The Simpler Life - Hardcover

Deford, Deborah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0762100613 ISBN 13: 9780762100613

Publisher: Readers Digest, 1998

Synopsis

A book of thoughtful and inspiring advice explains what one can do now and on a daily basis to create a simpler, more satisfying and meaningful life by prioritizing and examining one's life and considering alternate paths.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah DeFord, author, editor, and teacher, lectures widely to adult and juvenile audiences on family life and personal developement. She has lived for more than 20 years in Connecticut, New York, juggling the demands and rewards of career, husband and children, grandchildren, friends, and a very unusual cat. Using the principles of simplicity she presents in The Simpler Life, she has learned to enjoy the beauty of life fully lived with increasing satisfaction and joy. DeFord is also the author of Seeking a Simpler Spirit from Reader's Digest.

From the Back Cover

* Clear the clutter from your mind--and your environment. * Answer the callings of your heart and soul. * Minimize the negative impact of today's high-tech, high-pressured world. * Manage your time at home and at work. * Pare down your needs and scale back your expenses. * Revitalize your family life. * Enjoy the true pleasures of friendship. * Make contributions that improve and enrich your community. * Spend more time doing what you love. * Discover a saner, more balanced, more satisfying life.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

This is a book about the good life that money won't buy. It grew out of my own experience and the experience of others who in one way or another, discovered that we weren't living the life we want to live. Although many of us had enough and more in material terms, we came up short on the happiness scale. Our lives were too complicated, too busy and stressful. We needed a fresh look at how we'd gotten to this less-than-satisfying existence and how we could make it better. The following pages offer a glimpse of the alternatives some of us have found.

This is a book about possibilities. We all come equipped with a unique set of abilities and passions, backgrounds and potentials. How we build on the basic equipment helps to set the course of our lives. But the course is never set in concrete. We can always reroute along the way if we find that the way is not taking us where we want to go. The chapters that follow give some practical words on the choices open to every one of us as we consider new directions.

This is also a book about balance. Life offers us each an everchanging mix of givens and choices. We may wish for a simpler life that is a quick fix away--something we can achieve in three easy steps or five simple lessons or through some other formula. But in reality, the simpler life that offers authentic satisfaction and meaning does not come in a package. It is created from within ourselves daily, as we recognize and weigh the alternatives life is affording us day by day. We measure our choices against the counterweights of our deepest values and most cherished dreams, learning in the process what to let go, what to hold onto and where to go next. The pages ahead present a heart-centerd perspective on finding the dreams behind our wishes and realistically devising a life that fulfills them.

Don't think of this as a book of answers or solutions. Think of it as a conversation among friends who are looking for a simpler, better way. Take it in small does or swallow it in a single gulp. Come back to it and consider what it has to offer you today. Question its assumptions and let it challenge yours, just as the best of discussions always do.--D.D.

Edition details

• Publisher: Readers Digest
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0762100613
• ISBN 13: 9780762100613
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240