"Life is really simple, but we insist on making in complicated" Confucius

There really is merit in simplifying things. I think my first touch of the honesty and satisfaction in living basically and without clutter in the many forms it can present itself, was when I was in Boston. I had a few weeks to make use of before I was heading back to London job so I popped in to my good buddy Mike who was on a running scholarship at Boston University. A few times a week when I was not pretending to be a student and making use of all the local facilities (including a lovely 6FT German high jumper) I would wake up at sunrise and borrow his bike for a 10km ride out to the poshest golf club I have ever seen - The Charles River Country Club. Another buddy Maddy K had worked there as a Caddy and for the jol of it I had signed up too. It was the most incredible course with huge leafy trees and lush greenery in abundance. The pay was cash in hand and I would earn about $80 or so I think, for walking around the course chatting to the fat cat CEO's who would enjoy the exoticness of a dude from South Africa with an eloquent Capetonian accent and an opinion on everything they were yakking on about; from the Bruins poor keeper to the Curse of the Red Sox (pre world series title of a few years back); to whether the dome down town was real gold or not.
On the way home I would stop at the most awesome bakery. There was always a loaf still steaming from the oven to sample some honey with and I would sit down and eat a couple of slices. I certainly sampled more than I bought, but nobody was concerned about that.
All in all it was a long day of extreme simplicity and general goodness. I began appreciating that simple is not boring, but an extremely fulfilling and worthwhile concept to begin embracing in a lot more earnest.
One of the places that I have managed to really see the change over a few years is in my diet. I do not crave or need sauces or processed spices or 'stuff' to enjoy the taste of my food. Since leaving all that behind I can now actually taste such exquisite goodness in foods in their simplest form. See pic above for my current favourite breakfast of boiled eggs on rye with orange juice - self squeezed of course.