What is this thing called Simple Living?

Lately I've had a strong desire to go shopping. To put together outfits, and try on clothes, and purchase large amounts of stuff. For what? So I can sift through it in a few years and give it away to Good Will. There's such a pull to consume things in this country. And especially in L.A. And let's be real, it's not that I feel preassured to "look" a certain way and that's why I'm so interested in having new things. There's genuinely something inside of me that lights up when I buy something new.

In theory I want to be a person who lives simply--unattached to possesions. Ready to sell all that I have and move if God calls me somewhere. Or, even just ready to move without needing a full day to pack up my belongings. In my mind I think, if it really really came to it I would give everything away, and I probably would, but that's not really the point of living simply is it? To be willing to give up stuff if your life depended on it.

I do not lead a materially simple lifestyle. My DVD collection says it all. It's nearly doubled since graduation.

On a different note, I have come to really enjoy the magazine Real Simple.

Now that's a different type of simple living all together. In fact, it actually fuels my drive to consume things, but under the guise of actually distilling my chaotic life down to some more pure essence of being.

Recently I saw an exhibition of Andrea Zittel's work. She's a new tenure-track faculty person at the USC Roski School of Fine Arts. I don't konw anything about her spiritual background, but she is definitely a proponent of simplicity in every aspect of her life. It's kind of amazing to see the way she creates these comprehensive living units


I could work with the desk (middle image), but would I be up for sleeping, eating, bathing, and working in the same 10ft square space?