A Simpler Life
A Guide to Greater Serenity, Ease and Clarity
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A Simpler Life
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Narrated by:
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Rachel Lanning
About this listen
This book explores ideas around minimalism, simplicity, and how to live comfortably with less.
The modern world can be a complicated, frenzied, and noisy place, filled with too many options, products, ideas and opinions. That explains why what many of us long for is simplicity: a life that can be more pared down, peaceful, and focused on the essentials.
But finding simplicity is not always easy; it isn’t just a case of emptying out our closets or trimming back commitments in our diaries. True simplicity requires that we understand the roots of our distractions – and develop a canny respect for the stubborn reasons why things can grow complex and overwhelming.
This book is a guide to the simpler lives we crave and deserve. It considers how we might achieve simplicity across a range of areas. Along the way, we learn about Zen Buddhism, modernist architecture, monasteries, psychoanalysis, and why we probably don’t need more than three good friends or a few treasured belongings.
It isn’t enough that our lives should look simple; they need to be simple from the inside. This book takes a psychological approach, guiding us towards less contorted hearts and minds. We have for too long been drowning in excess and clutter from a confusion about our aspirations. A Simpler Life helps us tune out the static and focus on what properly matters to us.
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 287
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 282
According to Whyte, we humans are involved not just with one marriage with a significant other. We also have made secret vows to our work and unspoken vows to an inner, constantly developing self. Whyte's thesis is that to separate these marriages in order to balance them is to destroy the fabric of happiness itself; that in each of these marriages, will, effort, and hard work are overused, overrated, and in many ways self-defeating.
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RARE SELF-HELP BOOK THAT ACTUALLY HELPS
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By: David Whyte
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At the Existentialist Café
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- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,071
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 945
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 939
Paris, 1933: Three contemporaries meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are the young Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and longtime friend Raymond Aron, a fellow philosopher who raves to them about a new conceptual framework from Berlin called phenomenology. "You see," he says, "if you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail and make philosophy out of it!"
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Consistent look at incoherent philosophy
- By Gary on 06-19-16
By: Sarah Bakewell
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How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life
- An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness
- By: Russ Roberts
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 946
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 846
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 843
In How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life, Roberts examines Smith’s forgotten masterpiece, and finds a treasure trove of timeless, practical wisdom. Smith’s insights into human nature are just as relevant today as they were 300 years ago. What does it take to be truly happy? Should we pursue fame and fortune or the respect of our friends and family? How can we make the world a better place?
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Hard to distinguish Roberts from Smith in reading
- By Amazing Customer on 03-31-15
By: Russ Roberts
-
Walking in This World
- The Practical Art of Creativity
- By: Julia Cameron
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 211
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 153
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 151
Walking in This World picks up where Julia Cameron's best-selling book on the creative process, The Artist's Way, left off to present readers with a second course, part two in an amazing journey toward discovering our human potential. Full of valuable new strategies and techniques for breaking through difficult creative ground, this is the "intermediate level" of the Artist's Way program.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
I wish there was a zero star rating
- By Jason on 04-24-07
By: Julia Cameron
-
Big Magic
- Creative Living Beyond Fear
- By: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26,752
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 23,462
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23,316
People of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Biggest Inspiration In a Long Time
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Conundrum
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- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 86
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 77
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Story5 out of 5 stars 76
This remarkable memoir is the classic account of the transgender journey. It is all the more extraordinary because it is the life story of a figure who, it seemed, seamlessly and publicly charted a course through the English establishment - James Morris, outstanding journalist, historian and travel writer, famed for a peerless writing style. But all the while he was concealing a very different inner world: from the age of four he felt that, despite his body, he was really a girl.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful memoir
- By Gabriel Smith on 07-25-22
By: Jan Morris
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The Antidote
- Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking
- By: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,041
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,649
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,636
The Antidote is a series of journeys among people who share a single, surprising way of thinking about life. What they have in common is a hunch about human psychology: that it’s our constant effort to eliminate the negative that causes us to feel so anxious, insecure, and unhappy. And that there is an alternative "negative path" to happiness and success that involves embracing the things we spend our lives trying to avoid.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Antidote explores the negative path.
