Stop To Enjoy Life’s Simplest Offerings

It was evening at the ocean. We had rented a little cabin that sat on a cliff above all of the thrashing and crashing waves. We were city dwellers used to being entertained and stimulated almost constantly. What should we do? We could drive into town and find some action - bumper cars for the kids, noise, people, music. We could haul out a board game and play Monopoly or cards. There was no TV in the cabin, so luckily we didn’t have to wrestle with that choice.

We decided to let nature entertain us. That night became one of my fondest memories. It was dark - very dark, because there were no street lights, no house lights. We turned out all the lights in the cabin and built a fire. We opened the door and sat in the darkness. We listened. The crackling fire. Snap. Pop. The massive ocean waves, thundering and churning one after the other.

We looked. Up at the sky, where the fog was beginning to lift, we could count stars. Is that the Little Dipper or the Big Dipper? We looked down at the ocean where just enough moonlight let us see the glistening, thrusting water. We looked at each other - what were those peaceful faces? We didn’t see much of them as we rushed through our usual days. Here there were no wild-eyed looks, no anxious muscles ready to pounce onto the next appointment or chore.

We let our faces, hands and legs be touched by the remains of the ocean breeze that wafted in the door. I could feel my children’s shoulders as they sat nestled and snuggled next to me on the couch. We sat like this for hours, slouched with feet up on the coffee table. It was wonderful. We experienced the whole night. We were in it, part of it. Not just passing through like usual. We felt it, saw it and heard it. We had nowhere else to be.

This is why I publish a newsletter titled Simple Living - as a reminder that there is another way to live. When we uncover the layers and layers of junk that we heap upon ourselves, we find life. Life without all of the clutter and busyness is a sensual delight that no flashing lights, gadgets, important schedules or money can ever give us.

I need the reminder because, like so many others, I am easily seduced. Seduced by the “American Dream” illusion that if I have bigger and better “stuff” and if I earn more and more money and have more and more important appointments filling my calendar, I will eventually find nirvana. Trouble is, nirvana is ALWAYS just out of reach because it is based on accumulating and finding fulfillment on the outside, instead of inside. It is based on covering ourselves and our surroundings with gadgets and whistles so we never have to experience the real thing.

But when I stop, I find that the real thing is wonderful! It is invigorating! I think of a favorite passage by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Yesterday P.M. I went to the Cliff with Henry Thoreau. Warm, pleasant, misty weather which the great mountain amphitheatre seemed to drink with gladness. A crow’s voice filled all the miles of air with sound. A bird’s voice, even a piping frog enlivens a solitude & makes world enough for us. At night I went out into the dark & saw a glimmering star & heard a frog & Nature seemed to say, Well do not these suffice?”

These things CAN suffice. It just takes a little work to find them. Simplicity is about streamlining your life so you have time for the things that matter. It can start with something as basic as cleaning out your closets, layer by layer. Or looking at your checkbook to take note of how many of your dollars went to purchase gadgets and whistles. It is making conscious choices about whether to buy more gadgets. Simplicity is looking at your calendar and taking stock of your life.

When I forget and start thinking it is a sign of a rich life that my calendar is filled with appointments or my living room is decked out with exotic paraphernalia, I pause for a minute. Oh yes, this is why I produce Simple Living. To remind me that there is another way to look at the word “rich.” xxxx