Simple Gifts: Embracing Simplicity

                      

♫'Tis a gift to be simple,

'Tis a gift to be free,

'Tis a gift to come down

Where we ought to be

And when we find ourselves

In the place that's right

T'will be in the valley

Of love and delight.♫

-19th-century Shaker hymn

Quotes from Simple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life by Sarah Ban Breathnach

Day 15:  Simple Gifts:  Embracing Simplicity

"...for what do we yearn?  To chuck it all in and become a caretaker of fifty-five cats on a Greek island?....Or could we really be seeking a fundamental simple pleasure, such as concentrating on one task at a time?....When we appreciate how much we have, we feel the urge to pare down, get back to basics, and learn what is essential for our happiness.  Don't give up on your dreams.  Just rank them in order of importance.....True Simplicity is both buoyant and bountiful, able to liberate depressed spirits from the bondage and burden of extravagance and excess.  True simplicity can elevate ordinary moments...from the mundane to the transcendent....Trust that through the balm of simplicity your...soul can discover the place where you ought to be.  Every day offers us simple gifts..."

This is exactly what I find myself doing when my day-to-day life becomes stagnant or overwhelming.  I daydream about living in a cabin up in the mountains overlooking a vast expanse of trees on the next mountaintop.  Or living in a quaint English village surrounded by walking paths and sheep with views to die for.  This is why I need to learn simple abundance because none of my daydreams are practical and actually counter productive to what I really want, which is to feel I belong right where I am.  I'm counting on discovering this "true simplicity" that Sarah promises will "elevate ordinary moments."

Day 16:  A Sense of Order:  Cultivating Contentment

"For years I have suspected that in happy and fulfilled lives domesticity and spirituality are invisibly but inexorably connected...The Shakers...invoked a prayer each morning for the grace that would enable them to express their love of God through their daily tasks--tasks as simple and mundane as making a bed....There is an immediate emotional and psychological pay off to getting our houses in order.  We might not be able to control what's happening externally in our lives, but we can learn to look to our own inner resources for a sense of comfort that nurtures and sustains....There is a Divine Order...inherent in the Universe.  We can tap into this powerful source of creative energy when we are willing to gradually cultivate a sense of order as to how we conduct our daily affairs.  Invite Divine Order into your life today and a more serene tomorrow will unfold."

I love domesticity!  Keeping house, raising children, and making a home has been my career for 51 years.  These activities need a sense of order to do them well.  Now that I have an empty nest and every room in my house has been "decorated" not as much time is needed to create order.  I think this is when I get the greatest urge to move.  It helps to rearrange furniture.  During the warmer months I can be outside putting order into my gardens and woods.  This may be a clue for me on how I should fill my vacant hours to get the most satisfaction out of them.  We started a decluttering project last Autumn that I really must get back to, but this new puppy has mostly derailed that for now.  For now I will put my thoughts in order in my journal and on this blog.

Day 17:  Harmony:  Achieving Balance in Our Lives

                       

"A Chopin piano nocturne played by a novice musician will not sound the same as one played by a virtuoso....Chopin spent his lifetime composing and discovering through discipline where to pause and when to color the notes with passion and bravado.  So it is with the concerto of our lives.  Individual notes must be learned, played and practiced daily before we achieve harmony."

"Today's rapidly changing, complex, and mostly frightening 24/7 'Breaking News' culture assaults us at every turn with shocks that regularly catapult us into the realm of the unspeakable....What would be the ordinary task of getting through the day with all our loved ones accounted for drains our energy, depletes our sense of security, and diminishes our capacity for happiness, leaving us exhausted and vulnerable.  We have forgotten that silence--the pauses--is the most important part of any symphony--especially the ones our souls long to compose.  Usually, when distractions of daily life press for attention the first thing we eliminate is the thing we need the most:  quiet, reflective time.  Time to think, time to contemplate what's working and what's not, so that we can make changes for the better.  Even time to dream."

"Harmony is the inner cadence of contentment we feel when the melody of life is in tune.  When somehow, we're able to strike the right chord--to balance the expectations of our families and our responsibilities in the world on the one hand with our inner needs for spiritual growth and personal expression on the other."

"On the Simple Abundance path, we begin to learn how to pause....As we bring the Graces of Gratitude, Simplicity, and Order into our lives, Harmony emerges....Approach the day as if it were an adagio--a melody played at an easy, graceful pace.  Listen to music that soothes and uplifts your spirit.  And while you listen, pause to consider how all the individual notes come together harmoniously to give expression to the entire score."

I included more of Sarah's thoughts for today because she says it better than I can.  She uses music not only as an analogy to bring us closer to understanding what we might be missing in our day-to-day lives, but also to remind us that listening to music throughout our day can soothe and uplift our spirit.

