Learning to live the simple life
With the dog days of summer winding down, this may be the right time
to relax in a hammock and think of ways to simplify your life. In our
busy society, filled with deadlines, meetings, work and school, it is
often difficult to find a balance with so much to do and not enough
time in which to do it all.
Simplifying your life helps you focus on creating the life you
want to live. The Newport Beach Public Library has several good books
to help you begin simplifying your life.
Elaine St. James is a syndicated columnist, who is read by more
than two million readers weekly in more than 50 newspapers
nationwide. She has also written several best-selling volumes,
espousing life simplification as a predominant theme. In “Living the
Simple Life,” St. James offers a myriad of suggestions to help us
remove clutter from our lives and find time for our most meaningful
and enriching activities. A follow-up book, entitled “Simplify Your
Life with Kids,” offers suggestions for making bedtime easier,
developing discipline strategies, finding time to enjoy your family,
minimizing sibling rivalry and deciding what to do with the baby
teeth, pasta paintings and all the other “stuff” that children
produce. In “Simplify Your Life at Work,” the author explains how to
scale back in the workplace in order to have more time to enjoy your
life. She asks readers to set firmer boundaries between work and
home.
“Slowing Down to the Speed of Life,” by Richard Carlson and Joseph
Bailey, shows how to create a more peaceful, simpler life from the
inside out. The authors’ purpose is to teach us how to remain focused
at the task on hand and stay in the moment. Included in the book are
ideas, exercises, diagrams and charts to help us reflect on ways to
build meaningful relationships, scale back hectic schedules and
maintain a calm attitude. In “Doing Less and Having More,” Marcia
Wieder reveals her simple five-step Roadmap to Ease, along with
dozens of inspiring stories of people who have achieved their dream
of doing less and having more. As the author states, “Doing less is
not about doing nothing. It is about center and balance. It is about
choice and freedom. And it is about ease.”
Jerome M. Segal -- a philosopher, political activist and former
staff member of the House Budget Committee -- articulates a
particular conception of simple living in his book, “Graceful
Simplicity.” His ideas about simple living are rooted in beauty,
peace of mind, appreciativeness and generosity of spirit. They call
for a politics of simplicity that would be the heart of our approach
to social and economic policy.
One of the most well-known books about simple living is the best
selling “Simple Abundance: a Daybook of Comfort and Joy,” by Sarah
Ban Breathnach. This book of 366 essays, one for each day of the
year, is an inspirational guide that provides a meditation or
exercise each day in an attempt to help women pare down their lives
and clear their mental clutter. Ban Breathnach has followed this
volume with several others, all discussing ways of simplifying and
enjoying your life more fully each day.
If you are looking for ways to downshift your career, searching
for more meaning in your everyday life or just wanting to connect
with those around you, visit Newport Beach Public Library to find the
books you need to help you make it happen.
DID YOU KNOW?
You can enjoy a picnic dinner and Shakespeare by the Sea next
weekend at Grant Howald Park in Corona del Mar. Two free shows will
be presented at 7 p.m. in the park -- “Richard III” on Aug. 7 and
“Two Gentlemen of Verona” on Aug. 8, courtesy of the Newport Beach
City Arts Commission. For more information, call (949) 644-3211, ext.
2155.
* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public
Library. This week’s column is by Andrea Jason. All titles may be
reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at
https://www.newportbeach
library.org. For more information on the Central Library or any of
the branch locations, please contact the Newport Beach Public Library
at (949) 717-3800, option 2.
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