Choose your path wisely
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Wednesday 30th June 2010
Strength in simplicity
It’ s amazing how advanced we’ve become over the last decade, we have more gadgets, gizmos and hi tech equipment than ever before and (apparently) these advancements are designed to save time, increase productivity, helps us become more efficient while making life simpler. Yet even with all this technology we still somehow manage to be rushing, have less time for leisure and life appears to be just as complicated if not maybe even more than before.
A common catch cry of today is “If only I had more time” What if you did have more time? I can bet for most people they’d fill it up with more tasks and somehow still end up with no time. Here’s an irony the number one reason why people don’t finish what they start is due to lack of time??? So in reality time-saving devices and technology isn’t what’s needed its being able to simplifying things and being smarter with our time.
We believe that technology has made our life easier and think because we can multi-task we’ve become more efficient users of time. To a great extent all we’ve done is become more accessible (on demand) and made multi-tasking fashionable, so in essence what we’re done is complicate the simple.
We seem to have this wonderful ability to make things more complicated than they need to be? Let’s take people wanting to change their body shape as an example, they decide to go on a fad diet or exercise program, struggle to stick to it due to its complexity and before long return to their previous unhealthy lifestyle. This is a perfect example of people doing things the hard way as opposed to keeping it simple by making a few sustainable adjustments to your unhealthy behaviors and making them a habit!
We are funny creature us humans we say we want simple but do everything to create complicated. It’s as if the more complicated something is the more credibility it must be. We spend so much time looking for greener grass, the next big thing or the secret that we fail to see the simple (what most times has always been there).
I remember a few years ago a client of mine was building a new house he was so excited, this (he believed) was going to be the key to a happy home life but when things didn’t go exactly as planned what was to be an enjoyable process became a challenging and frustrating one. He later realized the key to his happiness wasn’t the house, it was the people within it, he’d become so caught up in complex that he lost sight of what was always there. He cluttered his mind with issues and problems which changed his state of mind so instead of enjoying the process he created the very thing he wanted to avoid unhappiness in the house.
Happiness depends, less on exterior things than most suppose - William Cowper.
Our thinking, perceptions, emotions and unconscious behaviours are all controlled by the mind and the clearer the mind is, the better they function. Whenever you get anxious, angry, frustrated, overworked or overwhelmed it causes stress and mind-clutter so what was once tolerable becomes intolerable.
Strength is in simplicity and sometimes (when stressed) we need to change our focus, slow things down a little or take time out to reassess the purpose of what we are trying to achieve. It’s difficult to gain any form of clarity when your mind is full of clutter and confusionyour thinking is no longer clear, your emotional state changes therefore making decision often becomes difficult.
It’s in these moments you need to step away from the situation (the some-one or something that’s causing the problem) by taking a break, some time out, a deep breath or finding some personal space. It’s usually in these quiet moments you’re able to see the situation for what it really is, view it with a different perspective and gain some clarity. You know the scenario - you’re trying to think of something and no matter how hard you try the answer just won’t come and later in a quieter moment it comes to you.
So from now on instead of letting circumstance and complexity take control and cause you unnecessary grief and anxiety, learn to appreciate the strength in simplicity by removing yourself from the confusion to regain clarity and you’ll discover the answer is and will always be in the simple.
I’ll leave you with a Confucius saying
Man who paints toilet not necessarily a shithouse painter
Sorry wrong one
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated”.
Friday 25th June 2010
Why worry?
Unless you have been hiding away in the mountains or you live life oblivious to what’s going on you would know that we are heading into tougher financial times ahead. Now this I believe is something we need to be aware of or at least it’s worth pay attention too.
Some people are talking the future to be full of gloom and doom they are worried what lays ahead, the thing is, whether we are heading for an economic downturn or not you need to be prepared. Even though we don’t know what is ahead worrying about it won’t change things so instead of worrying use this time to take stock of where you are, get back to the basics and reassess your core values.
I was reading an article just recently about the economic down-turn and it was commenting on how the Gen Y-ers were not going to let this (according to the article) “crisis” interfere with their life and if a recession occurs it’s not going to stop them enjoying themselves or going on their planned overseas trip.
Now that approach or attitude got me thinking, how often do we get told something and then go into a “chicken little” panic of gloom and doom thinking the world as we know it is going to end. I know a lot of people (myself included) give the Gen Y-ers a bit of a basing at times but this particular time I tend to like the way they think. They understand that yes we are heading into harder times but why let that stop you pursuing happiness and the things you want to do in life.
As we get older we tend to be less hasty with our decision making and become very analytical about what is best - lets call it a maturity thing. The point is the more analytical we become the less risk we take and the higher the anxiety or worry we place on ourself. Worry, anxiety or stress is becoming the number one killer in our society and we have developed into a nation of worriers, which has made us more susceptible to becoming depressed, sick, unhappy and unhealthy.
There is so much pressure these days to be perfect, to have everything in it’s place, everything running according to plan and this places a tremendous amount of unnecessary pressure on us to perform. Perfection isn’t going to happen and the reason why is because our life, our goals and situations are constantly changing and what you thought back then often changes as you grow and view things from a different perspective. How often when you reach a goal you realise another has superseded it, something a little more challenging something that stretches you further again - It’s called happy discontentment.
Everyone deserves to live life to the fullest and not get dragged down or hindered by external distractions that may or may not happen. Like the Gen Y-ers we shouldn’t let some predictions dictate what we can and can’t do, they have an excitement and desire to enjoy the journey, which is admirable (maybe a little naïve) but still admirable. The point I’m trying to make here is we need to spend less time listening to what other people are saying and start to listen to our inner voice.
Never stop doing the things that resonate with you, things that make your life that little more enjoyable and most importantly are in line with your purpose. Too often we listen to information and act on it without even digesting the content, which often causes “data dyspepsia” (anxiety and worry). Worrying only makes situations worse then because of it we tend to blow things way out of proportion create unnecessary angst for ourself and lose focus on what our true values are. We spend so much time and energy focusing on the
distractions in our life that we short-circuit our hard-wired system, which actually attracts the things we desire into our life.
I love this statement it’s very powerful and extremely apt
“You never see a worried magnet”
We all know how a magnet functions and I’m sure we have all done the magnet under the paper trick where you have the iron filings or metal objects on top of the paper and move the magnet. What happens? Everything gets attracted to the magnet, it’s so simple yet so powerful. The magnet never changes its shape or colour, it doesn’t increase its work or use extra energy on stress in fact it doesn’t worry at all because it knows eventually those metal objects (its purpose) will gravitate towards it.
This analogy is what we need to do in our life. We need to stop worrying about the external objects and about how far out of reach they may or may not be. We need to take stock, look at the things we can control right now and use that to create a better life. Worrying only creates distraction and the more distractions you have going on in your life the greater the uncertainty therefore less clarity of purpose.
Be like the magnet – It keeps things simple, it never worries about what it’s missing out on, it never gets distracted by external issues it just focuses on its purpose, which most times it achieves.
No matter what the future holds listening less to the gloom and doom and use the magnet theory (simplicity) as a metaphor for life. Spend more time on what you can do right now, find your purpose for life and what makes you happy and in doing so you will generate an excitement for what’s ahead. Stop worrying about what you might miss out on and focus what you can have. Like the Rolling stones song – “you can’t always get what you want but if you try some times you get just what you need” and I believe that will make you very happy.
Choose your path wisely.
Love to hear your comments