Day 18:  Beauty:  Opening Our Eyes to the Beauty that Surrounds Us

"Going at our own pace, learning to recognize our limitations appreciating our progress, we weave the lessons into the fabric of our daily moments until they become a part of us.  Suddenly one day we feel very much alive and desire more beauty in our personal quest.  We come to a deep awareness that creating a beautiful life is our highest calling....What is needed, then, is a plan."

Slowing down our thoughts--being more mindful--gives us space to see the beauty that surrounds us--like yesterday when I glanced out the window by my desk and saw this....

It was only in the 20s here and the yard was swarming with Robins.  These three congregated in the little bird bath on my deck.

Day 19:  Joy:  Learning Life's Lessons with a Light Heart

"I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure Joy."  --Louise Bogan (1897-1970) America Poet Laureate

"The 'Simple Abundance' journey takes us to undiscovered territory.  We learn each day how cultivating Gratitude tills the soil of our souls and then how the seeds of Simplicity and Order send their roots down deep into the earth of our everyday existence.  As we work with each Grace and find unexpected contentment Harmony inspires us with quiet courage to create an authentic life for ourselves and those we love by setting boundaries with imaginative choices.  With patience, Beauty blossoms in unexpected places of our daily round and our hearts experience not only happiness, which is often fleeting, but a wellspring of unexpected Joy that refreshes and renews.  We have found our true place in the world.....Finally, we are ready to embrace the path of Joy....Many of us unconsciously create dramas in our minds, expecting the worst from a situation only to have our expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy--authors of our own misfortune....What if you began to expect the best from any situation?  Isn't it possible you could write new chapters in your life with happy endings?....Declare out loud to the Universe that you are willing to let go of struggle and eager to learn through Joy....You'll discover...that such blessings have been waiting patiently for you to claim them all along."

This has given me a great deal to ponder.  Am I the author of many of my troubles?  We can be sure we are authors of the thoughts that fill our head--feelings of dread or discontent.  The concept of learning through Joy is intriguing.  Just the thought that blessings have been waiting for me and all I need to do is claim them is a whole new way of thinking.  It feels like we are about to go on a Treasure Hunt!

Day 20:  Simple Abundance:  The Basic Tools

"There are no wrong turnings.  Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk."  --Guy Gavriel Kay, Canadian author

"There is no companion so companionable as Solitude," the 19th-century poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau reminds me as I carry a hot cup of tea back to bed.  My next hour is spent going within in prayer and reading one chapter in the inspirational book I'm currently enjoying and then reflecting on my Gratitude Journal."

"This much I know:  If you go deep enough, often enough something good is bound to come back to you."

I love the way Guy Kay sees our journey--no wrong turnings, only paths we did not know we were meant to take.  This is why being detectives in our own lives is so important.  It's our life, after all.  No one else is going to be as keen on it as we are, so we must not fritter it away hoping and wishing with no clear plan of what it we want it to look like.  Like Sarah, I spend an hour or more every morning before the sun comes up with my devotional/inspirational books and my journal.  This is where I order my thoughts, make adjustments, plan, dream, and seek God's help.  It is something that gets me out of bed at 4:00 a.m. with no complaints!

Day 21:  The Illustrated Discovery Journal

"The key to loving how you live is in knowing what it is you truly love....We feed our imaginations and get in touch with our authenticity by gathering together beautiful images that speak to our souls....Meditation on one visual image a day can jumpstart your creativity and lead to revealing insights."

Sarah collects old magazines from friends and peruses them looking for photos that speak to her heart.  Then pastes them into her Illustrated Discovery Journal she's made from a blank artist's sketchbook.  In this updated edition she talks about Pinterest and says here's why she doesn't support it:

"I'm ever so gently trying to help you create boundaries of privacy and sanity by reconsidering what you put online for the rest of the world to see......Every time the next inspirational photo comes into view it's easier and easier to fall down the rabbit hole of overstimulation and stress.  Seeing other women's perfect images of how they live, dress, decorate, travel and get married just set up an impossible, deceptive shell game that diminishes our sense of self-worth and increases our sense of lack."

As a "journalist on the web" ("Blogger" sounds so uninspiring) I am very aware of what I share online.  Sometime I wonder if it's too much information, as they say.  I assuage that concern by telling myself hardly anyone reads what I write anyway!  But what drives me is my desire to share what I hope will be an inspiration to whoever is reading.  Whether it inspires you to visit a place I write about, read an author I'm quoting, or find solace in the music I choose or the photos I share, I feel it's worth my time and effort, besides the fact that documenting what I am learning and am inspired by is like experiencing it for a second time.  So I heartily recommend that even if you don't share your thoughts online that you write them down somewhere and collect photos of things that speak to your heart.

So, how is it going so far--writing down the things you are grateful for?  Any new insights into yourself?