The Circle of Simplicity by Cecile Andrews

I went searching for this book on my shelves this morning. It was just where I had put it, on the lower bookshelf in my bedroom. This is where I keep the books that I turn to when I want to feel grounded or remember what path I'm on or what I'm looking for in life. It's sort of having my mentors on call 24/7.

The Circle of Simplicity by Cecile Andrews is a therapist disguised as a book and one I return to again and again. I realized today that I first read the book in 1998 (I had written the year on the first page, something I'm going to start doing again as I love to look back on my life to see what I was reading). It makes sense I would be reading this book in 1998 because that's just after I moved to this small town and started a new life (leaving a full-time corporate job for a more creative writerly life).

Then I embraced the "volunteer simplicity" movement in a sort of anti-fashionista way, I felt I needed to "look" the part. Much of that time of my life was spent in flowered cotton dresses, birkenstocks, and anything frumpy or granola-ish from the Eddie Bauer outlet store. I was much more bohemian than I am now, though if you were to actually look at the tags on my clothes, I'm sure quite a few had Gap logos on the tags. But I was trying to fit in, actually, trying to find who I was again. I realized I wasn't Ms. Designer Suit + nylons, but I also wasn't Ms. Natural Crystal deodorant with hairy legs. I was somewhere in between.

Part of volunteer simplicity has to do with finding, acknowledging, and being your authentic self and I realized my authentic self likes pink and preppy clothes as much as she's comfortable in a pair of Birkenstocks and large wool sweater with her hair pulled back without much thought. I'm just as comfortable at a jazz club as I am at an arts festival as I am at a country club as I am at a Solstice bonfire. I'm a floater and just as I realized I never quite fit in with society's career path, I've never quite fit in with a certain style or group (though I'd say I'm in the yellow-dog democrat group, if there is one). But learned that polos and khakis can be in the same closet with embroidered peasant shirts and hemp purse, and that we are too complex to try to group or label ourselves. I know.

But back to The Circle of Simplicity. I picked it up today because one of my goals this summer is to get in touch with where I'm going. It was supposed to "where I'm going with my writing," but I realize that I need to get back in touch with where I'm going with my life. Returning to a simpler lifestyle again is choice I'm making. I was much better at living simply when I wasn't in school, but just as a busy career life can move you out of a simple lifestyle, so can a busy school-life. And now that school is ending, I want to return to my volunteer simplicity (which is not to be confused with the "self-deprevation movement"). It's mostly a reminder to myself to leave smaller footprints and remember what really matters to me. Mostly, I do this, but it can take some reminding. I like shiny objects and sometimes it's just easier to buy your way out of something whether it be a bad day or not being able to find the scissors ("just pick me up a pair when you're at the store.")

As I read through the book, I found a few quotes I had underlined over the years and I thought I'd share them (the chapter on Finding and Living Your Passion is one of my favorites):


"There is no gifted or ungifted. There are only those who give and those who withhold." Martin Buber

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"Why should we all use our creative power. . .? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate. . ." Brenda Ueland

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"You can tell the difference by asking people if they would pursue their passion whether they were paid or not. If you love it, then you'll find a way to do it no matter what. "

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"When you are doing what you love, you feel more magnanimous, more kindly, less resentful and envious."

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"Discovering your passion is part of your lifelong quest for your authentic self."

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"Living your passion means finding something that you love to do, committing yourself to it, believing in it, and persevering, no matter what the financial rewards. It is something that is an authentic expression of who you really are. You get energy from it, you feel alive when you do it."

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Enjoy whatever you're doing. Take action, try things out. Persevere. Stay open and learn from life. Find meaning.