Simplicity and joy become increasingly valuable to me as I near the middle of my life. Time is moving on! I can either flex the pockets of time that are still in my hands to create and build, or I can let them slip through my fingers and blow away like dandelion fluff.
I’m not talking about the sort of simplicity that leaves the walls bare and the kids barefoot… (Well, my kids are probably barefoot whether I’m trying to be simple or not, lets face it. Farm kids.) But I am talking about the sort of simplicity that knows what is valuable and beautiful in life and confidently elbows aside the busy-work and extra dollars wasted on what is nothing more than an Instagram rabbit hole into someone else’s imaginary life.
The French have a marvelous phrase: Joie-de-Vivre; it means buoyant enjoyment in life – the joy of living. This phrase has inspired me many times over. It speaks of a fullness of joy in the mere living of life. In food, in mirth, in conversation, in thought. Your joie-de-vivre may look entirely different than mine. Depending on what your life circumstances and values are, the level of simplicity required may ebb and flow, but the joy of life is there to be found and cultivated within you.
And so, in the spirit of you-do-you, but as you also keep reading my blog… I offer for your consideration: 5 Tips to Finding Joy in Simplicity.
1) Be Quiet.
Before you can create a life around what is important to you, you need to actually… know who you are.
As inspiring as the bloggers and YouTube influencers can be, what are YOU made for? What do you love?
If you are drawing a blank, don’t get shut down.
As long as there is life in your lungs, there is hope for a purposeful existence.
Turn off the noise, even just for a day or two, and ask yourself a few questions;
What areas of my life make me feel unsettled?
Are there things that are important to me that never happen, or happen inconsistently?
2) Make Space.
Have you ever bruised your leg on a swinging pet door left open for the millionth time, and finally had a light bulb go off in your head?
Aha. This danged pet door is spoiling my life. Just intermittently. Just sometimes. But I carry its dysfunctional placement with me as a bruise on my shin that mars not only my leg, but also my sense of justice and propriety… because it should not be there!
Eureka!
What other things besides the pet crate need to be moved or removed to a better place?
Maybe they are concrete objects like placement of a trash can or the time of day you need to get up… maybe they are defeatist attitudes that have become a habit and only pull you down.
3) Fill Space.
Breathe. Let your chest and your shoulders physically take up room.
What are the goals and strengths that have been placed within this one body you have been given? Are you using them?
Fill in the space that you have created where the rusty old pet crate sat, physically or figuratively.
There is such a thing as living in a cycle of decluttering only to re-clutter your life with equally though differently meaningless junk.
Empty the space so that you can fill it with meaning, with life.
A writing desk to plan on paper or journal, or an air-filtering plant.
Metaphorically, in place of defeatist attitude – perhaps it is time to assume a new posture that says, “Done is better than perfect!”
4) Add Humanity.
No solitary goldfish is truly fulfilled. Just sayin’.
We need others. We need others for encouragement, for celebration, and occasionally, for tough love.
This can be pursued in so many different ways – organized or very organic.
It can be something you travel away from home for, or something you welcome into the open spaces in life that you are filling with meaning.
Some folks pursue their community online. I won’t say that it doesn’t count. But I will say that there is something powerful about seeing, and being seen; two arms around you; and a heart beat that you can hear.
5) The Two-Thirds Principle
God of the Bible made a paradise and he dropped two perfect people into it. He gave them the best that was to be had on planet earth – friendship, sunsets, furry friends, oceans, fruit, greenery, moonlight… and work.
Because work is just as good for humankind as beauty and friendship are.
How would your life be changed if you would accept the out pouring of your time, energy, and life, as something inherently good for you?
There is so much information easily available to pour into our minds. Books, podcasts, audiobooks… But unused knowledge collects dust and eventually becomes illegible.
I have been inspired to pour out twice as much as I am pouring in. I pursue a meaningful endeavor like journaling or writing an article or a letter to a friend where I am sharing something I have learned… using twice as much of my time or effort. I find sharing with others helps to clarify information and distill it into working knowledge.
What is your strategy for finding joy in life? How do you keep your life simple and meaningful?
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