Simple Sunday #2
This Sunday’s quote comes from one of my inspirations, Henry Thoreau:
“We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.”
This principle seems to ring true. The more we can do without, the more happiness we experience. Conversely, the more we need and want, the less happy we are.
The desert island lists seemed to demonstrate this, as readers reflected on the things they truly needed and most chose relationships, expression, and knowledge over material items.
What’s your take? Has “doing without” become irrelevant in a postmodern world? Have prosperity and the affordability of material goods changed the idea of simplicity or reinforced it? Or is our happiness still in proportion to the thing we don’t need and desire?
That’s the idea I’ll be pondering today. Drop into the comments if you’ve got an opinion–I’d love to hear it.
