So often, we worry about everything going on in our lives. We could drown in all the anxiety we create for ourselves. One of the best things we can do for our health and well being is to realize that life goes on no matter what – and there’s no use stressing ourselves out over the details.
Thought for the day:
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. ~Lao Tzu
Damien Tougas, of www.AdventureInProgress.com made a great comment in another blogpost the other day…
We all have only 24 hours in a day, and can only devote so much thought and time to any given thing. That is why we are looking for the quick fix, because we don’t have time for anything more than that. We want to do it all, have our cake and eat it too. What we really need to do is simplify our lives. Let go of the things that are not important so that we can have more time, thought, and energy to spend on the things that really are important.
I think that philosophy is perfected in nature. Nature is the paramount example of necessity, and nothing in nature is superfluous. Everything serves a specific purpose in order for life to continue – and it works very well, I might add. Some would say that nature works perfectly.
It makes sense that we would do well to model our own lives after this simple idea of living only out of necessity – only doing what is necessary for survival. Of course, this isn’t merely an issue of survival, it’s an issue of quality of life, too.
We tend to carry around much more than we need, and I don’t just mean material possessions. We carry various responsibilities and obligations that command our attention almost every moment of every day. Some of these are higher priority than others, and each person will have a different value hierarchy. But the truth is that we’re so busy living, that we neglect or ignore what is truly important to us. Things like health and family priorities get shoveled under work and business responsibilities. Leisure and education get cut out for the purpose of providing more time to pay the bills. What if we got rid of some of the bills? What if we got rid of the cell phone plan, the satellite TV, the luxury car payment (and when I say luxury, a Toyota Camry would be luxury based on what I’m driving now, LOL).
If you compared the average American lifestyle with the basic needs of human survival, you would find a gross overabundance of resources. So, that’s not the problem. The problem is our perspective. We feel like we have to do XYZ in order for our life to be fulfilled. I’ve found it to be quite the opposite. Most of the time, it’s not an issue of DOING something extra – it’s an issue of doing less, or not doing some things at all. Just as Damien said, the more we can cut out of our lives, the more time and energy we’ll have to focus on what truly matters.
I chased after the quick fixes for health and fitness, among other things, and I have found them severely lacking in many respects. If you want to truly enjoy abundant physical health, then you need to simplify your life. The first step is getting rid of the garbage that doesn’t really matter. The next step is to devote yourself entirely to accomplishing that which is important to you.
Simple, right?
To your health and success,
.jpg "John Sifferman")
Fitness Professional
Hi John,
This is a great post! Very philosophical! We became so “technologically advanced” that we forget the simple stuff. Simple is definitely better.
Thanks for this reminder.
Alan
Great article John. I love the simplicity philosophy, it resonates with our family on very many levels. Simplicity is, in our society, one of those things that has to be fought for on a daily basis. There seems to be so much out there that wants to steal a piece of us and complicate our lives.
One of the areas that I want to simplify for myself is the area of fitness. I grew up learning that the best way to build muscle was in a gym full of weights. As a result, over the years, I have managed to put together a decent weight room in our house for working out. My desire now, is to scale that back, to as minimal as possible. I still want to build muscle and be fit, I just don’t want to have to devote an entire room of my house to it. I want to be able to “work out” anytime, anywhere, in any season without having to need special equipment. My gut tells me that this should be possible, I just have a lot to learn!
It’s absolutely possible, Damien. I’ve found an entire fitness method that appeals to this “less is more” philosophy in the Circular Strength Training system – but this is only one comprehensive solution of many. I think MovNat is another step in the right direction. There are options out there, we just need to keep looking and admit that we all have a lot to learn!
Alan, I’m glad it resonated so well with you. I’ve been doing a lot of introspection lately, which is fueling these more philosophical topics.
Great post! My husband, Damien sent me the link to it this morning. Couldn’t agree more with what you’ve said. As you make a family and raise children what you say becomes even more true.
Good stuff. Hope you can join us for a hike sometime this summer!
Hi Renee, I’m glad you liked the post. We’d love to hook up with you for a hike up at Crawford Notch later this July!
Focus on what truly matters. Throw out the garbage. Doing less. Simple.
I try to follow this path (sometimes more, sometimes less successful) and I can tell it’s simple but not easy. :-;
It’s definitely not easy Andrea. Our culture seems to have everything possible going against us.