Why Real Simple Needs Me & You

I love Real Simple and the June issue has a great article by Pico Iyer called 10 Things Every Traveler Should Do that I loved and will put in my journal for keeps.

But I find myself scouring blogs, books and other magazines for what should be in the rest of its pages. Simple living is, after all, in the words of Nathan Arizona, their raison d'etre.

When the magazine launched, I found lots of articles - ones that I still have - about people living simply. Now, those articles are the exception to the norm. There are more consumer reports-type comparisons of the best pickle and what not.

I know I have blogged about this before, but let's write and tell more stories about how to live simply in our very complicated world. They don't even have to be about entire families or take place in homes. People live in all sorts of ways: like the story that ran years ago about the family who sailed past the Statute of Liberty each morning. They would tie up at City Marina so that the little girl, whose symptoms of ADD washed away on board, could walk with her mom to the subway to go to school. They were the kinds of stories that children's books are made of and deep breaths and summer afternoons: stories about family beach houses, and connectedness and community. I need those kinds of stories to figure out how it is done.

I'm beginning to believe that a lot of families are doing magical things every day and finding ways to incorporate peace into their lives, but no one notices. Instead, there are endless stories about Heidi & Spencer and attacks on people, and just boring clutter.

Let me know when you need me Real Simple. I'm on the road a lot litigating already and I'm writing anyway. Why not incorporate a paying side-gig and maybe contribute something that inspires someone to relax and live a little more simply. That is the point, right?