7 Acts of Simple Living

I found a new site the other day, SimpleLiving.org and thought I would share a little bit. On this site I ran across the "7 Acts Of Simple Living" which I thought were very nicely thought out and provide insight into the many reasons why people choose Voluntary Simplicity and a simple lifestyle. Hope you enjoy!

Seven Reasons for Choosing a Simpler Lifestyle:

1. As an act of intentional living performed for the sake of personal integrity and as an expression of a commitment to a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources.

2. As an act of creation care for ourselves and especially for our children and grandchildren against the earth destroying results of over-consumption such as pollution, climate change, and resource wars.

3. As an act of solidarity with the majority of humankind, which has little choice about material affluence.

4. As an act of celebration of the riches found in God’s creation, and the riches of community with others, rather than in the "poverty" of mindless materialism.

5. As an act of spiritual discipline ordering our lives to reflect the values of simplicity and just living taught by Jesus and teachers in other world religions.

6. As an act of advocacy for changes in present patterns of production and consumption.

7. As an act of provocation (ostentatious under consumption) to arouse curiosity leading to dialog with others about affluence, and sustainable "green" living to redirect the production of consumer goods away from the satisfaction of artificially created wants toward the supplying of goods and services that meet genuine social needs.

(Based on an article by Jorgen Lissner)


Not everyone follows a simple lifestyle for all of these reasons. For example, when I started the In Search Of The Sea blog, I was not intending to do anything other than cut back, manage my stress, and experience a little more gratification on a day-to-day basis. However, through my involvement, my once personal blog has turned into a project that definitely opens up a dialog with others about the tenants of simple living. I have found a lot of self-satisfaction through exploring and helping others discover the amazing elements of life that our current society so adeptly hides from us ...

The more I simplify my life, the less stress I have. The less stress I have, the more joy I have. The more joy I have, the happier my life is.

And I like being happy.

~Adam
In Search Of The Sea