Still Waters

I walked to fast flowing water in the woods. It's energy and exuberance were inspiring, but too much for me in my mentally drained state.

I turned to the slow water channel for some relief, and approached it with the spirit of Wendell Berry. I sat and absorbed the quiet nothingness, thinking of his words.

"When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds." 

"I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief." 

"I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light." 

"For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."

I return home feeling refreshed and revitalized, ready to forge ahead and meet the challenges of the day.

The still waters do it again, and I am grateful. For the moment, I feel free.

What Are Your Favourite Simple Living Books?

Millions of people have recently, through no fault of their own, become involuntarily un-jobbed. Has there ever been a better time to do some reading about simple living? 

Any time is a good time, but now is especially appropriate since many people have time to read, and plenty of reasons to want to learn more about getting by with less.

That leads me to a comment on a recent post, in which a reader (Mary) wrote, 

"...something I wanted to ask this community: what are your favourite simple living-type books?"

I have been wanting to ask readers the exact same question as I have been thinking about creating a "Readings/Resources" page to add at the top of this blog.

How nice, then, that as soon as the question was asked, you began to respond.I think it was Madeleine's comment that got us started.

"Hello Mary, off the top of my head here a a few all-time favourite books:  

Timeless Simplicity: Creative Living in a Consumer Society by John Lane - beautifully written and more philosophical than "how-to". I love it and have read it many times. 

Retrosuburbia: The Downshifters Guide to a Resilient Future by David Holmgren - a brilliant book that will give you hope for a better future and tell you how to do it (huge and about AUD $80, but well worth it). 

Down To Earth by Rhonda Hetzel - A timeless classic and especially good for anyone new to the how-tos and whys of simple living.  

She has a brilliant blog and it could take you a year to plumb the archives! Perfect for times like these."

Then, Mela left a comment that described a blissful evening including a pot of tea, a purring cat, a sofa, and a "frayed paged" copy of Charles Long's How To Survive Without a Salary, which has been described as,

"...more than a guide to financial management: it promotes a lifestyle program which advocates avoiding consumer traps, using budgets, analyzing needs, and finding alternatives to buying".  

I sure can get behind that. 

I'd like to see a few more titles in that series for the coronavirus lockdown, and for the new world that we will live in when it is over. 

Several come to mind:

- How to Survive Without A Grocery Store
- How to Survive Without Capitalism
- How To Survive Without Fast/Processed Foods
- How To Survive Without Killing The Planet
- How to Survive Without War, Police, and The State
- How to Survive Without Billionaires 
- How To Survive Without Avocado Toast

What are your favourite simple living reads? 

You can leave your selections in the comments, where Mary originally popped the question, or post a comment on this page below if you haven't already over there. 

Thank you to everyone that has weighed in already. We look forward to further responses, and to compiling them all into a master list for everyone to use to guide us toward gentler, slower, lighter, and in the end, better living.