The modern voluntary simplicity movement first evolved in the 1970's. It has flourished in different communities in the United States and dozens of books have been published about it. Duane Elgin has frequently been cited as the founder of this movement. He published Voluntary Simplicity in 1981. In 1992, Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin published Your Money or Your Life which became a national bestseller. You may remember hearing about this book many years ago. This book provides the instructions for translating your money earned into life energy. By doing this, the reader is able to see work and money in a whole new perspective.
In 1997, Cecile Andrews published The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life. In this book she describes "study circles" where people meet in small groups and share ideas about simple living.
You may be wondering, "If simple living is so great, why haven't I heard of it?" It is probably because it is not widely advertised and marketed. With the exception of a handful of authors, no one is making large financial profits. Interestingly, you may already be living by many of the principles of voluntary simplicity and just not have a word for it. You may occasionally find that your way of doing things or seeing the world just does not fit into mainstream culture.
For an in-depth discussion of voluntary simplicity, click on: Answers.com
The following are the various topics that are explored in the voluntary simplicity movement:
Does it seem that the more money you make, the more expenses you have? Do you then have to work even harder to pay all those bills you accumulated while you were making more money? Can you think of specific examples of this? Why do you think this happens?
"Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have."
Rabbi Schachtel (1907-1990) from his book, The Real Enjoyment of Life, published in 1954.
What are your happiest memories? Are they from your childhood? Who were you with? What was the setting?
Try writing down 5 things you appreciate about your life every day. They can be small things.
Do you ever wonder if being an adult is every really fun? It often seems like it's all very serious business. Does it seem like fun for adults frequently innvolves either spending lots of money or requires "chemical" assistance?
Do you feel overwhelmed by your possessions? Does owning them make more work for you because you must maintain them, clean them, and find a place to store them?
If you lost your home in a disaster, which items would you choose to replace?