The Art of Living Simply - A new dialogue
The Art of Living Simply
You have attained great success in all phases of your life. Academically, financially and in your career. You have all of the things that you could ever wished for. Things, power, money, and more things dominate your life and your definition of success and happiness. You can buy what you want, go where you want, and do or obtain everything that you want, and yet what you want the most, true happiness, escapes you. The quest to find pure happiness avoids you, creating an endless cycle of highs and lows.
The Art of Living Simply is about breaking these bonds that keep you tied to the old way of thinking and doing. It is about how True Happiness can be achieved, not by doing and acquiring more, but instead by simplifying all that surrounds you. In the 21st century, we have been sold a bill of goods that all of us pursued as the 'de-facto' way to live our lives. We went to school, were challenged at an early age to succeed, then on to college, family, careers, possessions, debt, money, power, etc. This was the path we believed would lead us to personal Nirvana, the path that we believed would bring us personal happiness and fulfillment. We were told and taught that if we successfully followed this path that happiness would be found, and this is exactly what you did. You were an over achiever, easily crossing off the master list of 'To Do's', succeeding at school, career, money, and power. And yet, here we sit in the year 2011 with personal health and happiness at an all time low. What went wrong, how can this be, you did all that you were told to do, but it was never enough.
The disconnect between the two, achieving what we set out to achieve while still feeling an overwhelming sense of personal angst, is at the core of our 21st century lives. As a society we are living lives that have more stress than ever; we have lost touch with our natural environment; our health is in decline; and we are more miserable than ever! Our new quest must be to restructure our lives in a way that allows us to enjoy that which is truly important, to help us find true and LASTING happiness through the Art of Living Simply.