Life is so complicated right now it’s exhausting. Just interacting with one’s neighbor is a challenge, much less the world. So many things have been made more complicated in an attempt to make them simpler.
My smartphone, for instance, is the most complicated thing I could possibly imagine designed to make my life easier. Obviously, the political world has become more complicated by orders of magnitude. And I can’t begin to conceive the extra layers of complication involved with being a teenager in the 21st century. The pressures of daily life are both real and enormous.
There isn’t much we can do about it, really. Except for one thing: adapt. We actually have to become accustomed to it since it would appear we have little power to change it on our own. And the single, overarching methodology of all adaptation is resilience.
So it therefore, begs the question: What are you doing to enhance your own resilience? Toward what are you directing yourself and your intentions as you seek to find ways to cope with this world we’re living in? Considering yoga? Learning a new craft? joining a club?
All of those are good things. All of them in their individual ways will help to improve your resilience to the stressful nature of these days. But it’s also adding more stuff. And adding more stuff to your life is not always the answer when considering the enhancement of resiliency.
The art of simplification is deceivingly (and ironically) simple. So much so that we tend to disregard it as a potential life practice. As well, the practice is a never-ending one, prompting us to get bored or even exhausted by the very attempt.
But even the practice of simplifying requires a simplicity of approach. Start small. Pick a little corner and begin there.
There are many avenues toward learning the practice of simplification. Hundreds of internet simplicity gurus are lobbing ideas out there on the daily to let you know the easy and simple life hacks that have the potential to change your life. It’s not hyperbole, by the way. They actually will. But you have to start somewhere.
There is also, as you might imagine, a spiritual benefit to the act of decluttering not only your home, but your psyche. It opens the way for inspiration. It is said that God is simple and without parts. The spiritual path toward simplicity is designed to emulate the Divine in an effort to move into greater alignment with It.
Whether or not one believes in God, it still makes great sense to assume that ridding ourselves of at least some of the inner chatter leaves room to just be with our thoughts. It grants us a degree of space to allow our natural creativity to flourish.
How we treat our home is a direct reflection of how we feel about ourselves, for instance. The same can be said for our clothes as an indicator of self-worth. Look around you and ask yourself: Am I loving toward me?
The clues are all around you. Read them. How big are the piles? How much are you really avoiding dealing with? Don’t let the perceived enormity of the work deter you. Simplification is a snowball that, once gaining sufficient momentum, will eventually feel like the work is doing itself. If you give it a chance to do so.
My favorite part of this practice is that you don’t have to solve all your self-worth problems in order to simplify your life. Sometimes all you have to do to start is make your bed.
I have a ritual for that. I strip the bed down to the fitted sheet each time I make it. I take one corner of the fitted sheet off the edge of the mattress and shake out the dust of the night from it before tightly refitting it over the corner of my mattress. I shake out all the rest of the bedding before replacing it on the bed.
There are practical reasons for this as well as emotional/symbolic. Practically, dust mites do their thing in the sheets and I’d just as soon they not. Shaking off the layers minimizes it before they become trapped in the covers. But the other reason is an opportunity for mindfulness. And that is the key to all simplicity efforts.
Give thanks for all that you let go of. Be they dust mites or old chachkies you got in a Yankee swap three office Christmas parties ago. Feel gratitude for whatever they brought to your life and bid them hail and farewell. There is an emotional benefit to mindfully disposing of unnecessary detritus. You’ll actually feel better.
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