Name: Mitul Shah's review of A Simpler Life by The School of Life
Item: A Simpler Life
Rating: 4
Author: Mitul Shah

The School of Life

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.

A guide to greater serenity, ease, and clarity

A Simpler Life

Anton Stallbörger

If you had the right things, he argued, you wouldn't need many things.

Pierre

The point of life isn’t to have the ‘right’ reactions, just our own, very honest, ones

[O]ur lives grow more complicated the less we stop to ask what things are for, why we are doing them and how we really feel about them. And, correspondingly, that the more we enquire what possessions, careers, relationships, travels, books and so on are actually doing for us, the more we can decide which of them might be dispensed with and which are worth holding on to. It is secure knowledge of our purpose that is our guide to editing down the complexity of our lives

𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮

Existence becomes overcomplicated when we submit ourselves to tasks or possessions without having a clear sense of their purpose. When we don’t properly know why we’re doing something, we don’t know how much of it we need in our life. Simplicity, therefore, can be defined as the result and precious fruit of clarifying our goals.

It’s ironic that life advice for the young so overwhelmingly focuses on what to do in one’s career. In a wiser society, the emphasis would also be on retiring – as early as possible – from a host of supposedly necessary demands that, on closer inspection, are entirely unsuited to who and what we are. Our societies are very keen for us to have busy, competitive, complicated lives. We should express thanks for the well-meaning suggestions and then, as soon as possible and without causing anyone offence, announce our early retirement in the name of the simpler, kinder lives we long for.

...the pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to. If only we could apply a travelling mindset to our own rooms and immediate neighbourhoods, we might find that these places become no less interesting than foreign lands.

All of us have rich and complex histories. All of us have dazzling minds that can record the most subtle impressions and are filled with tender and poignant scenes accumulated over decades. We all had complicated childhoods, are ambivalent about our careers, troubled by despair and anxiety, worried about our relationships, puzzled by sex – and heading towards decay and death far sooner than we can bear. And yet still we continue to remark on the traffic and ask about each other’s recent holidays.

We could weep for anyone if we really knew what they had gone through. The parent loves their child because they understand them. Parents are, for good reason, the least consensus-driven people in the world.

A parent and an adult child are emotionally intertwined, in intricate ways, for reasons that have nothing to do with personal preference. We’re tied by history and biology to a being who was a god-like giant when we were tiny, but whose flaws we have since come to know in great and very painful detail. This never happens outside families: in no other situation are we forced into a death-bound union with someone who – given our divergent temperaments, tastes, habits and attitudes – we would never dream of selecting as a friend. We would do well to accept that as a strange, yet constant and simple, feature of the human condition, we are all emotionally tethered for life to someone who is both an irritating stranger with maddening habits and the person who wept for joy when we were born.

Simplicity has become so elusive and desirable because the modern age is so troublingly, infinitely noisy and abundant.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Simple, easy read. In tune with how I view life.

Mitul Shah

Perhaps not a complete guide to a simpler life, but a lot of insights on fundamental aspects and explanations on what a simpler life actually is, as well as to why we’re in search for it in the first place. 

Linus Rogge

The book is short and well chaptered so it's easy to find what you are looking for but I would recommend reading at least the first two chapters that emphasize the need for simplicity in the way we experience the world in a broader sense (lovers, friends and family). I found in those a few gems in favor of human decency in our relationships and the way we treat ourselves. On the contrary, the call to productivity to justify simplicity wasn't a smart move in my opinion but I guess it can work for some people. Anyway, it must be said that simplicity is always treated as a mean and not an end since "we crave simplicity not because we are simple, but because we are drowning in complexity".

The chapter about owning fewer books also really resonated well with me, I liked the idea of only keeping books that have a purpose (be it spiritual or practical) and that we would easily re-read when needed, according to the situation, to give us contentment — hope, joy and a few advices. That book might be one of them.

