Quote for the Day: Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated. Confucius
Happy New Year My Friends!
I decided to start with the word "simple". It is the first word that came to mind as I reflect on 2011 and start to focus on 2012. Webster defines simple as innocent, modest, humble, lack of education and free of complication.
How many of us can define our lives in that way? I often hear people comment, "life used to be so simple". Why did it use to be so simple and why is it so complex now?
Life IS simple. We often make it more complex than necessary.
I make it more complex by filling my days with 'must do' activities and don't often leave room for the people most important to me and the activities that bring me joy. I find myself constantly moving and using every form of technology available to me. The energizer bunny! What is it that you do that makes your life complex?
I love technology and can't imagine living without it. But at times, it can be overwhelming.
Does anyone remember when we had to look for a pay phone, or make a phone call to make a reservation, or go to the library to do research, or hand write a letter or pay bills by writing checks. Things seemed simpler then, but were they really?
I love the convenience of technology and it does allow us to be more productive, get things done more quickly and cram more activities into every day. We have iPods, iPhones, iPads, Droids, Notebooks, Laptops, Blackberries, Kindle, Nook and Smartpens. We have Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, MySpace, YouTube, Skype, Blogs, Vlogs and Second Life. We have webcasts, podcasts and video conferencing. Deep breath...
We are in constant communication with one another. We are "on call" 24 hours a day to our jobs, with our friends, family and people we don't even know. We become frustrated when friends don't respond right away to our text or email message and sometimes assume that something is wrong, creating unnecessary anxiety and stress. We become frustrated if the computer is running slow, if our WIFI connection is down, if the printer doesn't work or the cell phone service disconnects.
Technology provides us with wonderful tools. How we choose to use them is up to us. Technology does not make life more complex, but without proper boundaries, it can create more stress and complexity in our lives if we let it.
We have a tendency to over-commit, over-analyze, over-indulge, over-extend and at times, don't disconnect.
We need boundaries and balance.
I am curious. What is it that you do to complicate your life?
Let's think about how we can bring the word "simple" back into our lives. Not an easy task, but with focus, we can get there!
"That's one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean, to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains". Steve Jobs
here I was this morning poised with my dictionary ready to look up your first word and whoa! I can even spell this one! ?Then when I went to comment on your first blog I forgot my password. Hmph..technology. However being the tenacious person I am I have reset my password and am giving it another shot. I SIMPLY love this word and some of it's translations...lucid unadorned, easily understood, clear. One of the greatest parts of my relationships with my very best friends is our clear simple conversations. They can be about intricate subjects even touchy subjects but because we converse simply we understand each other and accept eachother's view. Simple is part of humble and humble is part of love. Happy new year!!! May it be simply filled with love!
ReplyDeleteI think many of us confuse the word simple with the word easy. To simplify one’s life doesn’t mean that everything is going to be easy. Life is full of constant change and events that may make it difficult sometimes but it doesn’t have to be complicated. If one focuses on the now and lives in the moment, one will see how much simpler and less complicated life really is. I think we tend to think about what has already occurred in the past and what might occur in the future. How many times have you fretted about something that has already happened or worried about something that might happen? What happens to the moment then? It is lost. And if our lives are made up of a series of moments, how many precious moments do we lose if we are complicating our lives by focusing on things that have already been and things that are yet to come? To help me make my life less complicated, I want to make a real effort to be present in the moment – accept and embrace it....as simple as that!
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