To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter….to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring- these are the rewards of the simple life.
80% of our time is spent on our physical needs :
- Food
- Warmth
- Shelter
- Work
- Education
- Health
20% is spent on our Spiritual, social and psychological needs :
- community
- love
- friendship
- beauty
- art
- music
When we concentrate all our energies in providing for our physical needs, we lose:
- a sense of belonging
- active and meaningful supportive relationships
- the support of friends
- an appreciation of the beauty that surrounds us
- expressions of creative beauty found in music and the arts.
Non material experiences are needed to feed our imagination and our creativity. We need time to contemplate, to make things with our hands, to express our selves.
Searching for a simpler lifestyle may be a call from the soul to not forget our social, psychological and spiritual needs.
To create a balance we could :
- write a letter to a friend and make arrangements to meet.
- spend time with our partners and talk a walk in nature
- make time to reflect, meditate and relax
- plan a garden and sit in a nature sanctuary
- visit an art gallery
- make bread
- find ways to express our creativity.
Personal exploration: leave a comment and share how you express your creativity
5 comments:
I try and find things that inspire me for example this weekend I went to see "the Gifts" exhibition at the museum by http://www.alinahazadeh.com/ -- she had taken 1000 objects (100 belonging to her mother and 900 donated by the public), wrapped them in silk and sari thread, and hung them from the ceiling. It was rather strange to see all these objects displayed in such a way. The artist has blogged about the process as well: http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/518804 which also gives me inspiration, and I sometimes look more to the finished object rather than slowing down to enjoy the process of creating.
I love to bake with my family. It give us time together and something to share and create together. Then we wrap up our goodies to share with family or friends.
@Citygirl - exhibitions make us question the way we view things and broaden our horizons.
@Stacey - I love the way you not only share your skills of baking and creating together but then share and extend the art of giving to family and friends.
The simpler life becomes, the more life becomes.......
Yet is seems the simplicity of this day and age would have been considered extremely complex in recent times.
Simplicity, truly embraced, will free one from the destructive processes that are of this world, and which are destroying the earth(air, water, land, vegetation, creatures) ;-(
@ Elderchild - simplifyng initially feels like going backwards and yet with hindsight you feel so much better and so much more alive.
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