Ban Breathnach - Simple abundance: a daybook of comfort and joy

Copyright information can be found at the end of the book.

Copyright 1995, 2005 by Sarah Ban Breathnach

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

The legal and moral rights of Sarah Ban Breathnach to be identified as the creator of the intellectual property concepts contained within, including Gratitude Journal, illustrated discovery journal, authentic self and other works, have been asserted.

Grand Central Publishing
Hachette Book Group USA
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroupUSA.com.

First eBook Edition: November 1995

ISBN: 978-0-446-54531-0

ALSO BY SARAH BAN BREATHNACH

Sarah Ban Breathnachs Mrs. Sharps Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations

The Victorian Nursery Companion

The Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude

Something More: Excavating Your Authentic Self

The Illustrated Discovery Journal: Creating a Visual Autobiography of Your Authentic Self

The Simple Abundance Companion: Following Your Authentic Path to Something More

A Mans Journey to Simple Abundance

Romancing the Ordinary: A Year of Simple Splendor

Moving On: Creating Your House of Belonging with Simple Abundance

Hold That Thought: A Years Worth of Simple Abundance

Simple Abundance: The Music of Comfort and Joy

Her eye, her ear, were tuning forks, burning glasses, which caught the minutest refraction or echo of a thought or feeling She heard a deeper vibration, a kind of composite echo, of all that the writer said, and did not say.

WILLA CATHER

For

Chris Tomasino

with love and gratitude

and

Katie

who is the deeper Vibration

Always

One moved Heaven for this book,
the other moved Earth.

in a time lacking in truth and certainty and filled with anguish and despair, no woman should be shamefaced in attempting to give back to the world, through her work, a portion of its lost heart.

LOUISE BOGAN

Preface to the Tenth Anniversary Edition of

SIMPLE ABUNDANCE

A Daybook of Comfort and Joy

I asked how long it was. Eight hundred and ninety-seven pages, he said. Then he added, earnestly, You dont suppose theyll think I wrote it in a fit of pique?

RENATA ADLER
Speedboat (1986)

W elcome, dear Reader. Its hard to imagine that a decade has passed since Simple Abundance, a book that celebrates living by your own lights, was published. In 366 essays, one for every day (including leap year!), I shared the revelations that came while trying to reconcile my deepest spiritual and creative longings with often overwhelming commitments to family and work. I had long suspected that I wasnt alone in my frustrations and desires, but nothing could have prepared me for the way women around the worldmillions of youresponded. We began an exciting adventure together, which is a continuing source of gratitude, grace, and fulfillment for me. I hope it is for you, as well.

Bringing Simple Abundance into the world was the biggest struggle and challenge of my life. Believe it or not, the original manuscript of Simple Abundance was 957 pages. Written between 1991 and 1995, in a spirit of daring introspection (at least for me) and an ever-increasing sense of wonder, Simple Abundance was my third book. It was also the book I was born to write. However, despite the fact that I had been a published journalist for twenty-five years, a nationally syndicated columnist and the author of two previous books, finding a publisher willing to take on my blessed behemoth was a demoralizingly difficult battle. The proposal was turned down thirty times over a two-year period; eventually, to soften the blow, my agent, Chris Tomasino, would break the news to me a few painful letters at a time. The reasoning behind the rejection? Simplicity wasnt commercial, and a lifestyle book based on gratitude? Forget it.

Ten years, seven million copies, and thirty languages later suggest a different story.

In preparation for this new Preface, I went back to my publishing memorabilia files to trace how the miracle came about. Some of the rejection letters are still so difficult to read they make me wince. Its no wonder I cried myself to sleep more nights than anybody can imagine. But the next morning, Id say, Lets give it one more shot and Id start another meditation; eventually the thoughts, paragraphs, and pages began to accumulate taking on a creative energy of their own. The most poignant piece of paper Ive rediscovered is a letter written by my then-eleven-year-old daughter, Katie, to her guardian angel. (Shed asked me to mail it for her and so I promptly posted it in my heart.)

Dear Guardian Angel,

This prayer is not for me, it is for my Mom. Please Angel, let my Mom get a book contract. Please talk to the Guardian Angels of the People who decide about publishing.

A few weeks later our prayers were beautifully and bountifully answered when Liv Blumer at Warner Books said the holy Yes, we will, yes. By then Id been writing Simple Abundance for two years; it would take another two years to complete. Next, the mammoth job of whittling the manuscript down began for Liv and her co-editor, Caryn Karmatz Rudy, which they did so seamlessly, I never knew what was tossed out. I do remember, however, that I begged Caryn not to number the pages; I knew that no woman on the face of the earth would ever allow herself to buy a book over five hundred pages, let alone read it. Instead, I asked if there could be a ribbon bookmark, so that the reader could keep her place. To this day, I dont know how long it is.

As it turned out, when Simple Abundance was first published in November 1995 women didnt buy it for themselves. Instead, they bought it for their sisters, best friends, daughters, daughters-in-law, mothers, mothers-in-law, nieces, cousins, neighbors, bosses, and secretaries. They bought it to give to others for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations; in turn, they received it from family on Mothers Day, and their friends when the marriage ended, the job was eliminated, or the diagnosis was devastating. When a phone call sent a woman reeling, dashing her dreams and shattering the life she took for granted, the pink book turned up as often as casseroles. Psychotherapists have told me they prescribed it; 12-step program participants passed it on; abused women found it in a shelters communal library. Women read it while waiting to receive chemotherapy then left it behind for the nurses who cared for them so tenderly. To celebrate, to commiserate, to comfort, to cheer, but above all, to communicate, women around the world shared Simple Abundance with each other and blessed the life they found in between its linestheir own.

Ill never completely understand why, although thousands of you have written me letters trying to explain its impact on your lives. Youve shared your poignant stories and told me how the book had helped you through great difficulty, struggle, and sorrow. You also shared how Simple Abundance sparked a new passion or inspired you to resurrect an old dream. It has affected you in ways I never dreamed possible.