Simple

For all the accumulation of time, education and experience in the 16,014 days I have lived, I find that I myself can create and destroy the simple things that keep me in balance.  The natural equilibrium that begins at the very level of our cells can keep us even kilter, but alas we casually tip the tides toward lack or drowning in so many ways.  It is in the seat of simple living that I find my best life.

Dictionary.com offers five entries for the adjective simple.
1.  easy to understand, deal with, use, etc.
2.  not elaborate or artificial; plain
3.  not ornate or luxurious; unadorned
4.  unaffected; unassuming; modest
5.  not complicated

So often I feel simple is difficult.  And perhaps thinking so is my first mistake.  Maybe it IS easy and I am complicating it all up (such is my habit)!  Simple sometimes seems for me in our modern society a behemoth task to accomplish as if we must scrape away the piles of complexity heaped upon everyday living to get to the layers of what we actually need.  What do I actually need?  We consider much, both physical and energetic, that we may keep or discard with the myriad of options for work, food, relationships and recreation mixed with financial options and pressures, societal expectations, and individual philosophies.  Cultural constraints, family patterns, personal preferences and modern technology accrue alongside all our physical belongings and the storage space our stuff requires.  Abundance appears as a gift and a responsibility.

Simple days for me mean slowing down and becoming more methodical in my steps without succumbing to lack of movement altogether.  Controlling our pace challenges because it suggests we acknowledge where uncontrolled inertia and/or lethargy are affecting us.  Simple ideas like “rest when you are tired, eat whole foods, do what you love, take time for yourself” seem like huge tasks when we have multiple places to be, appointments, deadlines, financial obligations.

Yet, in all of today’s muddle minded musing, I see how cool and simple it is that I can sit in my home with my computer all jamming with 1’s and 0’s, look up quotes and definitions, search for and find a site that will calculate the number of days I have lived, and share my thoughts with the world.  Amazing.  I’m certainly not suggesting we scrap modern offerings.  I’m searching for ways not to let them create havoc in my internal milieu where simple contentment is rooted, balanced and always available.

I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is
best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.
                                                                -Albert Einstein

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff.  Most fails.  Some
works.  You do more of what works.  If it works big, others
quickly copy it.  Then you do something else.  The trick is
the doing something else. 
                                                                -Leonardo da Vinci

Here

Recently life called for a trip to the mall.  I do not often visit said venue and did not know my way around.  My goal was one specific merchant.  I promised the eldest of my progeny we would find that exact store to buy an item she located online.  Gratefully near each multi-doored glass entrance stood a kiosk displaying the layout of the mall, its corridors, eateries and shops.  On the plot was a list of places and a magnificent red arrow proclaiming YOU ARE HERE.  Knowing the place I stood and from which I must begin the retail journey was essential to finding my destination.  You are here brought clarity I sometimes long for outside the mall.

 

Here is defined as a noun at dictionary.com. 
1.  this place:  It’s only a short distance from here.
2.  this world, this life; the present:  The here and the hereafter are equal mysteries to all people.

I included the example sentences because I laughed at the second entry:  too funny that the dictionary in this case offers the mystery of life, sharing my vibe of confusion in finding one’s way through existence sometimes.  How totally awesome would it be to get an overview, a map, to show YOU ARE HERE providing perspective of the places to which one might go and the safety of seeing exactly where we stand?

My humanness craves bearings, confirmation of my future steps.  I know this is an offshoot of fear.  Fear of being lost, going the wrong way, making a mistake, fear of taking a path that leads nowhere.  A map seems like just the thing to keep folks on track.        

What might be maps?  Wise leaders?  Ancient texts?  Philosopher’s thoughts?  Poetry?  Yoga?  Certainly these things introduce me to faith, Truth, my Self, my fears, my attachments.  They extend guidance in finding contentment in the present moment which, while not a kiosk bearing a printed guide, offers release from fear that manifests as longing for a map.  We can learn to be here in each moment knowing where we want to go but letting go of the outcome.  If we can be fully in the present perhaps our steps will unfold naturally showing surprises of arrival much like the unpredicted bakery smells of Aunt Annie’s pretzel bakery in the mall that were not on the map but just happened along the path.

I have heard it said that the opposite of love is fear.  We are here.  Which way is the best way to go?  The one that acknowledges our fear but does not let it keep us from moving.

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly
what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear
and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
                                                                                                - Douglas Adams

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere. 
                                                                                                - Dr. Seuss