Product Description

Simplicity Lessons is a practical guide for those who long for a slower pace of life with more time for joyful relationships, fulfilling work, and living one's dreams. Working on your own or as part of a simplicity study group, you will explore the major areas of your life: material possessions, money, time, work, housing, transportation, relationships, inner simplicity, health, community, and environmental sustainability. For each category, you will complete written exercises to determine how best to improve the quality of your life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61910 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
"Each lesson provides sound data for the mind, inviting reflections for the soul and a range of practical exercises." -- Vicki Robin, coauthor, Your Money or Your Life

"Each lesson provides sound data for the mind, inviting reflections for the soul and a range of practical exercises." -- Vicki Robin, coauthor, Your Money or Your Life

"It's not easy to make simplicity simple, but this fine book does it." -- John de Graaf, coauthor, Affluenza

"Linda Breen Pierce delivers to us an antidote to the complexities that plague our daily lives." -- Stephan Rechtschaffen, MD, CEO, Omega Institute and author, TimeShifting

"Quite simply, Simplicity Lessons is a real treasure." -- Barbara J. Winter, author, Making a Living Without a Job

"This is a book for America to read." -- Lester R. Brown, author, Eco-Economy

"Your life will be blessed if you follow this guide." -- John Robbins, author, Diet for a New America and The Food Revolution

"Thank you, Linda Pierce - you've given us another eminently useful and readable book. Each lesson provides sound data for the mind, inviting reflections for the soul and a range of practical exercises perfect for the simplicity "toe dipper" and "full-body jumper" alike. The lessons also integrate the small steps we can take on our own with the long-term public policy changes that might afford everyone a more balanced, humane and meaning-rich life. While each suggestion is do-able and practical, taken together this book shows how revolutionary simplicity really is." -- Vicki Robin, coauthor, Your Money or Your Life

"For anyone who is really serious about simplifying, here is your essential book; an inspirational, step-by-step guide to liberation!" -- Janet Luhrs, author of The Simple Living Guide

"Discover a life of elegant simplicity that fits your unique circumstances, and then transform inspiration into action with this practical study guide. Simplicity Lessons is a valuable resource for anyone seeking a more satisfying and sustainable way of life." --Duane Elgin, author of Voluntary Simplicity --Advance Praise

Discover a life of elegant simplicity that fits your unique circumstances, and then transform inspiration into action with this practical -- Duane Elgin, author, Voluntary Simplicity and Promise Ahead

For anyone who is really serious about simplifying, here is your essential book; an inspirational, step-by-step guide to liberation! -- Janet Luhrs, author, The Simple Living Guide and Simple Loving

If you're among the growing number of people who suspect that simplicity is the road to the good life, here's -- Barbara J. Winter, author, Making a Living Without a Job

About the Author
Linda Breen Pierce is the founder of The Pierce Simplicity Study (a three-year study of 200+ people who live simply) and the author of Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World (Gallagher Press, 2000) and Simplicity Lessons: A 12-Step Guide to Living Simply (Gallagher Press, 2003). Linda s website, The Simplicity Resource Guide, features a broad range of resources on voluntary simplicity.

Customer Reviews

Best book on Voluntary Simplicity available!
Voluntary simplicity is a growing movement in the US and in the world that focuses on living mindfully and pursuing what really matters to each individual, independently of external pressures such as advertising and societal "shoulds." There are dozens of books about the subject, but Linda Breen Pierce's "Simplicity Lessons" is by far the most updated, complete, and user-friendly of the bunch. Moreover, it is one of the very few books that places voluntary simplicity in a wider social and political framework. To change only ourselves does not suffice; we also need to help change the culture we breathe.

The book's chapters focus on twelve major aspects of VS, including our focus on stuff instead of on non-material things that would bring us far more joy; our difficult relationship with money and how much we actually make per hour (a la "Your Money or Your Life"); how we can increase the time we have available to pursue our passions; the importance of community; the role of spirituality; the joys of passionate work; the importance of keeping our nest, the Earth, clean and healthy for future generations... and more.

