MZD - Ep 87 Cultivating Simplicity

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” ~ Lao Tzu

Are you finding it a challenge to keep up with everything that is on your to do list?  Do you ever feel tired and exhausted, overwhelmed, under-satisfied and overworked just so you can pay the bills and find a little happiness in life?  Like Henry David Thoreau, I love a broad margin to my life.

Simplicity can mean so many different things to people.  We go searching for it in exterior things.  - “If I could just de-clutter and get rid of all this junk in my life”.  Or, “If I just didn’t have to work two jobs to keep up!”  Or my favorite, “If I could just get away from all this madness to a cabin in the mountains for a weekend.”

All of these longings and remedies are wonderful temporary solutions, but the truth is, Simplicity can be had right here, right now, and begins on the inside…

Let me ask you, when was the last time you felt the joy of true simplicity in your life?  Was there ever a time when life felt calmer, less demanding, and more meaningful?

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of visiting my grandparents in West Virginia.  It was about a two and a half hour drive, full of anticipation and beauty along the way.  I knew we were getting close when we would drive through Berkley Springs, pass the old haunted Berkley Castle and cross the Great Cacapon River.  From there it was only a few more miles down a country dirt road through the woods with no other houses in sight of it.  It felt like it was out in the middle of nowhere, and I loved it! 

It’s where I learned to drive a car as a ten year old.  In fact, one of my favorite memories of visiting my grandparents was the time my father stopped the car in the middle of the road  about a half a mile before we got to their place.  I knew something big was up when he and my mom got out and he leaned in and said,

“Go surprise Grandma!  We’ll see you there in a couple minutes.”  

I couldn’t believe it!  This is a ten year old boy’s dream come true!  And yes, I believe Grandma was quite surprised to see her ten-year old grandson pull into her driveway driving a 1960-something black Chevy Corvair…  But then again, maybe not.  Times were simpler then.

I treasure those memories of seeing Grandpa working in his workshop, and I'd walk in, and he would look up and ask, "What do you want?"

"Nothin'!" I'd answer.

And with a twinkle in his eye, in his characteristic humorous Grandpa fashion would say, “Well get it and get out!" 

I also have fond memories of helping Grandma go out to the garden and pick green beans for dinner and making blackberry pie. And in her precious, Southern Virginian accent, would exclaim, "We're gonna have 'pah' for dessert!" 

Sitting on the front porch at dusk listening to the whippoorwills’ lonely call, gazing at the soft candlelight emanating from my Great Grandmother’s cabin in the woods across the dirt road.  Bats would come out and swoop for insects performing a night-time aerial show.

I loved shooting cap guns and BB guns, and playing with my uncle’s plastic army men, and cowboys, Indians and horses in the dirt.  I don’t know why but it would upset when I found so many among his collection that had heads and arms and legs missing because he wanted them to look “realistic”.  No matter.  Everything was an adventure!  And everything was simple.

As I look back, I realize it’s not that life was easy for us.  There were still bills to pay, school to attend and jobs to show up for, doctor’s appointments, and meals to make… it was just simpler.  I don’t think I am just being nostalgic.  I treasured it then and I treasure it now.

We take so many things for granted.  Face it, in so many ways today, we have it good.  No we have it great!  Especially compared to our grandparents and ancestors – those pioneers who faced unbelievable challenges to make way for new opportunities and a better future.  And what are we doing with that future?  Squandering it on things, and the pursuit of more and more, all while feeling less and less.  Less joy.  Less tranquility.  Less purpose and meaningful moments in life.  Less Simplicity.

There, I said it.  Less Simplicity.

Leonarda da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.  All of our technology, knowledge and experience has actually dumbed us down and made us less sophisticated, not more. 

Have you ever read the stoics, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates?  How about Shakespeare, Emerson and Thoreau?  These great minds, without the “benefits” of technology, TV, smart phones and all the comforts of life that we feel we can’t live without, lived superb and meaningful lives.  Their philosophy and observations, and ability to convey them were nearly super human!  Their minds and lives weren’t cluttered with superfluous, and meaningless drivel.  There was meat in everything they thought and spoke.  And there was simplicity.

Ok.  I’m done preaching.  Can you tell I’m a bit passionate about this?  Not that I practice what I preach everyday.  I just long for simplicity and broad margins in my life.  I seek to perfect the art of slowing down, and that’s what we’re going to do in today’s meditation. 

So as we seek to cultivate Simplicity in our Garden of Well-being, ask yourself today, “What areas in my life are keeping me from living in simplicity?”  “How can I downsize and de-clutter my internal as well as external life?”  This begins with meditation.

So if you’re ready, whether you are a true Minimalist, or just want to just slow down, simplify and de-clutter your life a bit from the inside out – let’s begin.