3 Steps to Finding Meaning and Purpose Through Simplicity.

Something is just not right and you can’t quite put your finger on it. Occasionally, darker thoughts well up and a voice says, “what’s the use”? Well, I’d like to get a conversation going, not so much between you and I, but between you and you. Know thyself. Take the time to reflect on some things that I will point out, which you may find useful…

Number 1. We make our lives far too complex. Although it may seem like life was less complicated in the “old days”, the reality is that it is foolish to look backwards to the time of your parents and grandparents and wish for things to return to an earlier time. Life progresses and you cannot go back. Even if you could, you would find the exact same level of anxiety then as now. There are those who have learned how to live simply, and there are those who have not, in any age of history. The particular spot in history you entered at has nothing to do with it. While we may have lost some of our innocence from an earlier time, equally we have lost certain naive and prejudiced notions too. Living simply- is a choice, we choose to unburden ourselves of our excess baggage. We lighten our load. You can’t know everything there is to know, our brains and our time is limited. You can begin to un-complicate your life by learning not to stress over everything going on in the world. One of the best ways to begin is to completely eliminate watching or listening to the news. It’s very liberating. Think about it, what possible good can it do, for you to know every gory detail about a tragedy somewhere far away. Can you help? Doubtful, people on the scene already are. So what good is you knowing about it? Is it not like pouring a toxic substance, day after day, drop by drop, on one of your houseplants and then wondering why the plant withers? One of my favorite sayings is, Eagles do not catch flies. I wish I had written that. It has to become a conscious effort in your daily life to eliminate trivia. Despite what you might at first think, simplification is the result of work. It takes effort and awareness to recognize and then decide that you are not going to bother worrying about trivial matters about which you can do nothing, or, matters that will make no difference in your life. We worry too much! Stop and think about what good will come from all that worry. Let it go. It’s killing you. Simple rule: if you can’t do anything about, DO NOT worry about it. Same thing applies to any knowledge you acquire, if it adds skills or pleasure or talent, OK, if not, why are you learning about it? When we burden ourselves with all this excess baggage, weigh ourselves down with trivia and utterly useless information and worries, our energy is consumed but we accomplish nothing. Save your energy for things you can affect. List on paper all the things you can let go of today and do it- today. Tomorrow, same thing. Soon, you have simplified your life and you no longer need to work at it quite so much. You are making room for what comes next…

Number 2. Going back to the analogy of a plant, it is natural for complications to grow wild and it takes conscious effort to clear away all but the good, healthy branches. Like the decision that our life is in need of pruning, which is radical at first, becoming easier in later rounds, I contend that there is a moral, a spiritual, a human (however you wish to phrase it) reason to live like you are living life on purpose. The reason is this: It is a sin to waste your life. Don’t get hung up on the religious tone that statement takes. Perhaps you are a Darwinist, OK, then wasting life is a biological cul-de-sac. Call it what you will. Moral guidance, which to some seem like restrictions designed only to keep us from enjoying ourselves, are really attempts to keep us from wasting our lives in sterile pursuits. But some will object, “but it’s MY life to waste!” That is true. But when we reflect for a little bit beyond our selfishness, we realize how our lives are connected to all the other beings around us, and how what we do and say affects and influences them, what is your responsibility, if not to yourself, but to them? Denial of it does not change the obligation that exists (if not to ourselves, then to one another) that we should not waste our short time here on Earth. We are not here merely to consume as much as we can until it’s our turn to die. Even people who completely reject any notion of the existence of a God believe strongly that we owe our fellow humans an obligation which surpasses a completely selfish life.

Number 3. When we prune away all the brush and briers that have obscured the light from reaching the desirable branches of our life that we wish to cultivate, and we re-awaken in ourselves the hope that something good can come from a life well-lived, that there is something that is to result from it, and that it is a sin against your God, or your fellow human beings, or Mother Ghia (whatever) to waste your life, then it follows that you need to have some sort of goal or purpose you need to fulfill with your life. The first two steps are necessary to tackle the third. Without ‘clearing the deck’ and having resolve to fashion and create, it would be pointless to try to discover a purpose for your life. You would not have sufficient energy to complete the job, and you would lose desire by losing the reason to try in the first place. So, what is your purpose? First make a list of your skills, talents, and abilities on paper. Take your time. What have people praised you for? What were you good at, as a child? List those. Write down everything. Secondly, list all your accomplishments, every win you have had. You’re going to want to recall the emotions you had when you accomplished these, it will help to reinforce the natural desire to win, keeping you motivated. Now ask yourself, if you had unlimited funds, and money was not a barrier, if you had sufficient time, what would you use the talents you possess to do? What did you want to do as a child, before everyday life pushed you off course? What is it, that the mere thought of it, makes you cry? You’ll get to this realization if you follow my prescription here and give it ample time and reflection.

Regret is the worst. To look back and realize that we wasted time, to realize it is too late, that we no longer have youth on our side, is the saddest of all feelings. The goal of this exercise is for you to establish important priorities for your limited time here. Read about the lives of great people for inspiration. We have one trip around this ball in space, make it a good one, be worthy. It is not given to all of us to do huge-great things, but we are all capable of small-great things. It may be that the small thing that improves the life of someone we care about helps them to go on and do great things that the world recognizes. It isn’t always easy to recognize the influence we have but it is there nonetheless. I wish you well and would like to hear from you, this has been my way of fulfilling my purpose.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.