|
Today's
Meditation:
Simplicity--what a wonderful word and what a great
goal. Over and over again in my life, I can depend
upon the simple things to be truly great--the apple pie,
the smile of a friend, the time at the lakeside, the
simple dinner and not the complicated one. I've
found that whenever I go for the complicated, be it a meal
or a vacation or a plan, many other things in my life get
complicated, also, my stress level goes up, and the end
result is never satisfying. When I stay focused on
the simple, I can be truly aware of just how wonderful the
simple things are.
Who wants us to be complicated? Usually people who
want to sell us something. Psychologists and
psychiatrists make tons of money because of our tendency
to try to work through complicated problems and
relationships rather than letting them go and finding more
simple ones to deal with. Scientists and engineers
and architects tend to agree that the best solution is
almost always going to be the simplest one, and that
solution is going to be wonderful.
Why, then, do we allow so many wonderful and simple things
slip out of our grasps? Why do we see simple as
somehow "less worthy," and ignore it because we
think that more complicated would be better? Why do
we spend $40,000 on cars that have all sorts of bells and
whistles when a $20,000 car will get us where we're going
just as well, and have fewer things that can go
wrong? And just what could we do with that extra
money?
Rainy days, sunny days, snowy days, vanilla ice cream,
good books, friends who don't make complicated demands,
the smell of coffee brewing on a quiet Saturday morning, a
cold glass of milk, jeans and a t-shirt--there are so many
simple things that we lost sight of as being wonderful in
our quest to complicate our lives that it's quite a
shame. The Spanish have a wonderful saying:
"No me compliques la vida," which means,
"Don't complicate my life." They know that
the simple always will be good, if we just see it and
appreciate it for what it is.
|
