The "Diderot Effect": Staying Simple in the City
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>SIMPLICITY and SUCCESS:
Creating What Matters MOST in Life & Work
Vol. 4, #9, July 19, 2006 All rights reserved.
Bruce Elkin: Personal Life Coach/Success Coach for 20 Years
http://www.BruceElkin.com
Sent to confirmed subscribers only. List is never shared or sold!
>View current & back issues on my blog at
http://createwhatmattersmost.blogspot.com/
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“From naïve simplicity,
we arrive at more profound simplicity.”
-- Albert Schweitzer
Hi,
After five glorious days of sunny, blue, cloudless skies and warm temperatures, high marine cloud has moved in over the south island and cooled things down a little.
Of course, when I now use the term “island,” I no longer refer to Saltspring Island, my home for the last 14 years. Last Thursday, I moved to Vancouver Island, specifically to Victoria, BC.
And I love it!
It is a glorious location, 5 minutes from wild beaches and great walking/running trails on the cliffs above them. Right across from a lovely, wooded park, and 5 minutes from the quaint little Cook St. Village, complete with markets, pub, bakeries, and 4 coffee shops.
A constant parade of walkers, joggers, runners, skaters, moms and dads pushing strollers, old folks with walkers and powered wheelchairs, and lovers of all ages strolling hand in hand streams by my window from early morning until after I go to bed.
It’s a high-energy area, and full of life. I think I am going to enjoy it.
But, can I stay simple in the city? And how?
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Quick Take: “The Diderot Effect”
2. Coaching for Creating What Matters MOST
3. Feature Article: "Diderot and Me: Staying Simple In the City"
4. Emotional Mastery—My New eBook
5. Useful Resources I Recommend
6. My Speeches, Seminars, and Talks
7. The Last Word: Quotable Quotes
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1. Quick Take: “The Diderot Effect”
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In his essay “On Parting with My Old Dressing Gown,” French philosopher Denis Diderot describes getting a fancy new velvet robe.
But, shortly, he notices that the magnificence of the new robe makes his study and his desk, rug, and chairs look shabby. So, one by one, he replaces his furnishings with new ones that match the robe.
Later, surrounded by bright and modern furnishings, he regrets giving up the old robe, and resents the new one for “forcing everything else to conform with its own elegant tone.”
In her book, The Overspent American: Upscaling, Downshifting, and the New Consumer, Juliet Schor states that consumer researchers call the kind of striving for lifestyle conformity Diderot experienced the “Diderot Effect.”
Purchasing a new home leads to purchasing new furniture. A new jacket cannot be fully enjoyed without a new skirt to set it off. Moving to a new, more upscale area prompts thoughts of a car upgrade.
In today’s feature, I describe my own encounter with the Diderot Effect, and what I can do to avoid an outburst of consumerism.
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> 2. "COACHING for CREATING WHAT MATTERS MOST!"
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> Would you like:
* More clarity about what really matters to you?
* To create more meaningful results in life and work?
* To be able to do more with less?
* To get on track and move toward what matters most
-- in spite of problems, circumstances, and adversity?
* To feel free, energized, and full of zest for life, work?
> If so, consider my Creating What Matters Most coaching approach.
I can help you develop the skills, structure, and support
to find what you really love – and create a life that shows it.
> "An awesome approach to coaching. It not just theory, or
problem-solving. It is about creating what matters.”
-- T. Nelson, Seattle, WA
> I have space for 3 new clients in July/August, and am interviewing for September.
FOR INFO, e-mail me with "Coaching Package" as the subject
via the Contact Me link on www.BruceElkin.com.
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> Or SKYPE ME!
Clients in Britain, Europe, South America, and Asia call me on the Net.
So do some in the US and Canada. It’s fr.ee to download, and to use.
Makes coaching calls easy on the wallet! http://www.skype.com/
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> 3. FEATURE ARTICLE: "Diderot and Me: Staying Simple in the City"
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For 14 years, I lived on Saltspring Island, a kind of old hippy, green, back to the earth haven that has recently gone upscale as retiring boomers from all over the world discover its beauty and want to buy themselves a piece of it.
All those years, I lived in a 50 year old, rented cottage that had seen hard use. The part I used for work, I renovated. Tore out old rugs, painted the floor blue, made natural pine baseboards, painted the walls and ceilings white, and hung a bunch of colourful, framed prints and art posters.
With pine and white cotton Ikea furniture and rustic, woven wool rugs transplanted from my city office/workshop space, the place looked OK.
The rest of the house was more shabby and threadbare. Dark, fake wood paneling, dark rugs of an indeterminate colour, and an ever-growing coat of soot from the inefficient wood stove the landlord would not let me replace, even if I paid for it myself.
As an ex-mountain and outdoor guy, used to living in tents, tipis, and unfurnished cabins, I was fine with what I had. If anything, my faded jeans, fleece, and pile wardrobe (mostly bought at below wholesale “pro deal” prices back when I ran a climbing school) was a bit more upscale than that of most of my island neighbors.
But now I’m in the city. I’m in a bright, newly-renovated apartment with white walls and sparkling just-refinished hardwood floors.
Although I have a good rental deal in a small, 2-storey, sixties-type building, I’m smack in the middle of one of the nicest neighborhoods in Victoria. Suddenly, almost everything I own looks (or seems to me to look) shabby.
Like Diderot, I feel a gnawing pressure to bring myself, my furnishings, and my wardrobe more in line with my more upscale neighbors.
But, really, with one or two exceptions, everything I have is just fine.
