Wherever I travel with my philosophical tool kit, no topic is greeted with more eagerness than simplicity. Shoulders relax at the very idea of un-busying our lives.

For the new year, perhaps you would like to join me and countless philosophical hopefuls of all ages in one simple task: starting a file labeled UNNECESSARY. As events, opinions, acquisitions, and assorted baggage of infinite variety fill this file, time and space can appear. The race is off. Time to de-brief.

Two philosophers dance together well as they lend a hand in our project.

Epicurus in ancient Athens insisted that the ingredients for good living are basic. He suggested the use of common sense to distinguish between what we need to live fully as opposed to the endless cycle of what we think we want. Recognize short-term pleasures that come with an expensive price tag - the purchases that buy worry over debt and stress that doesn't end with the day. Enjoy the world and your life more and more as you become independent of desire, he invited. Appreciate the elegant meal or the vacation, but without attachment. What might the ancient Greek philosopher toss in the unnecessary file (for starters!): the whirr of planned activities; the addiction to all things electronic; the bombardment of advertising; name brand obsession that leaves the owner somehow feeling nameless. Being free from pain in the body and trouble in the mind was Epicurus' definition of a fine life. As we grow more accustomed to a less noisy and cluttered life, we can hear the birds; we have the time to love and experience being loved.