Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace And Fulfillment In A Complex World - Softcover

Pierce, Linda Breen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0967206715 ISBN 13: 9780967206714

Publisher: Gallagher Press, 2000

Synopsis

This ground breaking work goes beyond the books that tell you how to simplify your life. This book reveals what has happened in the lives of real people who have done it. Based on the author's three-year study of over 200 people from 40 states and eight countries, Choosing Simplicity is a delightful and rich blend of real-life profiles and guidelines on simplicity. Interwoven throughout the stories are the author's insights and guidance for those who want to explore simplicity and those who have already embarked on this journey. The book also includes a 16-page Resource Guide with reviews of 42 books on simplicity, information on related web sites, organizations, simplicity study circles, workshops, newsletters and magazines.

About this title

About the Author

Linda Breen Pierce is the founder of The Pierce Simplicity Study (a three-year study of 200+ people who live simply) and the author of Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World (Gallagher Press, 2000) and Simplicity Lessons: A 12-Step Guide to Living Simply (Gallagher Press, 2003). Linda has a website, The Simplicity Resource Guide, which features a broad range of resources on voluntary simplicity.

Reviews

The popular press has recently held its magnifying glass up to what has been called the "simplicity movement." Pierce, founder of a three-year Simplicity Study that followed the lives of 211 people, takes a closer look with this book about her findings. Difficult to summarize, it is, nonetheless, an intriguing, if occasionally preachifying, treatise on the superior value of living with more integrity than money. For most collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Chapter 1: Joe and Cindy Pfender had it made. They owned a beautiful, brand new 2,200-square-foot home set on one-half acre outside of Houston. Their home was located in a lovely neighborhood brimming with Southern hospitality and seven community pools for those hot Texas summers. They were the proud parents of three children-Chelsea, six, Shane, two, and Quinn, the baby in the family.

Joe worked hard to provide this lifestyle for his family. Every morning he left for work at 7:00 A.M. and returned 12 or more hours later. His commute took 45 minutes each way. He spent his evenings reading and responding to over 200 e-mail messages related to his job as a regional sales manager for a major steamship line. Pressure from senior management and customers was constant, but Joe handled it quite well-at least that's how it appeared from the outside. He entertained his customers frequently with drinks and dinners in fine restaurants. Many weekends he was away on business trips. Joe had the feeling that his work week never really began or ended.

Not surprisingly, Cindy began to feel like a single parent. On those frequent evenings when Joe did not make it home for dinner, she hauled the kids off to a fast food restaurant for dinner, a distraction-something of a treat to compensate for their missing father and husband.

One day Chelsea came to her dad with a drawing and proudly announced, "Daddy, look what I did." Joe pointed to each person in the picture and asked Chelsea to tell him about each one. Chelsea responded, "That's Quinn. He's crying. That's Shane. He just hit Quinn. I am reading a book and Mommy is cooking dinner." Chelsea then pointed to the one remaining figure, saying, "That's you, Daddy." "But why is my face all colored in?" Joe asked his daughter. "That's not your face, Daddy, that's the back of your head. You're working on your computer."

Chelsea's drawing was a stunning revelation to Joe. He envisioned his daughter all grown up and remembering her dad as a person who was always working, a person who was not there for her. At that moment, Joe understood what was most important to him. It was not the status and stimulation of his job, his house, the swimming pools, or the health club. It was his wife and his three children. As Joe reflected, "No amount of money or position or home or belongings can replace supporting one another and going through the process of raising our children together."

Edition details

• Publisher: Gallagher Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0967206715
• ISBN 13: 9780967206714
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 348