“As for the complex ways of living, I love them not, however much I practice them. In as many places as possible, I will get my feet down to the earth.”[Henry D. Thoreau, Journal, 22 October 1853]
Thank goodness for writers far more talented at expression than I am. This beautiful quotation from our good friend Thoreau covers something I grapple with. It also reminds me that I do live where I live and have to conform to certain aspects of society. However, I can spend the rest of my time living in the ways I want to live.
I wrote the other day of purging things from within. I also want to purge on the exterior. Both are difficult to do. My frame of mind is so in sync with the norms of society and with that phenomenon that grew from the Depression era of saving everything. Perhaps the time with my great-grandmother influenced me to save everything because you might need it. I do not want to add to the abundant waste in our world, so I will do my best to recycle or re-purpose items, but there is far too much in my home that I do not need or use to warrant continuing to save it.
“What you call bareness and poverty is to me simplicity. God could not be unkind to me if he should try.” [Henry D. Thoreau, Journal, 5 December 1856] To live simply in possessions is an aspiration. How much does one person truly need? How much “stuff” makes life better? But still one becomes accustomed to this “stuff” and wonders how will one ever live without it? What can I live without?
Realistically, I can’t pack up and go to Walden’s Pond living there in harmony with nature for the next two years and two months (I believe that’s how long Thoreau was there). I can clean out the extra “stuff” that I waste time on and that makes my more-than-big-enough home feel small while also sucking away the time in my day (preventing me from sucking the marrow out of life). When we were in the beautiful country of India, we saw homes constructed out of three tin walls and a roof reinforced with cow-pies. Here I sit in a three/four bedroom, 1 1/2 bath home, with more than enough yard feeling that there isn’t enough room. It’s the “stuff.” I have “stuff” that I cannot readily identify or even remember its significance. What I seek is the strength to let go of the practice of keeping the “stuff.” I have practiced this particular complexity of living for my entire life and succeeding in this major reboot will be challenging. But when I think of the payoff, I can sense the beauty that will enter my life.
Quotations from http://www.walden.org/Library/Quotations/Simplicity Individual sources listed with the quotes.
ohbloodyhell8 
“What you call bareness and poverty is to me simplicity. God could not be unkind to me if he should try.”
Richard Foster names simplicity as one of the classic spiritual disciplines … “an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle,” as he says it.
One of the hardest of the disciplines to realize well, I think, given this over-stuffed and overly-entitled society we live in!
I cannot agree more. Simplicity joined my quest for grace. Both are challenging since it is much easier to default to the societal norm of “more now.” The over-stuffed aspect you mentioned is the drive behind my need to inwardly and outwardly purge and cleanse.