QUOTES THAT STUCK from The Art of Simplicity

Thus book taught me a lot, it taught me how to be organized . It taught me that simplicity can be chic, that simplicity IS chic. It gave me a compass for my personal style, gave me Rule of thumbs to follow when purchasing, wearing, and organizing my clothes. I knew my style better after reading this book.

Some Quotes that stuck -

▪ Simplicity offers the solution to so many problems

▪ Opulent luxury brings neither grace nor elegance. It imprisons and destroys the soul, while simplicity offers the solution to so many problems.

▪ Minimalism requires an ordered lifestyle and careful attention to detail

▪ Learn to eliminate quietly, carefully, but firmly and thoroughly

▪ Do not enrich your life with objects. Instead, enrich your body with sensations, your heart with feelings and your mind with principles.

▪ And as everyone knows, throwing things overboard is the best way to stay afloat

▪ Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep. ~ Le Corbusier

At home: say no to clutter

▪ A home furnished with nothing but a handful of beautiful, absolutely essential things is a haven of peace. Cherish it, clean it and inhabit it with care and respect – it is a protective shell for your greatest treasure: your own self.

▪ A room furnished with empty space draws in natural light and becomes filled with positive influences

▪ People who live in clean, empty spaces feel in control of their lives

▪ A MINIMAL HOME Make your home compact, comfortable, practical

▪ Never compromise; never hold on to useless things.

▪ The entrance to your home should be welcoming and bright, with flowers: the elements concentrated here will suffuse the rest of your interior

▪ Ensure abundance and plenty by keeping your home well stocked with food and provisions, and storing them all in one place. Never allow supplies to run low – this will create a sense of hardship and need. Your fruit bowl should always be full, and your refrigerator free of wilting vegetables and three-day-old leftovers

▪ Fitted carpet or rugs are material ‘anchors’: they magnify basic, existential resources.

Things: what should stay, and what should go?

▪ ‘The key to loving how you live is in knowing what it is you truly love.’ ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

▪ It is better to live with high aspirations than mediocre realities

Time: waste less, make the most of more

▪ Learn how to spend an entire day at home reading poetry, cooking, burning incense, drinking a glass of fine wine, watching the moon.

▪ taking time to stop, sit and contemplate our experiences and identity is the highest form of activity

▪ Mindfulness opens the doors to immense reserves of creativity, intelligence, determination and wisdom

▪ We should strive to give the smallest tasks our full and complete attention. We should strive for complete focus in everything we do,

▪ Thinking ahead is vital, even while focusing on the present.

▪ Montaigne said that a life lived to the fullest is a life enriched and nourished by ritual

▪ Take a nap when you can, even five minutes at your desk

▪ Live life at a slower pace, working less. Refuse to take on extra hours, or work part time if you are able.

▪ Avoid routine. If you drink coffee, try tea. Vary your journey to work.

▪ Own little. Schedule your housework. Buy all of your shopping in one session, once a week. Keep your desktop free of paperwork, except for immediate, ongoing tasks

Make Money: your servant, not your master

▪ Waste means thinking you’ve got a bargain, then regretting your purchase. It means buying a cheap sweater that loses its color or shrinks the first time it’s washed, or a poor-quality mattress that hurts your back

▪ Never spend more than you earn, and save a little each month

▪ Disorder means we often end up owning the same thing twice, cluttering our space for no reason.

Get ‘Less for more’ - order and cleanliness
▪ ‘Order is the shape upon which beauty depends.’ ~ Pearl Buck

▪ Adopt a personal mantra: I want only essential things
▪ Ask yourself: why do I keep that?

Finding your own image:
▪ Try to remain neutral, quietly detached and uninvolved: you will feel more serene, and look more beautiful.

▪ We have a duty to maintain a clean, well-groomed appearance. No one needs to be ‘born beautiful’, we can all make ourselves more attractive by keeping to a few simple rules, cultivating self-awareness and making a conscious choice not to abuse our bodies
▪ The desire to be physically pleasing is not superficial – it’s a question of respect. Beauty is not always heaven-sent. It’s a discipline, and mankind has pursued it since the dawn of time. Physical beauty depends largely on health and self-confidence.

