D-Empress, Contributor

D-Empress

The other day as I sat at the salon quietly observing life go by, a hot, Kool and the Gang tune playing on the radio took us back to the '80s. It had us all grooving and reminiscing about when, according to my salon friends - times were sweet.

I heard (and remembered) how those were the days when we used to go out dressed to the nines, knowing we looked hot and whoever had the privilege of crossing our perfume laden paths - well, they better be ready! We laughed as we recalled the dance moves and lamented about the days when life seemed to be more fun, more enriching and, ironically, more simple.

OK, so some things haven't changed, maybe the S-curl and the hi-gloss lipstick have been swapped for bling and more bling. So, we still love looking good, but valuing and appreciating beauty in simple things is seemingly out of fashion.

Maybe we're just getting old, chirped a sister in the corner. Not so, according to my locktician twisting my locks through his fingers. He pointed out that in 'the good old days', life's simple pleasures were as basic as going out, having fun without fearing for our safety. He added that young people these days have so much to deal with. Alcohol, drugs and the constant battle of competing to be the world's most cool, switched on, connected but worse still, being alive to see their 35th birthday.

'Simple pleasures'

Seems the bottom line is that life is cheap these days. For all the gadgets, access to technology and information designed to enhance our lives, clearly we're dangerously close to becoming devoid of life's so-called 'simple pleasures'.

So what are simple pleasures to us these days? Consider time - a fast evaporating commodity. When last did you take time to feel the juice of a luscious mango run down your chin? While on our never ending treadmill of must-do, have-to and where-to-next, it seems we even have to plan time just to be.

We're feeling the heat and the call to unclutter our lives abounds from Oprah's house makeovers, to the health gurus who warn that clutter: the unending quest to acquire and consume, is the biggest threat to our lives. Read: stress!

In our love-hate relationship with cosmopolitan modernity, we love experiencing and consuming shiny new things; however, deep down we yearn for the worn, comfortable 'old-time' things.

When we look back, generations before us never had Facebook but they were deeply connected to each other. They took time for and with each other. They experienced life in its purest sense.

It's a calling! Imagine the collective power of a global simple pleasures movement which prioritises time spent being, instead of time spent doing in the quest to raise the stakes of consumerism. Simple pleasures - Taking time to feel, to love, to listen, to be, will pave a road to everyday ecstasy.

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