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Jump to navigationJump to searchSimple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life by Sarah Ban Breathnach (view source)
Revision as of 16:25, 15 August 2020
, 16:25, 15 August 2020no edit summary
The Book: is a daybook.
For every single day of the year , there is a short tract. It begins with a quotation, which might be poetry or prose, is always succinct (no more than a couple of sentences or four lines of verse), and which encapsulates or amplifies the thought for the day.
The 'thought' for each day is a very short essay – sometimes only a couple of paragraphs, never more than a couple of pages. They are 'kinda' grouped thematically month by month – so that in January, for example, you get reflections which are basically centred around 'beginnings' – re-ordering your life, thinking about your needs and your wants and the difference between the two. There's an assumption that you will come to the book in January – and a request that even if you don't that you'll start reading there anyway. June spends much time talking about gardens and fruits and flowers. Yet it is only a 'kinda' grouping, because you can never tell when SBB will wander off to talk about something else: a stressful day, carparkingcar parking, paying bills – or making curtains, playing at the beach.
At the end of each month (which is the one thing wrong with this book – they should be at the beginning!) is a list of 'joyful simplicities': wonderful fun, cheap'n'cheerful (if not absolutely free) things to do this month just to celebrate being alive, being on planet earth, being you. For a flavour: June offered 'remember ice cream is good for the soul'…or camp out in your back yard…lie back & look at the stars.
The Book book has a purpose: which is to remind us that we are more than our driven selves. Yes, we want all the goodies on offer, but we don't have to crucify ourselves in the process of reaching for them. We should take stock of we actually need, and what we merely want, and redirect our energies accordingly. In her foreword, Sarah explains that she only discovered this by actually writing the book – which started out as another de-clutter, time-manage, organise your life treatise.
Simple Abundance seeks to encourage us to journey inwards and find out who we really are, and then to journey back out in the world to be that person. Along the way, it seeks to encourage the spiritual part of us, the creative, the fun. It seeks to remind us that however affluent we may or may not be has no bearing upon how abundant our lives are. Sarah never quite gets away from her original aim, however, and there are plenty of practicalities dotted amongst the more esoteric musings: quoting William Morris “Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” is the declutter injunction of all time. She talks about foraging: in the hedgerows and the junk shops. She talks about making do and mending…but she also talks about indulging in that particular pair of shoes that you really cannot do without…once in a while.
If the world is too much with you, take a few days journey on the path of simple abundance discovering the principles of gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy. It works for me.
You might also appreciate [[Why Do You Think You Are? by Pauline Turner]].
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