▪ Beauty lies in the texture and tone of the skin, in properly exercised, supple muscles, a slim silhouette, a greater delicacy of gesture, fluidity of movement and a dignified posture

▪ to speak more correctly, and to regulate our flow of words.

▪ Everything can be practiced and refined

▪ When an action is repeated, it becomes anchored deep inside us.

▪ Practice focusing your concentration on all that you are. Strive continually to surpass yourself, to do things better than eve

▪ The best way to ensure your everyday gestures remain supple and ‘fluent’ is to own only things that are beautiful and useful. They are our source of grace. Act slowly and gracefully, but practice swiftness, too.

▪ Loving your skin while you care for it is like talking to a plant when it’s watered: the result will be more beautiful

▪ ‘The worst disease is scorn of one’s own body.’ ~ Montaigne
▪ expensive soap, lotions or creams are unnecessary
▪ No more impurities a system loaded with toxins cannot function correctly

Fitness without the gym
▪ Our quality of life depends on how attentive we are to our actions, thoughts and choices. T

▪ Yoga, in particular, enhances beauty – and not only physical beauty. Yoga generates a unique light, charisma and aura all its own.
▪ A yogi channels the entire universe and transmits it as positive energy

▪ Through discipline, the practitioner achieves release from material comforts and physical laziness, and attains a state of perfect tranquility.

▪ a teaspoon of apple vinegar, and a teaspoon of honey each morning in a glass of hot or ice-cold water. The vinegar is said to eliminate excess proteins, and has all the properties of fresh apples. It can dissolve toxins trapped in our joints, contribute potassium and help the body stay supple.

▪ Having to explain what you’re doing to people who are not aware of these techniques, and who may doubt their effectiveness, will dilute your energy

▪ An exercise is only beneficial if it is undertaken in a positive, pleasant and fruitful way. Then and only then will it be experienced as a need, and repeated regularly.

▪ First thing each morning, set the program for your day. Remember the overall aim of everything you do. Tell yourself that you are journeying towards your own perfection. Each new day is a step up in your life.

Part III: Mind

▪ Seneca urges us to protect the self, to arm it, respect it, honor it and take ownership of it; to keep it within our sight, and to organize our lives around it

▪ Genuine self-knowledge, he maintains, is the greatest, and the only legitimate, lasting, unshakable source of joy: ‘most powerful is he who has himself in his own power’

A purer spirit

▪ Feelings of rebellion, fear, jealousy, frustration, hatred and resentment are mentally and physically self-destructive

▪ A life lived without cultivating an awareness of who we truly are leads to self-deterioration and destruction.

▪ Concentrate your mind on the conviction that only good things will come, and be careful to ‘watch’ your thoughts, so that you may direct them to things that are right, excellent and reasonable

▪ Your inner thoughts are reflected in every aspect of your appearance and conduct.

▪ Energy flows from your thoughts: they are the origin of your attitude to life.

▪ You are responsible for your own existence. The world you create around you is its reflection.

▪ The followers of Wu Wei believed that the best phase of existence begins when we have cleared our minds of useless thoughts

▪ True self-esteem comes when we master our self-image as the pathway to liberation

▪ Don’t tackle or ‘treat’ your problems: rise above them. Focusing on a problem keeps it alive and prevents you from moving on.

▪ The more we focus on things we don’t want to think about, the more power they will have over us

▪ Let the question rest, and settle, like still water. Soon, something magical will take place in your subconscious.

▪ When we obsess about a problem, or something that irritates us, we forget the wonders and possibilities of life. We see only what is lacking, the injustice,

▪ anxiety is the result of uncertainty

▪ negativity is the result of low energy and self-esteem

▪ The Zen Buddhist master Deshimaru said that thoughts should be allowed to float like clouds in the sky

▪ Meditation enhances blood circulation and memory.

▪ ‘Stop talking and thinking: there will be nothing you cannot understand.’ ~ Buddhist proverb

 Simplify your contacts
▪ ‘Only the perfect man can live among his peers without accepting their prejudices. He adapts to them without losing his personality. He learns nothing from them and recognizes their aspirations without making them his own.’ ~ Zhuang Zhou

▪ Break off sterile relationships. End relationships that give you no support. In love, never be the slave of the person you desire. Avoid people of little intelligence. Better not to spend time with them, than to criticize them

▪ Intolerant, uncomprehending people can prevent us from growing and moving forward. Slowly but surely diminish their importance in your life. And don’t waste another minute thinking about people you don’t like.