The book is short and well chaptered so it's easy to find what you are looking for but I would recommend reading at least the first two chapters that emphasize the need for simplicity in the way we experience the world in a broader sense (lovers, friends and family). I found in those a few gems in favor of human decency in our relationships and the way we treat ourselves. On the contrary, the call to productivity to justify simplicity wasn't a smart move in my opinion but I guess it can work for some people. Anyway, it must be said that simplicity is always treated as a mean and not an end since "we crave simplicity not because we are simple, but because we are drowning in complexity".

The chapter about owning fewer books also really resonated well with me, I liked the idea of only keeping books that have a purpose (be it spiritual or practical) and that we would easily re-read when needed, according to the situation, to give us contentment — hope, joy and a few advices. That book might be one of them.

Sharing the same thoughts as some of those who've reviewed this elsewhere--nothing new with what the book is offering, but just as how other sage advice would be in general, they are known but almost always not fully embraced. This book tells you to simply 

, and that makes largely a simple life. Essentialists say this, stoics say this, and other spiritual practices as well. What I enjoyed about this book, though, are the very practical tips on how to employ this sense of focus, some being particularly interesting--sleeping and waking up early being one of them, and traveling less, too (gasp!). 

I think this is the second book I've read this year that opened up my overthinking mind by saying that truly mindful and 'deep' thinking isn't generating a lot of thought by overprocessing ideas as a default practice, but devising a system or approach to thinking that helps you simplify how you go about your everyday. The setup is thoughtful, which makes your day-to-day basically...not plagued by too much thinking anymore. TL;DR - true (over)thinking is straightforward, filtered thinking. Everything is brought to the mind's foreground without loose ends. There is, simply, purpose for all things.

One way of framing the simple life that I found odd in this book was how it explicitly wanted to glamorize simple living. I guess it needed to be said to make it an attractive practice for those who are of a totally different mind. It reminded me so much of the whole 'stealth wealth' trend of late, which positions outwardly visible cues of simplicity as signals of class and social status. Weird and not entirely the direction I was expecting this book to take.

A very easy and enjoyable read and could be a good start if you're considering revisiting your way of thinking, that is if you aren't already bombarded with similar messages.

Claudine

Sharing the same thoughts as some of those who've reviewed this elsewhere--nothing new with what the book is offering, but just as how other sage advice would be in general, they are known but almost always not fully embraced. This book tells you to simply focus, and that makes largely a simple life. Essentialists say this, stoics say this, and other spiritual practices as well. What I enjoyed about this book, though, are the very practical tips on how to employ this sense of focus, some being particularly interesting--sleeping and waking up early being one of them, and traveling less, too (gasp!). 

I think this is the second book I've read this year that opened up my overthinking mind by saying that truly mindful and 'deep' thinking isn't generating a lot of thought by overprocessing ideas as a default practice, but devising a system or approach to thinking that helps you simplify how you go about your everyday. The setup is thoughtful, which makes your day-to-day basically...not plagued by too much thinking anymore. TL;DR - true (over)thinking is straightforward, filtered thinking. Everything is brought to the mind's foreground without loose ends. There is, simply, purpose for all things.

One way of framing the simple life that I found odd in this book was how it explicitly wanted to glamorize simple living. I guess it needed to be said to make it an attractive practice for those who are of a totally different mind. It reminded me so much of the whole 'stealth wealth' trend of late, which positions outwardly visible cues of simplicity as signals of class and social status. Weird and not entirely the direction I was expecting this book to take.

A very easy and enjoyable read and could be a good start if you're considering revisiting your way of thinking, that is if you aren't already bombarded with similar messages.

Vivian

Another beautiful little book from The School of Life that brings serenity, calm and clarity to our complicated lives filled with wants and needs, longings and desires. 

A simpler life is to tune out the noises and focus on what truly matters to us.

siddharth chowdhury

How beautifully does it cover the things we see but miss to notice, we feel but miss to process. It's been a while that I have looked forward to my time ahead in life. This book makes me do it. I ll be coming back to this, time and again. Thanks, Alain. 

Concept of “Simpler” in life with examples on relationships, work, feelings. Some insights found very interesting. Nice to have physical.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
A Simpler Life by The School of Life

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &A Simpler Life by The School of Life

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Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
A Simpler Life by The School of Life