My sister, Vickie, is a chef. Her motto is why use five ingredients if four will do. Her theory is to use fresh, local, high quality ingredients to make delicious food and not get wrapped up in making something complicated as if complicated is the goal of haut cuisine. Quality and flavor is the goal of haut cuisine, which can be found simply, if you are willing to look for it.
I believe this is a good rule for life in general: simplicity.
I sometimes think we have bought into what the high tech marketing firms want us to believe. We need that next greatest version of everything and we need it now. Of course, electronics and gadgets can make our lives easier, but don’t they sometimes make them more complicated? Does anyone seem to have enough outlets any more to recharge all of our devices? Do we have enough bandwidth to keep up with the Joneses?
Recently, my husband and I were on vacation outside of the USA. We decided not to buy the wifi package at the resort because we wanted to unplug. It was quite refreshing to not know what was happening in the broader world on a minute by minute basis with updates and soundbites that only tell a part of the story. Once we were back home, we were able to catch up on the news of the world in summary which for us was sufficient. (We aren’t controlling policy, thus the executive summary is great for us!)
While we were on vacation, the simplicity of being in the joy of the moment was quite energizing. We talked to other guests at meals. We read books. We exchanged ideas and points of view with people from all over the world. It was refreshing not to be tied to the battery life and online news.
Our challenge is to not fall back into old habits of being attached to our TV or electronic devices as they keep us from experiencing the joy of just being: being in the now.
The question for each of us is how can we simplify our lives so that we are living in the now and experiencing what each moment holds for us instead of being dragged down by too much stuff, too much noise, and too much information. Some people may need to simplify physically or financially. Some may need to simplify emotionally or mentally. And probably all of us need to simplify spiritually. Ask if you might need to focus on BEING more and DOING less. Find the joy in simplifying your life.