity is about finding a way of life that is more in keeping with what we authentically value, rather than what we believe will win the approval of others, through ownership or status for example. This involves being in touch with our values and purpose and organising our lives around this, whilst minimising the intrusion of distractions.

3. Balanced, purposeful work. We can work simply and with purpose by being employed in work that’s meaningful for us, offers us some autonomy and that’s in balance with the rest of our lives. This is most likely to result in high self-esteem and self-respect.

4. Relationship and community. Voluntary simplicity stresses relationship and community, consideration for others and for the consequences of our actions.

5. Descriminating between scarcity and abundance. To live in voluntary simplicity we need to know the difference between what is scarce in life and what is abundant. For example, scarcity of external material resources – oil, top soil for growing food, woodland, metals and minerals are the result of living unsustainably. Yet there is an abundance of love, friendship, caring, joy and happiness potentially available to us as these come from within.

6. Interconnection. Simplicity is one of the conditions for an understanding of our interconnectedness with all things. Realising our interconnectedness can lead to contentment and meaning in life.

7. Healthy psyche. Voluntary simplicity leads to clearness of vision and a sense of freedom with less complexity and clutter. Making life less complicated leads to fewer decisions needing to be made and so less emotional stress. Touching the world ever more lightly by progressively releasing habitual patterns of thinking and behaving helps to make life feel light and spacious.

8. Cultivating new sources of motivation. Increase our exposure to inspirational material for living more simply or mix with others who are already doing it. Reduce our exposure to advertisements, materialistic values and bad news. This also has the advantage of decreasing mindless distractions such as low quality TV programmes which deflect our energy from more satisfying tasks.

9. Express simplicity in everyday activities. Eat simply, work simply, dress simply, slow down, unitask. Use discrimination in deciding how many and which gadgets to own. A few are genuine labour saving devices. Many are not and merely add to the burden of possessions. Decide which these are for you.

10. Be happy with having enough – Learning how to “touch and go”. To not hold on but to allow each moment to arise with newness and freshness. Live more simply so that others may simply live. For a minority, mostly in the Western world, we have been spared the “drudgery” of manual work that previous generations faced, but it has been at the cost of the wellbeing of ourselves and those in the third world. Our labour saving devices have also saved us from the physical exercise that our bodies need to stay healthy. Those who currently live in poverty would have more opportunities to enjoy the fruits of simple living, rather than endure the hardships of deprivation, if voluntary simplicity were practiced more by the privileged.

11. Influencing changes in society. To make it easier for more of us to live more simply, the structure of society would need to change too. We can use our influence wherever we can to help these changes come into effect. E.g. localisation of production and supply, sharing of resources such as transport, land, machinery and skills.

12. Quiet mind and open heart. Cultivate Consciousness – present moment awareness. Acting mindfully and with awareness of our intention. Finding time each day for quiet reflection or meditation.

Refs:
Voluntary Simplicity. Duane Elgin
The Simple Living Guide. Janet Luhrs
The Lilypad List. Marian Van Eyk MacCain.
Choosing Simplicity. Linda Breen Pierce.
The Value of Voluntary Simplicity. Richard Gregg.