Recent years have seen a growing interest in "voluntary simplicity" and
"downshifting" our lives.  The Center for a New American Dream (www.newdream.org) says we need to have "more fun, and less stuff."  The world's problems aren't due to Americans not working hard enough.  Rather, we work too hard at most of the wrong things.  We need instead to slow down and bring our lives more into harmony with our deepest values.
         Many will find it hard to slow down during busy lives when just "making ends meet" can be an enormous struggle.  What can we do?
         We can begin by realizing that the myth of ever increasing material abundance is so central in our society that we may be seduced into always wanting more.  But "more" is unattainable:  if we get it, we can still crave--"more."   The escape from this bind is to know for oneself what is "enough."
         Along with and in contradiction to the myth that more is always better, many of us grew up with a disdain for money, preferring (at least in theory) higher spiritual or humanitarian values.  Thus we sometimes don't respect a dollar, and tend to throw one away too easily.  But our lives require a constant stream of dollars (especially if we're in debt), so we spend huge amounts of time and energy in jobs that often don't maximize our gifts and talents, and we therefore fail to make our best contribution to the world.
         Knowing what is "enough" will help us heal our relationships with money and time.  The powerful book "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin is loaded with practical tools.
         Sometimes just turning off the TV is a profound step, creating time to nurture ties with family and friends, and disconnecting us from the tube's incessant cues to consume.
         Living simply can help us deepen connections within our community and with the earth.  Freeing time to garden, to talk with neighbors, or to cook wholesome food will facilitate healing and fulfillment in our lives.
         Staying healthy is crucial for keeping life simple and giving our best to the world.  At the Co-op, we have access to the highest quality whole foods with which to nurture our bodies.  We can also save money by buying in bulk and avoiding expensive, processed, and heavily packaged foods.
         What is best for our wallet is usually also best for our health and for the planet.  The main exception at the Co-op is organic food, which often costs more.  "Conventional" foods, however, are inexpensive only because they are produced with lots of unsustainably cheap fuel, with fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides made with cheap oil, and with an alarming loss of topsoil.  The true costs are "externalized" and paid by the environment, by future generations, and by all of us now in places other than the grocery check out.
        Organic food is healthier and much more frugal for the planet.  I gladly buy it and consider the extra cost a political contribution for a better world.  A store like the Co-op enables lifestyle choices that are healing both for us and for the planet.
 

        The Northcoast Co-op has a lot of interesting material on their website.
        There are many links relevant to this article following my related articles A Return to Frugality, and Food for Thought.