And if I decorate carefully, find someone to refinish my coffee table, and spend a small fortune to clean my rustic rugs (done!), I can tone down my 20 year old furniture’s shabbiness, upgrade my wardrobe a bit, and make me and my place look good enough for company.
I really should dry clean the jackets and slacks I wear when I’m speaking to groups, or working with organizations. It was “interesting” that I smelled like wood smoke when I actually heated my house with wood. Now, it’s just funky (in the nasty sense).
Still, there’s that gnawing pressure to conform. To buy a new pine coffee table. To replace my hand-built pine-board, brick, and banker’s box filing system with a sparkling new Ikea storage system that will reflect the sparkle in the floor. To replace my 24 year old SAAB with a new Smart Car or Prius.
But, I am not going to do that.
Even such small steps could land me on the consumer escalator, on that work and spend hedonic treadmill where more is never enough.
No, I’m going to practice what I preach and create a rich, even elegant, yet simple and sustainable lifestyle, mostly using what I have.
I will continue to follow the advice printed on old WWII posters to “Use it up–wear it out–make it do!”
And I will continue to use the four consumption criteria The American Friends Service Committee identified that evoke the essence of the rich yet simple sustainability I seek:
1. Does what I own or buy promote activity, self-reliance, and involvement, or does it induce passivity and dependence?
2. Are my consumption patters basically satisfying, or do I buy much that serves no real need?
3. How tied are my present job and lifestyle to installment payments, maintenance and repair costs, and the expectations of others?
4. Do I consider the impact of my consumption patterns on other people and on the earth?
I will also remind myself that thoughts such as “I don’t fit in,” “I’m not as good as those with nicer stuff,” and “I HAVE TO have a new … whatever,” are just thoughts. They rise, I notice them, they pass. I do not have to act on them.
Even in the city, I do not have to join the consumer ranks. I do not have to become one of those who think they can buy their way to a “real” simple lifestyle. I can make do with what I have, make inexpensive improvements where needed, and when I’ve considered the criteria above and can justify a purchase to myself, I’ll go ahead and do it, and enjoy it.
Most of all, I’ll let the mastery and meaning of my life and self manifest in my actions--in my doing and being--rather than merely in material things such as clothes, car, and home furnishings.
Finally, I will strive to love what I have, even as I stretch to create what I truly love and want to see exist. I will practice gratitude daily.
I will appreciate all of what I have and the joy, and meaning, and happiness I derive from it. I AM grateful for it all.
In the next newsletter, I’ll outline a series of principles to help us all stay off the consumer escalator, and still live rich, successful, and satisfying lives.
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Copyright©Bruce Elkin, 2006. From Bruce Elkin’s Simplicity and Success e-newsletter. http//:www.BruceElkin.com You may reprint this article or share it with friends if you attach this copyright notice.
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> 4. My New E-Book – A Great Resource for Creating Happiness!
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EMOTIONAL MASTERY: Manage Your Moods & Create What Matters
-- With Whatever Life Gives You!
> Would you like to:
* Increase Your Emotional Intelligence?
* Develop Rich, Supportive, and Positive Emotions?
* Manage Your Moods and Prevent Stress, Depression & Anxiety,
* Create What Matters MOST -- With Whatever Life Gives You!
> Visit http://www.bruceelkin.com/emotional-mastery.html
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> 5. OTHER RESOURCES I RECOMMEND:
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* MARKETING AND WEBSITE TOOLS:
Thinking about upgrading your website and marketing
approach? I've used these products with great results and
recommend them without reservation.
* For info or to purchase a copy of THE WEBSITE TOOLKIT,
please go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=73714
* THE ACTION PLAN TOOL KIT can make designing and
implementing a marketing plan easier, effective, and fun.
Go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=73714
* A GREAT NEWSLETTER BY AN EX-CLIENT OF MINE:
If you are interested in Health, Environment, and Negotiation,
please check out the eNewsletter HEN. Written by Julia
Menard, a Victoria-based coach, and mediation expert, HEN is
an excellent source of info. E-mail
with "sub.scribe HEN Musings" in the subject line.
* FR.EE VALUES and HAPPINESS ASSESSMENT:
Martin Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness, offers an
excellent way to support you in creating happiness in daily life.
Go to www.authentichappiness.org and do his Values-in-Action
Signature Strengths Survey. It will help you increase your authentic
happiness. I do it. It works.
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> 6. SPEECHES, SEMINARS, AND WORKSHOPS:
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I am available to do keynotes, seminars, or workshops for
your organization or team on subjects such as:
• Creating What Matters Most in Life and Work
• Making it Flow: Integrating Life and Work
• Emotional Mastery: How to Manage Your Moods and
Create What Matters—With Whatever Life Gives You!
• Sustainable Success: From Solving Problems to Creating
A Rich Yet Simple, Healthy and Sustainable Life & World
> I also do STRATEGIC DESIGN AND PLANNING workshops for businesses and organizations. Inspired by Robert Fritz & Peter Senge!
> Call 250-537-1177 or e-mail me to discuss your needs.
> 7. THE LAST WORD: QUOTABLE QUOTES
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“Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.”
-- Henry David Thoreau
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
-- Leonardo DaVinci
Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
-- Lao Tzu
“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.”
-- Richard Halloway
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have
into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos
to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast,
a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes
sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
-- Melody Beattie
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All the best!
Bruce
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>BRUCE ELKIN: Personal/Professional Results Coach
Author: - Simplicity & Success: Creating the Life You Long For
- Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods & Create What
Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You
> http://www.BruceElkin.com 250.388.7210 Skype Me!
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All material herein is copyright © Bruce Elkin, 2006.
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posted by BruceElkin.com @ 4:27 PM