Pierce included an inspiring quotation on every page (by itself a wonderful read!). Her statements are supported with careful research and citations, and she provides extensive lists of updated further resources, in print and on the web. Hers is quite an impressive accomplishment, to offer this depth of scholarship expressed in a writing style that is so clear and easily comprehensible.

"Simplicity Lessons" was written to be used as a workbook -- there are intelligent, useful, and challenging assignments after each of the twelve lessons. Whether you go through the book by yourself or, even better, with a Simplicity Circle (consisting of 8-12 adults who support each other), you'll find it a wonderful resource. If anyone wants to study this book with me in the Washington DC area, please feel free to contact me at . I'd gladly read the book again within a circle.

A Must Read!
In a country that overspends, overworks, over accumulates, and wastes precious resources, it is refreshing to read Simplicity Lessons. Not only does this book address the issues on a philosophical level but it has many practical ideas on how to enhance your life by following many of her options. If you are looking for more passion and spirituality in your life, quality of time and relationships, ways to connect to community and nature, this book will show you how to accomplish it. Linda Breen Pierce doesn't preach but rather invokes ideas with a variety of solutions. I particularly liked her ideas on organizing study groups and providing worksheets to help make change. There is no question that the quality of your work-life will improve if you follow a few of her practical suggestions.

Inspiring and essential reading for the conscious traveler...
Embarking on the path of simplicity is simply one of the best things I've done in my entire life.

After years of accumulating more and more stuff, I reached a point where it didn't make any sense to keep accumulating more material possessions. More, was definitely not better. If you read the author's other excellent book, Choosing Simplicity, you will see how more people are choosing the so called path of 'voluntary simplicity'. About two years ago I started a long path of downsizing my life (I'm a Taurus... that loves material possessions and has attachments to much of it so I think that didn't help). I started with cutting back commitments, moved onto removing friends :) and then stuff... clothes, tapes, anything I didn't use frequently and then the most difficult and sacred... my books... including a huge personal development library. Other things, I've digitized (music, some books and the like) and I've never felt better and each round of decluttering, downsizing and simplifying and has gone deeper and deeper and created further impetus and desire for a more simpler life. I see it as a journey and an unfolding process. Some people will find it more easy than others, although it is accessible to anyone.

There many excellent books on decluttering and simplicity. This one of the better ones. Why? The author is well researched, lives the work herself and has provided a comprehensive guide and set of resources and activities to tackle in each area of your life. While you may be familiar with a good deal of the content, the book is useful in that it gives you a structure to conduct the process (including should you want to undertake the process with friends), is easy to read and follow and is inspiring. It's also holistic in that it considers all areas of your life and your relationship to others and the planet. More than that, it's written from the heart and a genuine desire to support people that choose this path. The book is divided into a series of lessons to deepen your awareness of all the areas in your life that simplicity can be applied and includes your home, spirituality, money, how you spend your time, community, family and friends and health and wellbeing. Many of the questions in this book will enable you to deeply reflect on your life and how you are using your time. Like other really good works, I've found that one little insight or practical application I've picked up can add major leverage in my life. For instance, I've noticed a substantial improvement in my life since getting rid of the TV. I've found that it is not missed and the constant stream of negativity that pervades the news is removed from my life which has greatly effected my wellbeing. There are many such powerful tools and reflections in this book.

The book contains excellent references to other resources and publications in the field for further reading or advice and templates in terms of money, time and others to enhance your awareness around these important areas so that you can begin to make conscious decisions. The external resources are excellent and include brief descriptions of why they are relevant. Also included is an extensive bibliography and guidelines for establishing a Simplicity Support Group.

This is an excellent book, that I am grateful to have read and I highly recommend it. If you are looking for further inspiration and practical examples of how people live this philosophy in different ways (and with vastly different contexts and approaches e.g. some with very little money, others who have substantial resources), I highly recommend the author's other book, Choosing Simplicity.