Today more than ever,many are challenged with increasing economic worries and pressures, and many are choosing a simpler lifestyle in response.  Since the economic downturn earlier this fall, Voluntary Simplicity has become NWEI's second most popular course, indicating an openness to downshifting as a possible response to tough economic times.  

NWEI's newly updated five session course on Voluntary Simplicity offers participants the opportunity to consider simplifying one's life as a means to respond to the present economic times.  Session topics over five weeks include the meaning of simplicity, how to live more with less, how to make a living with simplicity in mind, our relationship to time, and how to make choices that are both sustainable as well as help us to live more simply.  

Participants will:
•    Gain an understanding of the meaning of voluntary simplicity
•    Explore the material and psychological distractions that prevent us from spending time investing in what we care about
•    Consider how life might be enriched through the practice of simplicity
•    Develop a personal action plan to integrate simplicity into their lives. 

While simplicity may not solve all our economic and ecological woes, it is proving to be a path of value.  Voluntary simplicity is certainly a viable response to the painful condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the ceaseless pursuit of more.  As author Duane Elgin reminds us, "The character of a whole society is the cumulative result of countless small actions, day in and day out, of millions of persons."  May the path of simplicity ease an unsustainable addiction to consumption and economic growth.  Please join NWEI on this journey of change.