I recently came out of a flat period in my life, not depression exactly (but easily mistaken for such), more of a sense of 2-D detachment to my days. At first I wondered if I was resisting the ordinary flow of my life: wake-up, tasks, work, sleep, sprinkled with a few connections with others squeezed in between.
Watching the Olympics it is easy to compare ordinary reality to extraordinary abilities, events, and wonder ….. In the past I would have judged my activities as ‘not enough’ in terms of being meaningful or purposeful – but being ‘ordinary’ has its’ own blessings. My reflections led me to a deep desire to be invisible, to become transparent as the key to live simply. Not merely in my actions, or deeds, but to approach life simply.
How many great teaches speak of becoming child-like in our attitude and nature, of cultivating the innocence of ‘not-knowing’? Similar to Beginner’s Mind, there is a blank-slate appeal to being teachable, letting go of the pressure of having to ‘know’ or ‘seek to understand’. Dropping the intellect or the incessant urge to analyze everything certainly gets us to the door, but doesn’t ensure that we can open it!
Living Simply is something more. Living as though each instance is fresh, has no thoughts, opinions, past, future attached to it. To Be Simple requires me to no longer be my personality, to fall victim to my conditioning (e.g., reactive feelings and patterned responses), to approach each experience as never before experienced. No baggage: No expectations or assumptions.
SIMPLE = ignorant, unknowing, naïve, innocent. FREE