“Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind”.

— Thoreau

 

 

We’ve already spoken about the beauty of less and also ways to make sure there is less in our life.  But what about some of the core benefits of less?

Why should we even consider living with less?

 

Some of the reasons we should consider a path to less include:

–          Less clutter

–          Less distraction

–          Less fuss

–          Less friction  

–          Less spend

–          Less stress

 

And what about what we get more of:

–          More focus

–          More savings

–          More time to spend with the people we want to spend time with

–          More time to do the things we want to do

–          More space for hobbies and passions

–          More time to learn new skills

–          Space to just be and collect our thoughts

–          More calmness

–          More time to take in the view and enjoy the journey that is our lives

 

Living with less doesn’t have to mean running off into the woods and discarding all our worldly possessions (although it pretty much did for Thoreau!)  It means making a conscious decision to downsize from where we are now.  To cut through the noise and clutter and only have the necessary in our lives.

 

Living with less is a journey and not necessarily a quick fix.  It will take some applied discipline to get to a place of less.  It will also take some deep thought as to what that version of less will look like for us.

 

With the fanfare of new and shiny constantly packaged up for us by the media and advertising the message of less can often be lost.  However, the power and beauty of less certainly has its place in our modern lives.

 

Make space for less and enjoy more.