Out and about

▪ When you compromise your dreams or values for another person, you lose a little of yourself and your strength

▪ Don’t be the person everyone expects you to be – be the person you want to be. Know precisely and firmly the things you want and do not want in your life. Be independent. Have the courage to say ‘no’ with a smile, and with no excuses.

▪ avoid financial transactions with your friends if you don’t want to cloud your friendship

▪ Take a deep breath before speaking. You will be shown more attention and respect. Let others speak freely. Let them finish what they have to say.

▪ Talking too much drains our energy and deprives our words of weight.

▪ The more we speak, the more distanced we become from others and ourselves

▪ Avoid metaphysical and religious discussions

▪ Self-control is essential for good relationships with others. Avoid parading your knowledge and expertise or posing as a fount of philosophical wisdom

▪ People who expect nothing, regret nothing and have nothing to lose are to be admired.

▪ Whatever you do, don’t try to change other people. This will only complicate your life, drain your energy and leave you feeling helpless and frustrated.

▪ The only way to influence others is by example: behave in such a way that they will seek to emulate your lifestyle, your attitudes, your ideas

▪ If you seek to defend your position, you will simply be wasting your energy.

▪ Maintaining your integrity requires detachment. You have no need to aspire to be like others, or to be different from them

▪ Our greatest gift to other people is to behave in such a way that they aspire to become simpler and more spontaneous themselve

▪ Offering practical help to others is a good thing, but helping them to think for themselves is far more important.

▪ We are impoverished by our belief that happiness comes with material possessions. Impoverished when we allow ourselves to be influenced by advertising. Impoverished when we allow ourselves to be caught up in the relentless machinery of competitiveness. Impoverished when we cannot free ourselves to live simpler lives. Impoverished when we attach labels to everything, even to generosity itself.

▪ Being alone is not a choice, it is our original condition. We are all alone, deep down inside. Solitude can be difficult for a person who is unused to it but, over time, it becomes a precious commodity. Physical solitude is not to be feared, but spiritual solitude is. If we feel alone in our heart, how can we truly experience contact with others,

▪ Appreciate solitude. Consider it a privilege, not an ordeal. It is a gift from heaven, and the essential condition for self-advancement, the consideration of serious topics, or effective work. Moments of solitude enable us to plant seeds that will grow and flourish in unknown, still-undiscovered phases of life

▪ Living alone is an art to be learned and cultivated. There are so many things we can accomplish in silence and solitude! Meditating, reading, dreaming, imagining, creating, taking care of ourselves.

 Be ready to change

▪ Successful’ people (great job, beautiful family…) never doubt their own ability to obtain the things they aspire to

▪ Success is rooted in the mind, and finds expression in the material world, never the other way around. To obtain prosperity, you must first create it in your own mind

▪ Provided we keep an open mind and are receptive, we can make use of all the intelligence lying untapped in the spheres of our subconscious mind

▪ Choose to obtain the things you dream of, or your fears will be realized instead

▪ Identify the problem clearly. Ask your subconscious to find a solution and relax in the certainty that everything will turn out for the best. If

▪ Your own words have the power to cleanse your spirit of false ideas, and to instill right ideas in their place

▪ If we imagine an experience with sufficient intensity, a whole range of involuntary reactions will be set in motion, conforming precisely to what we have ‘foreseen’ in our mind’s eye.

▪ Loving yourself is the way to happiness. Accept yourself, and you will be freed from anxious thoughts about what others think of you. Respect your dreams, follow your desires. THE

▪ The more we polish and shape ourselves, the more we sparkle and the more others are attracted to what they see. Apply yourself to the pursuit of perfection: it is the key to long life.

