The Balancing Act of Life in the Fast Lane
Simplify to Amplify In An Off-Balanced World
Hiya! Welcome to the Creative Mystic. Here we talk about a Soul Revolution in the making, both yours and mine. Topics of awaking, remembering, and self-discovery are all on the menu. While finding our new rhythms we will also find our people. I’m so glad we found each other. Please take a seat and enjoy a moment for yourself within the lines of my heart’s words.
“It’s time to find a way to simplify.”
This is the inner message that greets me at every turn in life right now. Simplification alleviates the constant requirement for tending things that don’t tend me. This is how my story starts for us today.
Abundance in all forms
The world has grown in a rapid succession of twists, turns, and summersaults of change. At breakneck speed we attempt to outdo what we have done before or better yet, what a competitor has done.
We are meant to live a life of cohesion. Anything else is an artificial substitution that leaves us empty.
We are all intertwined. By all, I mean everything from the rocks to the great whales to the tiny snails under the tomato leaves that eat my plants, to the person on the other side of the world sleeping while I type. You, me, them.
At first glance it appears we are competing for resources. That thinking is linked to a feast or famine perspective that feeds only those that benefit from it’s perpetuation. In reality life is abundant. Yes, even for those that are struggling in war torn areas, or drought and poverty.
Abundance comes in all forms, not all of it is helpful. Simplicity offers us balance within the off-balance reality. With balance we can offer more to others that are in need simply by not claiming what isn’t ours to take. We utilize less which distributes more elsewhere. Balance is a law of economy that assists the greater good.
It’s time to find balance
To create a life that is meaningful and aligned with simplicity, balance is necessary. The first steps at simplification take consideration. Sometimes removing something out of ease isn’t the answer. Real simplification requires a certain level of sacrifice. The unbalanced over-abundance in our homes, in our minds, in our personal time is where we need to first look for answers.
My shift
I would feel my finger twitch wanting to check my socials. It was dinner time late 2018, my attention needed to be on food and hungry ten-year-olds, yet I was desperate for check-out time on my phone. I didn’t work a 9-5 job. I was on all the time: full time mom, homeschool teacher, active leader in the community, as well as a writer. Yet, screen time on socials was my down time.
When I removed myself from IG, my last social media outlet, in 2021, I went through physical withdrawal symptoms which I wrote about here. IG was my drug. The space that its loss opened up was a gapping wound at first. Slowly, it became an opportunity.
The simplification of placing myself, not a machine, in charge of my relaxation time put me squarely back in the drivers seat of my life. I reclaimed a portion of my life that I didn’t even know I had relinquish with each like or comment I made while scrolling.
Balance took time. Simplicity took longer.
We aren’t born in a time of simple ways. Most of us enjoy electricity, wi-fi, and cellular service. There are stores full of premade food. Medicines are purchased over the counter. Water and indoor pluming is one faucet away. These modern conveniences created more time for other activities.
All the time we freed up from hauling water, growing and raising food, and any other labor intensive activity that was streamlined by a machine was up for grabs. The same industries that created our freedom of mundane life skills now capitalized on creating convenience at the expense of our sense of connection with earth, body, family, community.
Our free time should have inspired; instead it eventually led to a greater disconnection.
Experience fills our voids
Touching grass, digging in the dirt, feeling our bodies sweat at the exertion of building something, cleaning something, doing something that doesn’t require a chair or a screen creates a healthy glow that radiates in all we do.
We already know what to do, yet we are persuaded to think otherwise through multiple outlets that intend to capitalize on our disillusionment. Our visual mechanisms are over-extended, over-stimulated. To simplify we must amplify our experiences in touch, sound, and taste through natural means. The effort pays dividends in healthy soulful living.
I’m not advocating giving up everything we’ve ever loved that is gluttonous or serotonin inducing. I am suggesting creating a mode for simplifying one aspect of life that needs some balance as a start. Then when we settle into that change perhaps considering more.
We are worth the effort. Our world is worth it. Together we can amplify our potential for abundance that is balanced, shared, golden.
My go-to balancing activities when I see life getting pudgy:
1. Clean out my closet, or any space that looks for feels heavy.
2. Wipe down all the surfaces in a room. This is more cathartic than you could imagine.
3. Set a timer if I jump on desktop computer. I utilize FB and Substack for showcasing my work and my time must be monitored.
4. Do not allow myself more than one episode of anything. (Full disclosure: I’m not a TV person so if I’m watching it then I’m avoiding something).
5. Take a walk.
6. Play with the dogs.
7. Organize a small area and make it an altar space to honor simplicity, beauty, goodness.
8. Garden / tend to something living, like a potted plant.
9. Call Mom or another amazing person I love.
10. Read. Read. Read. This includes study of a topic I’m not familiar with to expand my awareness of the world around me.
11. Visit a library or other quiet place.
12. Write. Paint. Collage.
13. Watch a sunset.
14. Sit outside and watch nature.
15. Explore a new hobby.
16. Make an exquisite meal.
17. Create a plan for travel. Then go when possible.
18. Explore a new place.
19. Sit quietly and write down whatever pops into my head. The voices will get quieter and the stillness will descend.
20. Visit a friend, no phones, only enjoying each others company.
In offering the idea of amplifying through simplicity, I hope to also offer inspiration to explore new facets of self-knowing.
Sending you Love across the miles,
Leah 💕
Nice prompt and words for deeper reflection.
Thinking about withdrawal, my withdrawal seems to stem from not getting out more often to create imagery.
I resonate with so much of this beautiful reflection. Noticing all the ways to simplify things for deeper expansion and connection.