Reflections of a Simple Life, if only for a week.

We took our family to the beach for spring break this year. I love to unpack right when we get there. I hate living out of bags. So I unpacked the bags belonging to my two youngest. I leave my teenagers to their own devices. I fit all of their belongings into two drawers each. One for clothes, one for swimsuits and jammies. I was struck by the simplicity. The absolute freedom of having so little to manage.

I then proceeded to the beach with a chair, my Burt’s Bees lip balm, and one of my favorite books. It just so happened to be on the bookshelf in the beach house. This makes sense, it is a book about the beach. Maybe you’ve read it? Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, first published in 1955. Such wisdom is contained in her words, in her constant and continual search for simplicity, balance and direction in her life.

I go straight to this little gem:

“To ask how little, not how much, can I get along with. To say—is it necessary?—when I am tempted to add one more accumulation to my life, when I am pulled toward one more centrifugal activity.”

She speaks not only of physical accumulation, but also of the many demands pulling on our time.

I love to see the peace in people when I leave their homes and their lives are put in order.

When de-cluttering, ask yourselves not “what do I get rid of” but “what means the most to me?” Make room for what is the most important and remember -

“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.”