The Beauty of Simplicity
What Thoreau’s Walden experiment can teach us about living more simply
Walk with me…
I want to show you where Henry David Thoreau — the father of the simplicity movement — lived alone for two years, two months, and two days.
He built this ‘Tiny House’ himself, on land owned by his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, on the shores of Walden Pond.
(I still pinch myself that I get to live just a mile away from this sacred space.)
There is some serious good juju going on here.
And today I want to give you a taste of it if I can.
With Thoreau’s own words, some photos, and a little video I made the other day to kick things off, let’s see if I can telegraph the beauty and calm I feel every time I walk this space.
Take it slow as you take it all in… and let these inspirational images and messages work their calming magic on you too.
Ahhh 🏡
A Walk at Walden
Video by Stephanie Bennett Vogt …[best with sound]
Wisdom to live by
Inspirations by Henry David Thoreau
Photos by Stephanie Bennett Vogt
Scroll slowly. Allow Thoreau’s words, along with the images below, sink in. Let them be a gentle reminder to slow down and simplify as you move about your day. Let them guide you deeper into your own quiet stillness.
Which of his messages speaks to you most right now?
1. Simplify
“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.”
2. Dream big
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
3. Recognize your own beauty
“It is the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us.”
4. Open up to the beauty around you
“The question is not what you look at but what you see.”
5. Remember what matters
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
Questions to journey home with…
Share your thoughts with the rest of us if it moves you, or start a chat thread (which is made available to you as a paid subscriber).
Which of the themes/quotes above speaks to you most right now?
What is one small step you can take to cultivate it?
So interesting how I fought this at first. I even wanted to speed up the video! But I didn't.
I allowed my self to linger a bit. And I now feel calm ... even though I didn't realize I didn't before.
Thank you, Stephanie, for these wonder few moments in my day!
Truly words to live by...the antidote to our struggles is so clear yet so muddied by the complexities of society. To slowing down, simplifying, being present, and finding simple joy!