- By Bonny on 05-15-14
By: Oliver Burkeman
-
To Show and to Tell
- The Craft of Literary Nonfiction
- By: Phillip Lopate
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 62
Distinguished author Phillip Lopate, editor of the celebrated anthology The Art of the Personal Essay, is universally acclaimed as “one of our best personal essayists” ( Dallas Morning News). Here, combining more than 40 years of lessons from his storied career as a writer and professor, he brings us this highly anticipated nuts-and-bolts guide to writing literary nonfiction. A phenomenal master class shaped by Lopate’s informative, accessible tone, and immense gift for storytelling.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Not a guide on writing personal essays
- By A. Yoshida on 08-07-13
By: Phillip Lopate
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Wabi Sabi
- Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life
- By: Beth Kempton
- Narrated by: Beth Kempton
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 335
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 290
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 291
The definitive guide that teaches you how to use the Japanese concept of wabi sabi to reshape every area of your life and find happiness right where you are.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Wouldn’t get it if have to pay a full credit
- By Nik L. on 10-04-21
By: Beth Kempton
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Self-Knowledge
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Fiona Buckland
- Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
In Ancient Greece, when the philosopher Socrates was asked to sum up what all philosophical commandments could be reduced to, he replied: "Know yourself". Self-knowledge matters so much because it is only on the basis of an accurate sense of who we are that we can make reliable decisions - particularly around love and work. This book takes us on a journey into our deepest, most elusive selves and arms us with a set of tools to understand our characters properly.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
terrible voice
- By Tina Crosby on 08-27-20
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The Great Work of Your Life
- A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling
- By: Stephen Cope
- Narrated by: Kevin M. Connolly
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 502
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 424
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Story5 out of 5 stars 421
To know your true calling - your dharma, as the yogis say - is perhaps the greatest desire within each of us. And yet, few can say we know our purpose with absolute certainty. Fortunately, there is a time-tested guide - an ancient map - for discovering and fulfilling your unique calling. In The Great Work of Your Life, Stephen Cope walks you through each step of the journey.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Jungian Zen Psychoanalytical Retired Meditation Teacher
- By Glenn Guillory, SFO on 06-13-20
By: Stephen Cope
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Uncommon Gratitude
- Alleluia for All That Is
- By: Joan Chittister, Rowan Williams
- Narrated by: Joan Chittister O.S.B., Dan Havron O.F.M.
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4 out of 5 stars 34
This series of reflections reveals the importance of gratitude in helping us see beyond the immediate to a broader and deeper reality. The discovery of this perpetual alleluia will help you discover what you are, become who you are, and grow with gratitude into the unknown.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Spiritual platform for left-wing ideology
- By John Glemby on 06-29-19
By: Joan Chittister, and others
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Why Smart People Hurt
- A Guide for the Bright, the Sensitive, and the Creative
- By: Eric Maisel
- Narrated by: Seth Podowitz
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 158
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 124
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 123
The challenges smart and creative people encounter - from scientific researchers and genius award winners to best-selling novelists, Broadway actors, high-powered attorneys, and academics - often include anxiety, overthinking, mania, sadness, and despair. In Why Smart People Hurt, natural psychology specialist and creativity coach Dr. Eric Maisel draws on his many years of work with the best and the brightest to pinpoint these often devastating challenges and offer solutions based on the groundbreaking principles and practices of natural psychology.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Stunningly Unintelligent
- By john burke on 05-22-21
By: Eric Maisel
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The Artisan Soul
- Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art
- By: Erwin Raphael McManus
- Narrated by: Erwin Raphael McManus
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 275
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 241
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 239
In The Artisan Soul, Erwin Raphael McManus, author, thought leader, and founder of MOSAIC in Los Angeles, pens a manifesto for human creativity and the beginning of a new renaissance. McManus not only calls us to reclaim our creative essence but reveals how we can craft our lives into works of art. There are no shortcuts to quality, and McManus celebrates the spiritual process that can help us discover our true selves.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Bravo
- By Achley on 05-20-16
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Confident Decision Making
- How to Make the Right Choice Every Time
- By: Roger Dawson
- Narrated by: Roger Dawson
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 76
Every businessperson has to make decisions. Here's how to make them quickly, correctly and confidently.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Practical Book
- By Amazon Customer on 12-24-14
By: Roger Dawson
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Emotional intelligence affects every aspect of the way we live, from romantic to professional relationships, from our inner resilience to our social success. It is arguably the single most important skill for surviving the twenty-first century. But what does it really mean? One decade ago, Alain de Botton founded The School of Life, an institute dedicated to understanding and improving our emotional intelligence. Now he presents the gathered wisdom of those ten years in a wide-ranging and innovative compendium of emotional intelligence that forms an introduction to The School of Life.
