The Complex Path to Simplicity

The Complex Path to Simplicity

I want to live a simple life.

Today, in my pursuit of simplicity, I decided that I wanted to accomplish only one important thing. I wanted to live a life of simplicity, if for nothing more than just this one day, and write about my pursuit of a simpler life.

To accomplish this goal, I had to make no less than 17 stops.

8:00 a.m…

From home to pick up coffee.
From coffee to the church for my Haiti meeting.
From the church to the t-shirt place for our Haiti trip.
From the t-shirt place back to the church for my car.
From the church to a different coffee shop to wait for my girlfriend for lunch.
From the coffee shop to our lunch place.
From the lunch place back to the coffee shop to pick up supplies for my own store.
From the coffee shop to the gym. Workout cut short because my store needed those supplies.
From the gym to my coffee shop.
From my coffee shop to my house for a 30 minute nap. (The pursuit of simplicity was getting exhausting!) From my house back to the gym.
From the gym BACK to the t-shirt store to return something, which was closed.
From the t-shirt store to a different coffee shop to set up and, finally, SIT DOWN TO DO WHAT I HAD BEEN TRYING TO DO ALL DAY, write about a life of simplicity.

… and, by 4:30 p.m…

Deep breath. I now had 2 full hours before I had a coffee appointment with a good friend.

I opened my laptop.
I plugged in the power cable.
I placed my iPad on the table.
I plugged my iPad into my laptop.
I set up my iShuffle.
I plugged my Shuffle into my laptop.
I pulled out my USB mouse.
I plugged my mouse into my laptop.
I plugged my headset in.
I then clicked to boot up the slow-as-molasses Windows.
As it booted up, I ordered my Earl Grey tea, my salad.
I sipped my Earl Grey, set out my books I would be pulling from to write an article on simplicity.

Once up and running, I booted up iTunes, chose my favorite writing playlist, and could feel myself, finally getting into state, that happy, focused place when I could pull from my Limbic brain to write from my heart, that place that has no language I was prepared to give language…

Then a text arrived that changed the venue from where I was set up to another coffee shop.

My inner-debate on whether or not I should be perturbed began:

Was this the life of simplicity I was pursuing? Running around, running, running, running, to be the person I wanted to be, to strive to be the friend and leader I needed to be.

Is the path to simplicity a complex weaving mazes of commitments to self and others? Is a path to simplicity compatible with the path of sparking (that of success AND significance?)

Is the path the simplicity even my highest path, my highest value?

No, I continued, a life of service is above the life of simplicity. A life of significance, one of leaving a legacy of service to others, whether compatible with simplicity or not, is my highest desire.

So, putting my inner-dialog aside, changing my attitude, I took a deep breath, only my second for the day, and quickly packed up. In went the cables, the books, the iPad, shuffle, and laptop. (Amazing, I pleasantly noted, how quickly that happened.)

From the coffee shop to the other coffee shop for my appointment.

…5:20 p.m…

I still had an hour and a half until my coffee to write. Setting up did not take nearly as long.
I was, once again, ready to write. My girlfriend’s empathies were texted to me, encouraging me and urging me on. So I put on my warrior face and sat to write.

::beeeep::

[1 txt msg received]

FRIEND: Hey, man. What u doin’? Coffee now?

Grinning, then chuckling at the extreme Resistance I was experiencing, I laughed out loud.

ME: What are you guys doing?

FRIEND: Just done w/ workout. Miss you, friend.

Weighing the progression of the day, then, making the same inner-debate conclusions,..

ME: Yeah, man. Come on over.

Figuring my time to write was shot, I let it go. What’s one more day? I’ll get to bed early, get up in the morning and write, and will have served my friends and the people around me.

::beeeep::

FRIEND: Give me an hour. Cool?

Smiling, thanking God for small kindnesses,..

ME: Cool.

I turned to my computer, opened a blog, and allowed my must to begin,..

“The Complex Path to Simplicity:…I want to live a simple life…”

##

Grant R. Nieddu
State of the Spark

photo by aforero

Tagged as: appointment, desire, leaving a legacy, legacy, life a life of simplicity, life of service, life of simplicity, pursuit of simplicity, running, running around, significance, simple life, simpler life, simplicity, Success, success and significance