Simplicity is making the journey of this life
with just baggage enough.
~Charles Dudley Warner~
Have you ever stopped to watch young children going about their business? At first, life is very simple. They feel good when they are full, warm, dry and safe. They feel bad when they are hungry, cold, wet or threatened. They don’t stop to think about how they feel, they just react immediately.
As we age, life becomes more complicated. By the time we get to school, we start thinking about whether others like us, whether we are smart enough or whether we have the things our playmates have. Later we face decisions about what to do with our lives, the prospect of a life partner and how to spend our time. We would all like to be happy, but how do we get there?
We are constantly bombarded by TV, phone or e-mail ads suggesting things we can’t live without. Loneliness sometimes prompts us to surround ourselves with people we would be better off without. People might expect things of us that would take more time to do than we have available. If we are surrounded by enough things and busy enough, we are tempted to think we will be happy. But there can still be a sense that something is missing if we slow down enough to notice.
If we put aside the things, people and activities for a while, we will notice that there is a part of ourselves all our own. Many people don’t take the time to stop and ask themselves who they really are and what they are doing on earth. Life is not a popularity contest, a garage sale or a race to see who can get the most done.
If we peel off the other people, things and activities like layers of an onion skin, what is left of us? We finally get to who we are and are meant to be. It is hard to find time to look at ourselves this way. We have too much to do. People who are sick in bed and can’t do much of anything sometimes use the time to reassess their lives. Some people take vacations, days off or spend in a retreat to get some perspective. Have you ever spent time alone to get to know yourself? It can help you realize what is important to you. You can also discover what distracts you from living your life.
We don’t have to make this an occasional exercise followed by a return to our hectic lives. We can work to make simplicity our focus and eliminate things, people and activities which make our lives more complicated and distract us from living the way we see best.
Action Steps
- Set aside some time to think about your life.
- List what is really important to you.
- Think about the people in your lives who help you reach your goals.
- Decide which of your possessions and activities help you along your path.
- Make some tough choices., available at Amazon.
Selection from my book, Navigating Life: Commonsense Reflections for the Voyage, available from Amazon.