Voluntary Simplicity

hi everyone. long time no see... but happy new year!

2010 has started off busy, fun and sometimes challenging for us as we begin another year of learning, writing, exploring and having fun. we have a lot of things planned for 2010, and we'll do our best to keep you all posted.

as with the start of any new year, month, or week, i know the tendency is to try to fill it up with "stuff" and see how much we can do over the time period. sometimes, however, quality trumps quantity, and the following passage from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" expresses this dilemma better than I ever could - regarding the "impulse" to just squeeze in one more task item here, or another appointment there. See what I mean:

I've learned to identify this impulse and mistrust it. I work hard at saying no to it. It would have me eat breakfast with my eyes riveted to the cereal box, reading for the hundrreth time the nutritional value of the contents, or the amazing free offer from the company. This impulse doesn't care what it feeds on, as long as it's feeding...

...it scavenges to fill time, conspires with my mind to keep me unconscious, lulled in a fog of numbness, just enough to fill or overfill my belly while I actually miss breakfast. It has me unavailable to others at those times, missing the play of light on the water glass, the smells in the room, drifting in through the open window, the energies of the moment...as we come together before going our seperate ways for the day.

Can you resist the urge to JUMP when the phone rings? How about skipping a night of TV and just talking with your spouse or children, or playing with your pet? Some people can't be alone for 1 minute without whipping out the cell phone to call someone, check email, etc., instead of just experiencing the moment. Some people will even answer a vibrating cell phone right in the middle of a conversation with a live person. I'm not condemning anyone. I'm just suggesting that we be aware of what we are doing, in the moment, in order to really get the most out of that moment.

Choosing simplicity whenever possible adds to life an element of deep freedom which so often eludes us, as well as many opportunities to discover that less may actually be more.

As Thoreau said: "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen." Is multitasking really making your life better, or is it just bring more stress into your life?

Just something to think about...