|
Today's
quotation:
If
we learn once again to listen to the gentle voice within,
we will hear it counseling us many times a day to simplify
our lives. When the voices of the world propose the
multiple complexities of modern living, the gentle voices
within will whisper: Why complicate your life?
Matthew
Kelly
|
|
Today's
Meditation:
The
world around us doesn't necessarily want us to discover
the joy and peace that we can find in simplicity.
After all, once we simplify our lives, we'll need fewer
things, we'll buy fewer things, and people who are selling
things will make less money from our consumerism. So
why would they want us to simplify, even if doing so can
make us much happier and healthier?
We
can simplify in many ways: smaller living spaces,
fewer possessions, fewer commitments, less time working
and hurrying about, fewer credit cards, less expensive
cars and homes and clothing-- you name it, and there's
usually a way (or two) that we can simplify almost any
aspect of our lives. And with every step we take to
simplify, we lose one more thing to worry about. Cut
up a credit card and pay off the bill and there's one less
payment every month. Get rid of the second and third
TV's in the house, and there's less to clean, less chance
of them breaking down and needing replacement, and lower electric bills each month.
Nobody
can tell us just what areas in our own lives are ripe for
simplifying, unless we give them a lot of insight into our
lives and ourselves and ask for advice. Most
simplifying will come from inside, and if we listen to
that gentle voice that Matthew tells us about, we can find
many areas in which we can make our lives simpler, more
peaceful, and more satisfying.
Why
complicate your life? Perhaps the better question
is, why have we complicated our lives so much
already? And how can we scale back to get rid of so
many of the complications that we've brought on ourselves?
|
