Simply Simple : The Value of Less
I read a tweet the other day that said : “Most things work better if you unplug them for a while – including you.” Hilarious – and so true. And yet, we constantly busy our lives. Modern culture screams at us to be successful. Through its media it even offers us a definition of what success looks like : fame, fortune, car for every person in the household, Apple products galore. What society doesn’t offer much of is the urging to find satisfaction. True, deep, satisfaction with life. In fact, the question is never asked – is it satisfying to have a car for every person? Is it satisfying to have the latest IPad/IPhone/IEverything? Or does the pursuit of this, in fact, cause us to feel empty?
In the Modern Culture of More, the Value of Less – which is to say : Simplicity – has a hard time finding a foot-hold. Simple seems “too simple”. Can it really be satisfying to go lay in the grass and watch the clouds roll by? Can it really be satisfying to spend a day making a home-made kite with our kids instead of the bang and bustle of a day at Disneyland? Can I really find equal enjoyment in taking a walk to pick up branches instead of surfing the web to find where I can buy a pack online the cheapest as possible for my scrapbooking project?
As a child one of my favorite cartoons was Charlie Brown. In one Lucy wants to horde all the toys from her little brother Linus. She gives him a rubber band as consolation : Here, you get this. He holds it, inspects it. He pulls it apart, lets it bang back. Delighted, he then begins playing with it with gusto : pulling, stretching, snapping – having a total blast in his own little world. Of course this is irritation to Lucy because instead of being punishment it was reward – so she takes that away.
Apart from the punchline, the funny not-so-ha-ha truth is that simple IS pleasing. In fact, more so. Because it engages, it quiets, it stimulates creativity, it allows space to be. Running after the “Busy” of modern life – the demands to own, succeed, accumulate, horde – is exhausting. These things offer only fantasy : Fantasy is the media/society/mom/dad vision of our world. Mom/Dad? Yes, because any vision that is not our own vision belongs to someone else. It’s not ours. And if we pursue the fantasy – “If I’m a doctor dad will finally respect me”, “chicks like guys with loads of money”, “once I buy the house mom will tell me she’s proud of me” – we’re on an empty treadmill.
Simplicity is harder than pursuing fantasy. Because simplicity requires saying no. To unplug is to say no. But if we stay on that level it feels like a sacrifice. If we realize we are saying yes to something else then the no becomes the welcome dropping of unneeded ballast.
Pursuing fantasy is a total opposite pursuit than pursuing a dream. Dreams are True. Dreams are simple.
Challenge questions : What is your simple dream? How much value do you give it right now? And, how much value CAN you give it?
Happy Dreaming!
