Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Claiming a Life of Simplicity: Step 2: Reflect

So, you've successfully opened the lines of communication with yourself, you partner, family, God. And you've looked hard at your real priorities and desired priorities. You may have even started some sort of action plan to change your life. If you're like me, you jump full speed into a project. Instead, take it slow and take time to reflect.

Reflecting doesn't sound like much of an step, but it's really important. Change is hard, impossibly hard. I'm learning that simplicity is harder. Desiring a life of simplicity is one thing. Actively seeking it is another. And here's the odd thing, getting from complex to simply can be make life more complicated. That's why reflecting is the next step.

For me, I've been doing a lot of reflecting on my relationship with God and God's creation. My evolving desire to claim a life of simplicity really has formed into some basic categories: Health, Spirit, Community, Environment.

Health: balanced diet, exercise, managing my fibromyalgia.
Spirit: Being happy, fulfilled and at peace with life.
Community: Building and sustaining relationships that matter.
Environment: Living simply and doing our part for the environment.

It would be easy to complicate our lives further by just quickly running out to join a gym, buy some self-help books, join more small groups at church and installing solar panels. That's not claiming a life of simplicity. Simplicity is about focusing on those priorities and finding ways to change your life in big and small ways to make it happen.

Next time, Actions on Health.

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