Simplify

Are you a complicated person? Do you lose things easily? Do you forget where you were up to with your work?

Well we are all in someways complicated and the best answer to the above is yes and no.There is no such thing as a one-sided human being. We are all both complicated and uncomplicated.

The uncomplicated side of ourselves distills and simplifies, it puts things in order, it tidies up so that we can remember exactly where everything is because it’s exactly where it was last time. The complicated side of us just put things down wherever it’s convenient because we are on our way to something more important and that more important thing, something we consider very important to get done, is more important than being tidy, putting things in the right place, ordered.

Is really important to realise that the complicated side of ourselves destroys calm and manifests trouble. And that side of ourselves is going to get enough work from nature itself without adding to the mix by deliberately being untidy, careless and not respectful of the value of organisation and simplicity. Nature evolves at the border of chaos and order and therefore you will be given enough chaos in your life without adding to it by becoming careless and disordered in those things that are unnecessarily distracting.

When I walk in my front door I have a place where I put my keys. When I bring my racing bike indoors I have a place where I put the lights and equipment that will be required for tomorrow’s bike ride. I put my hat on the same peg every time, and, I arrange my office desk so I know exactly where everything is. This is no accident, I believe there is enough chaos in the evolution of my learning without introducing it in worrying about things that are not critical.

But I have noticed some people just randomly put things where ever they choose and then when it’s time to leave the house start searching for them. I see people forgetting things such as daily routines and exercise programs because they refuse to write things down and have checklists which are from me the single most important way to sustain order in what I’ve learnt.

To the individual who seeks freedom in life there is a resistance to the structure of this type of lifestyle. However, it is by having structure and not changing our mind over and over again about a single topic that we create the freedom of creativity. It is in every life that there is a balance between boring and inspiring activities and therefore it is wise to delegate those things that are automata ball in order to free ourselves to enjoy the inspiration and creativity we all love.

When I first started taking people to Nepal to experience the magnificence of the power of nature and therefore touch their own soul it was such a random experience that everything, every meal, every experience, every path we took, every bad sleep we had was a surprise and an inspirational opportunity to come up with solutions on the spot. I had to sync on my feet over and over again. But this was bad management on my part rather than inspiration. I was learning on the job, putting other people’s comfort at risk by not having the experience to organise and order those things that are fundamental to a great trekking experience in the Himalayas.

After three or four of these trips I started to realise that there were patterns that I could follow that alleviated 99% of the variables of a trip. By choosing quality staff I eliminated 95% of my own naivete. By choosing accommodation and meals that I trusted eliminated another 4% of the variables that were taking up so much of my time. By then understanding the needs of my clients and their limitations eliminated the last 1%. Suddenly I found myself bored. Suddenly all of the work that I considered to be the value that I added to these tracking trips went away. I had evolved my work to make myself redundant.

But at this point I chose to develop a workbook that could be carried by those who were on the trips to challenge their heart and mind to explore things that were only available so far from home and in such a magnificent environment. And with this I re-introduced the real inspiration of taking people to the Himalayas of Nepal which was to inspire and open their heart, experience the magnificence and power of the human soul in nature, and, most importantly learn from the Sherpa people of the Himalayas. These amazing people have what I would believe to be the perfect balance.

So you can see from this example how by creating a boring routine that is not changing and making decisions that you stick with about your life and career, you give rise to the opportunity to explore creativity in areas so far and explored in your own life. This in itself allows the necessary chaos to arrive in your world without disrupting the things that you have placed enormous value on and therefore keeping them stable, love field and inspiring.

Call relationships grow at the border of support and challenge. The question you might ask yourself is whether you are inviting the challenge in the same place over and over again or whether you have created routine in your relationship that makes every day things seem relatively mundane and boring and have created the window for challenge to be in the aspects of relationship that keep a relationship fresh and hungry? Is the challenge in your relationship whether you have cornflakes or porridge for breakfast or go on a trip to Uluru or is it how you explore intimacy and vision together under the stars in a way you’ve never tried before? This is an opportunity to consider a shift from keeping breakfast exciting, or doing date night, or introducing a routine into your relationship which can for some people trigger a fear of boredom and yet stimulates an opportunity to grow and prevent the catastrophe of 90% of other relationships which is to introduce chaos where chaos isn’t of any great value.

Sometimes we ask ourselves the same question over and over again in order to prevent ourselves from being bored. We might ask am I in the right job? We might ask am I in the right relationship? We might ask is there a better way to eat and exercise? But often these questions are simply trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

In the process of boredom there is an enormous opportunity for self respect. It is my opinion that self-respect is doing the same thing over and over again that satisfies one of your values (intrinsic value of feeling) in order to stimulate real exploration in territories that add value and opportunity to your life and those you love. Going to the same holiday destination year after year is wise because then you are not spending weeks and months planning holidays in order to create stimulation where stimulation might be better applied to things of a higher priority.

In summary, try to respect the value of boredom, not bad boredom but repetitive schedules and programs that you do every single day the same. Try to respect the value of simplicity. Try to respect yourself by worrying about things that are of value to the contribution you make to the world rather than things you can’t change or if you do change don’t really make any difference to anything. Keeping your life simplified is not boring. Decluttering is not a waste of time but more are simplification of your options and choices so that you can focus your creative energy and your spirit on things you were born to contribute to this beautiful world.