The Pursuit of Simplicity

Where does inspiration come from? What drives human beings to slow down to a point where we can breathe and gain enough awareness to acutely perceive our surroundings and appreciate the magnitude of the infinite that is staring right at us? These are questions that have been plaguing me since I found myself unemployed for the first time in over 24 years. Moreover, I recently read that asking the right questions is much more important and exponentially more complex than finding answers, so one must spend some time framing the questions that we need to ask of ourselves and consider engaging others in the process. In my case, the questions are quite simple which imply a great level of complexity at the same time given that "simple" is not simple and ”complicated“ is usually easier than simple. Therein lies the main issue of our 21st century life: striving to simplify our lives.

A conversation starts, a gaze evolves, and a handshake appears as our senses work unnecessarily hard to tell us their version of what is happening around what we incorrectly call our “self.” Immediately after, our brain works to try to apply logic to what we perceive as reality and our thought patterns offer way too many explanations for the present. This process, in fractions of a second, takes us into the future and drags us to the past long enough to trick us into missing out on what is actually happening... just like that.. The Now is gone! How do I slow it down? How do I regain control of the present moment or, even better, how do I allow the present moment to regain control of me?

It boils down to three very simple yet hard things:

1- Be still

2- Break habits

3- Let go

Ha! If it were only that simple. Like I said before, complexity is easy, and to make matters worse, technology and our unnecessarily fast pace of life make the present moment more allusive. Consequently, one must commit to the aforementioned three tactics and, in the process, realize that it will take time and effort to make progress.

Thank you for reading and have fun pursuing a simpler way of life! Your happiness depends on it.

Upwards and onward!

Oliver