“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler,” said Henry David Thoreau, an American author, environmentalist, abolitionist, and poet. He advocated a simpler life and getting back to basics, an idea that struck a chord with millions. Therefore, to commemorate his birth anniversary, July 12 is observed as the National Simplicity Day.

Though Thoreau was born in the early half of the 19th century, his ideas have never been more relevant than they are today. Through his writings, Thoreau urged people to unshackle from the complications and hustle and bustle of daily life and evaluate what aspects they enjoy the most.

He never asked people to abandon their lives and live in the woods but simply advised them to not complicate their lives by comparing lifestyles and increasing the desire for accumulating more things. The idea that only an extravagant life is a happy and successful life didn’t make sense to him. So, he encouraged people to do away with the unnecessary clutter in their lives.

His ideas are somewhat similar to the modern-day concept of ‘minimalism’ which says “less is more”. Today, people are realising that they don’t things that don’t serve them any fulfilling purpose.

However, Thoreau’s ideas were not just limited to material possessions. His idea of simplicity encompasses emotional well-being. Very often, we complicate things just by overthinking about them whereas Thoreau suggests taking the simplest and most obvious approach to reduce unnecessary complications. As they say in mathematics, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line between them. There is no point in going zig zag and increasing the complexity.

On National Simplicity Day, people have started a tradition of donating things that they may have bought in an impulse but the product serves them no purpose. Seminars and talks are also held on the day to make people aware of the teachings of Thoreau.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)