Sunday, May 5, 2024

....simple (take 2)

Yogis,
It’s hard to believe we are in May! Seems so recent that the new year was launching, and I was sitting here writing about selecting a ‘word of the year’. A word that encapsulated your vision or intention for the year. One that had the right feeling tone. It’s time to check in.

Did you pick one? Do you remember what it was? How is it going?

The word I selected this year was ‘simple.’  As much as I still relish the word, I will admit that choosing it hasn’t had a great impact on my life so far. I want it to…..or at least I believe that I do. Yet, like most changes it takes more than wishing. It requires an inner shift.


I have taken a few steps. Cleaned out a couple of cabinets. Donated a bag of clothes. Cancelled a few subscriptions. Spending less time on my computer.  But as some things clear it seems others fill in. Life and I do not feel simpler.

I receive daily contemplative emails from Richard Rohr’s organization and each week there is a theme. Last week was simplicity which was what got me thinking about all of this. What struck me most were some quotes by sister Jose Hobday. A little of what she said:

“Some folks admire simple living. They would love to declutter. They would love to walk freely. But they don’t really want to do it, because they don’t do it. You must take the actual steps. We can’t do it in our heads. Simplicity is not an idea.”

I love that!  It is not an idea. So what is it?

She goes on to talk about how simplicity must walk through our lives with us. Go to work with us. To the store. We must wear it. Something we embody. My head was nodding with each sentence. I can see that I am treating it like an idea and hoping it will happen. Not a good plan.

When someone who lives simply walks into our lives we can see it on them. We can feel it in them. It is them.

I would imagine this to be true for any shift we are wanting in our lives. Positivity…. Courage…… Trust…… Growth…. They can’t live in our heads.  We must begin by putting them on.

I will be doing a ‘take 2’ on simple.

As spiritual writer Paula Huston says about living simply, ‘it is infinitely more enjoyable’,
SARAH

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