J is for Joy: A-Z of Simple Living

This January, we're taking an in-depth look at the why and how of simplicity with the A-Z of Simple Living. If you want to make 2015 the year you create a simpler, slower life, why not join us?

------

If you took life to it's absolute barest of essentials - food and shelter - that would qualify as a life of simplicity, wouldn't it?You would have all the very basics covered - food to sustain you, shelter to protect you. You could exist.That is a simple life, isn't it?Simple, yes. But life? Not so much.Where is the exploration, the happiness, the discovery of new things, the comfort of love and familiarity? Where is the creativity? The spirituality? The sharing a joke with an old friend? The generosity?Where is the joy?

What Does Joy Have to do With Simple Living?

Joy is a hugely important part of simple living.You can live simply with just food and shelter. But joy brings depth and warmth and excitement and happiness to our lives. It is a beautiful by-product of living a simple life.But joy doesn't just happen. Just like anything worthwhile, you need to work at it. You need to bring the joy.

Bringing the Joy...

When you're searching for joy, start small:

• Joy is experiencing the tiny details of life - the mundane, small and insignificant.
• Joy is understanding that nothing really is small or insignificant.
• Joy is finding beauty unexpectedly. An empty room, a sunset glimpsed on a skyscraper window, dust dancing in the air, ants crawling in a perfect line across the grass. Joy is pausing to soak it up.
• Joy is laughter.
• Joy is a smile and a giggle bubbling up from deep within for no apparent reason.
• Joy is tears in your eyes as you watch your kids dance.

The big joys - giving, sharing, loving - they follow.

Simplify Your Life to Bring More Joy

If we're buried under the weight of things - things from our past, things from a future that never happened, things we don't care for - joy will be more difficult to find.If we're struggling beneath the heaviness of a life crammed full of commitments, toxic relationships, comparison and materialistic envy - how the hell can we expect to find true joy?We're too heavy. We're too stuck.But choosing to live more simply, to live more intentionally, to live with less, means we grow lighter.We have the space and the energy to take notice more, to appreciate more, to laugh more, to love more. We have the space and energy for joy.That is why we're all on this path, isn't it? To find a better way, a simpler way, a happier way. A more joyful way.If you feel like all you are doing is stripping things away from your life, remember that you are making space for happiness, love, depth, fun, beauty.You are making space for joy.Tell us, what is the greatest joy in your life today? What joy do you want to make room for?