Simplicity can be of our own choosing, or be forced upon us. It can be cultivated and welcome, or rushed and feared. Whichever way, it opens up a whole new way of thinking along the lines of Thoreau, one who grasped the concept and value immediately, which ultimately led him to the woods.
I love the beauty and contentment that I see in these photos of various homes, there is peace, not clutter ... yet each is decorated simply but carefully, and sparingly. Beauty seems to follow peace around like a little sister.
These really are the most beautiful of spaces, and there is no clouding of thoughts possible here. I am a firm believer that a cluttered house reflects what is going on inside your own head while homes like these free your thoughts and let them run wild with fervor and intensity. Sort of like going to the woods does for me.
I know what I want, for thoughts have come together in sense and sensibility.
From Heaven's Walk
From Good Bones, Great Pieces
From Poppies and Posies
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. ~Confucius
All goes back to the earth,
and so I do not desire
pride of excess or power,
but the contentments made
by men who have had little:
the fisherman's silence
receiving the river's grace,
the gardener's musing on rows....
~Wendell Berry, "The Want of Peace" You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. ~Vernon Howard