Wed, June 10, 2009 - 1:22:03

The Joy of Less

Whether it’s by choice or by necessity, in today’s economic climate, many of us our taking a second look at our lives and choosing to simplify things.  In our new book, THE POWER OF SMALL: Why Little Things Make All the Difference, we describe the many ways in which you can change your life just by shrinking your outlook.  After all these years of thinking big—big cars, big houses, big debts—we know the key to our collective recovery is the SMALL approach.  And that’s why we found Pico Iyer’s post on the New York Times’ blog, Happy Days, to be so intriguing.

Iyer writes in his post, “The Joy of Less,” how he traded his fast-paced life as a New York writer with a Park Avenue apartment for an almost monastic existence in Kyoto, Japan without even a television, car, or bike to speak of.  Spending much of his time cut off from the outside world, Iyer admits he’s never been happier.  And it’s something we all could learn from: cutting through the clutter achieves real results.

Of course, unlike Iyer’s dramatic move, THE POWER OF SMALL is all about how making little changes can help you transform your life in an enormous way.  For most of us, renouncing our worldly possessions and uprooting our lives isn’t just impractical, it’s impossible.  But, there are a number of SMALL changes we can make to help us all emulate Pico Iyer and feel a little more Zen.

Unplug for one hour. We know how hard it can be to shut off your cell phone, unplug your laptop, and turn off the TV, but every night, for at least one hour, make the commitment to “go wireless” in a whole new way.  Open up a good book, play a board game with your kids, or even whip up a batch of cookies in the kitchen.  Whatever you do, you’ll find that one tech-free hour a day will really help reduce your stress.

Go solo. Whether online or in person, we all spend so much time talking, texting, and tweeting with others that “me time” has become a luxury. Tomorrow, try giving yourself 15 minutes to take a short walk or grab a latte by yourself.  You might be surprised what you discover when you’re alone with your thoughts.

Clean up. We can’t all make do with the just the bare necessities like Pico Iyer, but getting rid of excess bills, magazines, and tchotchkes is beneficial and doable. Try this SMALL tip: every evening before you go to bed, set a timer for five minutes and pick up any clutter you see lying around.  When the timer goes off, toss out what you don’t want and call it a day.  The next morning you’ll wake up to a slightly cleaner house and a clearer mind.

Posted by Linda and Robin