The Abundance of Less - Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan

A beautiful and profound book that tells the stories of people that have chosen to live their lives differently from the rest of us. These people have consciously chosen to live a life free from rampant consumerism, consumption and a life in which they’re not as dependent or directly affected by capitalism as the average human being. Reading this book forces you to think about the choices you’ve made in life hitherto. The clothes you wear, the food you eat, the devices you use, the things you cherish and most importantly, the values you live by. I personally made certain decisions differently thanks to this book and will try to carry over what I’ve gathered and learnt from the stories narrated in this book. As a side-effect, this book has reinforced my interest in Japanese culture, so that’s another plus. All in all, if you’re interested in this kind of self-help and cultural books, do give this a read. I’m going to share this thought that emanated from the book:

”..you save time by using all the latest gadgets and productivity hacks but in the end you end up making yourself busier.”

And that’s very intriguing because the time that you free for yourselves, you allocate that time to some other activity and you’re constantly in a state of rush, at least mentally if not physically and maybe that’s not the only option.