Simplicity Lessons

Simplicity Lessons is a practical guide for those who long for a slower pace of life with more time for relationships, fulfilling work, and living ones dreams. Working on your own or as part of a simplicity study group, you will explore the major a

This ground breaking work goes beyond the books that tell you how to simplify your life. This book reveals what has happened in the lives of real people who have done it. Based on the author's three-year study of over 200 people from 40 states and eight countries, Choosing Simplicity is a delightful and rich blend of real-life profiles and guidelines on simplicity. Interwoven throughout the stories are the author's insights and guidance for those who want to explore simplicity and those who have already embarked on this journey. The book also includes a 16-page Resource Guide with reviews of 42 books on simplicity, information on related web sites, organizations, simplicity study circles, workshops, newsletters and magazines.

"The most valuable aspect of religion," writes Robert Lawrence Smith, "is that it provides us with a framework for living. I have always felt that the beauty and power of Quakerism is that it exhorts us to live more simply, more truthfully, more charitably." Taking his inspiration from the teaching of the first Quaker, George Fox, and from his own nine generations of Quaker forebears, Smith speaks to all of us who are seeking a way to make our lives simpler, more meaningful, and more useful. Beginning with the Quaker belief that "There is that of God in every person," Smith explores the ways in which we can harness the inner light of God that dwells in each of us to guide the personal choices and challenges we face every day. How to live and speak truthfully. How to listen for, trust, and act on our conscience. How to make our work an expression of the best that is in us. Using vivid examples from his own life, Smith writes eloquently of Quaker Meeting, his decision to fight in World War II, and later to oppose the Vietnam War. From his work as an educator and headmaster to his role as a husband and father, Smith quietly convinces that the lofty ideals of Quakerism offer all of us practical tools for leading a more meaningful life. His book culminates with a moving letter to his grandchildren which imparts ten lessons for "letting your life speak."

11 portraits from rural Japan to inspire choices in meaningful work, art, and sustainable living

An exquisitely photographed exploration of what it is to find purpose, joy and connection in the simple things. 'In a time of infinite choice and possibility, Jodi has provided a grounded road map to becoming a grateful, settled soul.' Alexx Stuart, author of Low Tox Life 'I'm not here to nag you and tell you that you need to live with less stuff. Nor will I tell you that owning less is a sure and certain path to happiness. But let me tell you what it's like to carry all you own with you ... to reduce your consumption and increase your free time and to realise that everything you need in life can fit in a caravan along with those you love most ...' It is natural to fear uncertainty. But what if you embraced it, listened to your intuition and made the tiny or big decisions to slow life right down? What if you had more space in your life for connection to nature and those around you? What if you stepped off the treadmill and forged a new path? In Practising Simplicity, author and photographer Jodi Wilson shines a light on all the best things in life that don't cost money and how you can incorporate them into your lifestyle, whatever your circumstances. For her, the simplicity of living in a tiny home on wheels was at first terrifying but ultimately the essential answer to anxiety and overwhelm. A beautiful, unflinching encouragement to let go of the unnecessary, Practising Simplicity inspires us to celebrate the simple yet extraordinary joys that make life meaningful.

Contents include: the Genesis of Truth, You Are"What?, Your One and Only Power, the Limitless Infinite of You, How Can You Be Like God?, You Are Chosen, God in You, You in God, Forgive Thy Friends, the Activity of the Silence, Keep to the Royal Road, etc.

Teaching: the best job in the world. Yet, increasingly, it is considered one of the toughest professions. In recent years, practices have arisen and become widespread which overcomplicate teaching and increase teacher workload, while only having a marginal impact on pupil learning. Simplicity Rules explores how children learn and the most effective ways to teach them, focusing on achieving results using strategies that are low effort and high impact, along with a comprehensive framework underpinning the ideas. Covering what to teach, talk, practice, starting a lesson, ending a lesson, and feedback alongside practical methods to reduce workload as well as simpler and clearer systems to support teachers in the long term, this book asks: Is this the very best use of my time as a teacher? What is the learning impact for the child? What is the impact on my own workload? Are the results worth this effort? Promoting a simplification of teaching practices, Simplicity Rules is an essential guide for school teachers of all levels of experience, and school leaders.

Japanese productivity and quality standards have fired the imagination of American managers, but until now there has been little explanation of how to do it -- how to apply Japanese methods at the actual operating level of U.S. manufacturing plants. This book shows you how, exposing otherwise well-informed westernized readers to a new world of management ideas. Author Richard J. Schonberger demonstrates that the Japanese formula for success is based on a number of specific, interrelated techniques -- stunning in their simplicity -- and he shows how these techniques can be put to work in American industries today. Here, in a clear, handbook format, are nine "lessons" for American manufacturers, introducing scores of techniques aimed at simplifying the overly-complex purchasing, inventory, assembly-fine, and quality-control processes of U.S. firms. At the heart of Japanese manufacturing success are two overlapping strategies: "just-in-time" production and "total quality control." Some American manufacturers already know a little about these methods, but Richard Schonberger provides the most comprehensive description of these techniques available: how they developed, how they all fit together, why they are so potent, and how they "snowball" -- unleashing a powerful chain reaction of productivity and quality control improvements each time more simplification is introduced. -- Publisher description.