by Joseph Wardy

Created on: December 19, 2010   Last Updated: December 22, 2010

Living a simple life is not simple. The statement is not a play on words but a realization that Western society is the antithesis of simplicity. Western society is immersed with the forms of technology, material possessions and physical appearance.

The complexity of technology to communicate in any way other than person to person is quite real. I recently was in New York returning home and waiting on line for the bus. Of the 35 or 40 people waiting, I was the only one that was not texting. This reality is anti simple in that all communication except for in person is tricky. Mechanisms like twitter, email and facebook use only words which represent only 7 percent of a message. The phone is better is that the voice is 38 percent. The remaining 55 percent is the body language available only when we actually see people. 

The addiction of material possessions lead us to the trap of never having enough. Toys lost interest after awhile and the desire to have more surfaces. This thinking is not in the interest of simplicity.  So, we are confusing the happiness of simplicity for temporary pleasure. Our culture is also attached to physical beauty and trying to stay young rather than aging gracefully.

Forms are always chasing the future or remembering the past. Both conditions are byproducts of a cluttered mind that is relentlessly racing toward something better while ignoring what is happening right now.

Simplicity, to me, can only exist in the present moment. Remembering the past can only be remembered now. The future is merely the present in the future. It is through the practice of mindfulness that we are able to live in the moment.

One way to be mindful is through formal meditation but it's not necessary to sit on the cushion to be mindful. It is always available through our breath as the breath is always in the moment. Here are other ways to experience simplicity by living the moment.

* When taking a shower, stand with your back to the shower and feel the water on your hair and then streaming down your back.

* Eat meals mindfully by chewing longer and more slowly taking conscious breaths between each bite.

* Observe the sky every day. The sky never looks the same every day.

* Observe nature as its stillness with create being in the moment.

* Pay attention when listening as it requires being in the moment and not the future of what we want to say.

* Practice patience when waiting on lines. Please keep in mind that frustration and impatience is the gap between the expectations and reality.

If you feel simplicity can be attained through mindfulness, please consider reading 'Wherever You Go, There You Are' by Jon Kabat Zinn.

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