Clementines in Silver Bowl
I’ve chosen to call this blog elegant simple life for several reasons:
Elegant, because it focuses on the beauty and grace inherent in simplicity.
Simple, because it does not have to be complicated.
Life, because it encompasses the whole canvas of being, not just segments of existence.
Elegant. Simple. Life. For me, this is both an affirmation and a goal. It is about living with less stuff and more joy in an atmosphere of tranquility and beauty.
I’d like to focus on the concept of elegance for a moment because I have just finished reading In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing, by Matthew E. May. I love May’s statement, “…not everything simple is elegant, but everything elegant is simple.”
Elegance is not a matter of money or upbringing or education. Instead, it is a matter of attitude, a lens through which one views the world. Ultimately, elegance is a state of mind.
This concept gets to the core of simple living and minimalism. Living a simple life is not about hardship and asceticism. It does not require doing without all the joys and simple pleasures that make life just a little bit sweeter.
Rather, elegant simple living means identifying what is essential and releasing the rest. And that will look different for everyone.
And that is what makes it feasible. There are no rules of right or wrong. What is elegant simplicity to one person may be the height of consumerism to another. Conversely, an elegantly simple choice for one individual may look like borderline poverty to somebody else.
Thankfully, the world of simple living and minimalism is large enough to contain a wide range of attitudes. This keeps it interesting and fresh and available to everybody. The underlying premise is that we are consciously seeking to live fulfilling lives with less stuff and more room for the things that matter. The rest is open to interpretation. And that, to me, is simply elegant.
