This is the first blog page. You are welcome to read and post your own ponderings as well; (within the topic and guidelines of this blog.)

Topic of this blog is: A Life of Simple Abundance.

Let's define a few words:

• Ponder - To wonder, to think of deeply; To consider carefully and thoroughly.
• Essential - Absolutely necessary; basic and fundamental, of the greatest importance.
• Simple - Having few parts; not cluttered, complex, or involved.
• Abundance - More than enough, overflowingly sufficient; richly supplied.
  

What are the essentials for a life of simple abundance? It seems to include:

• Spiritual connection to our creator. This is the essential core.
• Social connection to family and friends. This gives life richness.
• A sense of purpose. My understnading of why I am here.
• A curious and learning attitude, ever increasing in knowledge and understanding.
• Adequate equipping for my basic needs: food, shelter, clothing etc.

What are the things that pull me away from a life of simple abundance? This seems to include:

• Daily involvement with frittering activities.
• Physically cluttered space.
• Time spent in mindless entertainment. Not stuff I am doing, but rather sitting back and watching what others have done.

A life of simple abundance.

When I see anyone doing something who is a master, it looks simple.  It doesn't matter whether that is an ice skater doing a flawless triple axel, or a construction worker pounding in a nail - Mastery of a skill makes it look effortless and simple. That is the simplicity that is built on knowledge and experience.

Here are some quotes about simplicity:

"I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Leonardo DaVinci

"All other things being equal, the simplest solution is usually the best" William of Occam, 14th century logician and friar.
 
"You know when you have achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away." Antoine de St. Exupery

"The interesting thing about the concept of simplicity is that it is a dynamic thing." Ray Buechler.

"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler"  Albert Einstein

"Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means." Dr. Koichi Kawana, Architect, designed the botanical gardens

"Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art." - Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect, designed the Guggenheim.

"Simplicity hinges as much on cutting nonessential features as on adding helpful ones." - Walter Bender

"Complexity means distracted effort. Simplicity means focused effort." Edward de Bono

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." Hans Hofmann (1880 - 1966)

"Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing, layout, processes, and procedures." Tom Peters (1942 - ) Business management guru

"In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944)

"Developing fewer features allows you to conserve development resources and spend more time refining those features that users really need." Fewer features mean fewer things to confuse users, less risk of user errors, less description and documentation, and therefore simpler Help content. Removing any one feature automatically increases the usability of the remaining ones. Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger, "Prioritizing Web Usability", 2006

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." Charles Mingus (1922-1979)

Why do I want a life of simple abundance? The image I see is calm, peaceful, happy, relaxed ...