Happy New Year, my dears! After a mental rocky start to 2011 (more on that tomorrow), I’m feeling confident and optimistic about this year. It’ll be a good one, I am sure of it!
When last I wrote, I was considering “Don’t add, only take away,” as a New Year’s resolution. I woke up several mornings later and realized I could apply that rule to the resolution itself and end up with the pithier “Less is more.” Naturally, after a week of holiday meals and snacking, I’m eager to embrace this concept gastronomically, but it applies perfectly well to other areas of my life as well: clutter, commitments, obligations, expenditure, projects, words, ideas, hobbies, frills, and so forth! The only pursuit in which I shouldn’t hoist the flag of “less” is exercise, and that’s because “less is more” is pretty much my lifelong habit there: less exercise, more weight. ;b
While I was at my parents’ house I played with some new watercolor paper and the paints I brought with me (my first time travelling with them — and I’m so glad I did bring them), and made a rough wreath of leaves that I used as the border for my 2011 resolution:
Less Is More, 6" x 8"
After I finished the painting, it occurred to me that the tri-color lettering and the elaborate leaf wreath kind of contradict the “less is more” message. Do I care? No, I don’t! My life is made up of a “less is more” philosophy fighting with expressions of “more” — so it’s perfectly appropriate that my visual interpretation of my resolution does the same!
It’s a weird resolution because it’s not specific and it’s not always applicable, but it will remind me to let things go and not take on too much. If I can do that in 2011, I’ll avoid so much of what burdened me in 2010, and have more time and energy for what matters.
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
Welcome home, Lisa! You’ve been missed this past week. I love the watercolor, but the “less is more” as a resolution just doesn’t sound meaty enough. I guess it’s because I always expect something deeply analytical and profound from you, and this seems kind of light and fluffy and new-agey. (Is that a word?) But, on the other hand, maybe you don’t need to be analytical and profound all the time. Maybe less is more is perfect on many levels, including words and thoughts. Maybe life is much simpler than it seems because we are eternally roiling the waters and clouding the view. My resolution is: BE HERE NOW. You can’t get any fluffier or new-agey than that!
Thank you for the warm welcome, Sherry! 🙂 I agree with you that “less is more” isn’t very meaty. I’m writing a post for later this week, on goal-setting, and “less is more” breaks all the guidelines for good goals! I already make so many goals, lists, and priorities all year long, my resolutions tend to be a lot more vague, more like reminders for the year. “Be here now” is a great reminder too!
i like it.
this reminds me of a mantra i often heard about how before leaving the house, a lady should stop and remove a piece of jewelry (often attributed to coco chanel, but i feel like the saying has become somewhat ubiquitous). i always admired the sentiment of refined elegance and the “less is more” mentality, and i like to try and apply it to many different areas of my life.
on a funny sidenote, some years later i heard some loud gaudy celebrity (joan rivers, maybe?) say that before she leaves the house, she stops and puts ON another piece of jewelry. “life’s too short!” she exclaimed. i love the irreverence of that outlook and often times when i find myself waffling between staying on the safe side or taking a risk and just going for it, i think of putting on that extra piece of jewelry. go big or go home! 😉
I’ve heard that remove-jewelry quote too, but never the add-jewelry version. 🙂 I love it! Why not? It’s just jewelry, after all! And the same can be said for so much of life! 🙂
[…] in my head!), I’ve resolved that my real New Year’s resolution isn’t the “less is more” I came up with in early January, nor quite the “just be” one I wrote in […]