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Deep, intelligent, compassionate
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For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote the one-and-a-quarter-million words of In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer. For, in this stylish, erudite and frequently hilarious book, de Botton dips deeply into Proust’s life and work - his fiction, letter, and conversations – and distils from them that rare self-help manual: one that is actually helpful.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 499
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 497
Alain de Botton has performed a stunning feat: He has transformed arcane philosophy into something accessible and entertaining, useful and kind. Drawing on the work of six of the world's most brilliant thinkers, de Botton has arranged a panoply of wisdom to guide us through our most common problems.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Cheering, empathic, helpful
- By Austin on 11-11-09
By: Alain de Botton
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Varieties of Melancholy
- A Hopeful Guide to Our Sombre Moods
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 3 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
This is a book that celebrates the most neglected but valuable emotion we can feel: melancholy. Melancholy isn’t depression, rage, or bitterness. It’s a serene, wise, and kindly response to the difficulties of being alive. It helps us navigate a wise and rational middle ground between extreme despair and naïve optimism. But melancholy is a well-kept secret. It isn't celebrated or recommended. It remains relatively unexplored in a hyper-competitive, noisy, frantic age.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Hurt locker
- By beecroft on 02-21-24
What listeners say about A Simpler Life
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lorraine Allen
- 06-11-23
The book I needed to read
A book that confirms what I’d always thought might be true but couldn’t quite believe was ok to live.
I can now give up the complicated stressful life of running multiple homes and attending parties I felt obliged to show my face at.
It’s thrilling … let’s see if a simple life really is as good as it sounds. Thrilling to start implementing the ideas.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- pebblesinwater
- 12-11-23
What do we really need?
An welcome examination of what is truly most important in our lives. Do we really need a lot of money or an abundance of a variety of experiences?
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tammi
- 01-29-24
Wonderful Insight
Wish to give the cult of busy the heave ho? This book shows the way to a realistic, calm, independent life. Be brave and shut out the noise. Live a richer human life. Click, “Buy.”
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- nicholas kehrlein
- 08-24-24
Good advice, not too long
Every school of life book I’ve read is great, this one especially as it has practical implementations of ways to change your mindset and and step off the hamster wheel.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Aaron K.
- 09-11-22
Great guidelines
A book to listen through a few times to adjust your life for the better!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tonya Kubo
- 02-12-22
Bite-size practical tips for a better life
Simplicity might be uncomplicated but that doesn't make it easy. In this book, you're bound to find a dozen or so ideas to simplify your life so you can achieve greater clarity on what matters to you most and feel at peace when working toward it.
As someone who battles clutter in all aspects of life -- in my head, heart and home -- I found several useful tidbits in this book, especially the section on living like a monk. The idea of focusing on a few things that last and minimizing the need to think too much about what I wear or what I do is appealing. It's not about deprivation, it's about making space for the things that really matter -- like freeing up time and energy to solve bigger problems with greater impact.
I enjoyed the narration and listened to the whole book in the car while running errands over the course of a day. It's one I'll listen to again.
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2 people found this helpful