▪ Even if you only fulfill six tasks out of ten, congratulate yourself. We should all do a little more each day – even for five minutes – to bring us closer to our dreams: make

▪ A person who depends on others to get what he or she wants is a beggar

▪ Speak to the things that are not within your power: tell them that they are nothing to you

Reading and writing

▪ Read in peace and quiet, without music, coffee or biscuits. After a chapter or a few pages, close the book and think about what you have read

▪ Practice knowing and expressing exactly what it is you want

▪ If we do not define exactly where we are, how can we choose to take another direction and move on

▪ Don’t spend your money on new material possessions, spend it on learning instead. Knowledge is the one thing that can never be taken away.

▪ Many people have money, but live impoverished lives

▪ for Meister Eckhart, as for Buddhists, the true causes of human misery are acquisitiveness, a hunger for possessions, and an insatiable ego.

▪ We should all deprive ourselves of ‘luxuries’ from time to time, in order not to suffer if fate robs us of everything one day.

▪ Practice poverty so that you will not fear it: if you’re in the habit of drinking only the finest quality arabica, try instant coffee once a week.

▪ Be wary of virtue and organized religion, especially if it appears fundamentally lifeless and formal. We do not need to be part of a community to live with compassion and humility

▪ Be wary of virtue and organized religion, especially if it appears fundamentally lifeless and formal. We do not need to be part of a community to live with compassion and humility

▪ In ancient Japan, hermits practiced lives of simplicity and poverty that were celebrated as art forms, living in modest homes, eating little, owning little, barely going out in society

▪ the true definition of wastefulness is having things we do not enjoy or use. When we have too much, we overlook so many opportunities.

▪ Simplicity requires balance. It means measuring the extent of our appreciation of the material world, and taking effective advantage of the happiness available to us. It means making wise use of our money, time and possessions.

▪ We can achieve our goals by focusing on the essential, the beautiful, on perfection.

▪ Our primary concern should always be a more profound recognition of our inner self, yet we waste time and precious energy accumulating objects and possessions, and seeking pleasure in food, drink and exciting experiences

▪ If we want to journey far, we must start out quietly and pace ourselves, or we will exhaust our reserves.

Economize your energy

▪ Each individual is the projection of a host of different expressions and activities. Each of us is activated by the quality of the matter from which we are made. But matter is driven by the mind.

▪ In China, Taoism uses qi to attain higher levels of physical and spiritual energy. We know that our state of mind can alter the way our bodies function and look. Hence we know, too, that change is possible if we desire it powerfully enough. To make change happen, we must summon and concentrate our psychic energy.

▪ Don’t think of someone as a body, but as a current of living energy.’ ~ Mishima

▪ Reach out to the things that bring you satisfaction, personal enrichment and liberation

▪ If we define clearly what we want, and why we want it, we can listen to the small inner voice that is our guide. This is why thinking and dreaming about the things we desire is good for us.

▪ SAVE YOUR ENERGY An overworked mind is associated with an unhealthy body. If you do not live simply and frugally, if you do not keep your body supple and stress-free, if you fail to respect others, or the natural world, your health will suffer. You will find it difficult to control your anxiety and lead a happy, contented life

▪ Ideas that do not become deeply held convictions will have no impact

▪ the absence of disease depends on our degree of psychic awareness, and the balance we strive to maintain.

▪ QI AND ENTHUSIASM Discard negative thoughts and concentrate your energies on what you truly want to be or have

▪ Do not cultivate a taste for sorrowful things, he wrote, even if they are beautiful.

▪ Enthusiasm is an emotion that spurs us into action. It is a powerful energy form, to be cultivated with dedication

▪ The transformation of the body is essential if it is to be purified and its essence preserved.

▪ Dead’ foods lead to death. Too much food blocks our energy.

In conclusion

▪ Setting out for an unknown destination, with no ties or obligations, minimal luggage, and the world at your feet is a joy!

▪ Laughter relaxes and unlines the face, helping emotions of all kinds to rise to the surface. People who laugh are seldom ill.

▪ Happiness depends on the smallest of things: we should never give up trying to be free, modest, pleasant and sociable.

▪ Accept the inevitable with grace, and tell yourself that the experience will be helpful, somehow. Avoid whatever can be avoided, and face the rest steadfastly and patiently

▪ A failure to accept life as it is prevents us from growing and moving on

▪ Take one step, then another, but don’t look too far ahead, or too far behind

▪ The more an individual’s life is filled with spirituality, the better they will know how to live in the present moment, and the more fully they will live in their own body