How often, when we are very busy, maybe snowed with lots to do, do we say we want to live more simply? We want to feel more comfortable with our lives. If this is a serious question and not just push-back against busyness, this brings us to a basic inquiry: Do we really want to live a simple life, or do we just want to have less to do? These are two very different things. If we want to do less every day, this can be corrected by culling out activities and choosing when to act and when to cease action. Living a simple life is a whole, ‘nother matter and involves another mind set entirely.
Everything is laden with meaning...
The very busy person can hurry through his days half aware of what is taking place. On the other hand, the person who lives more simply has time and opportunity to enter into every part of his day. Simple living can actually become boring if attention and interest are not given to each turn of nature, each entry into a different room. Everything is laden with meaning, from the first hint of a morning bird song to the beginnings of white caps on a bay front that announce the afternoon winds. Nothing is necessarily more or less important than any other…just present and waiting to be accounted for...with the frank fact that beauty lurks everywhere.
The time to sift through ideas...
Active thought is very much a part of simple living, for there is something quietly compelling about taking the time to sift through ideas…our own perhaps, or maybe the thoughts of a thinker that resonates. Simple living allows for self starts and satisfying finishes, resolute beginnings and endings that seem naturally to occur.
All things are possible...
All things are possible...
The one who lives a simple life does not necessarily do less but has the choice of what to do more often. All things are possible, especially when we can actually recognize what those possibilities might be, and happiness, joy, contentment and satisfaction all become distinguishable qualities in a life full of meaning…not just an indistinguishable blur of pleasant feelings that come and go without notice.
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