Simplify

Do you ever find that your life is over-complicated? The various responsibilities that we take on, people we have to deal with and possessions that we own, make our lives complicated. I swear that if only we automated everything at work and didn't have people involved, things would get done so much more quickly and efficiently! To complicate matters even more, there's our own thoughts that bombard us like a swarm of bees (apparently 70,000 of them per day), constantly re-playing what we need to do, what we haven't done, who did and said what to us, what we're worried about etc. We can easily become tangled in a thick web of unnecessary complication.
 

I was reminded twice this week about the power of simplicity. Firstly, my colleague shared with me his presentation called the 'Simplicity Project' which he based on Edward de Bono's book 'Simplicity'. After sharing and talking about the concept of simplicity with his team, they reduced their long, arduous and complicated communication chain in Operations to a simple and more productive one.

The irony being that often we don't realise how complicated we have made things for ourselves until we are made aware of the power of simplicity.

Secondly, while on an early morning walk with my two dogs and my Dad who, with my Mum, is over in Bali from the UK, he was amazed to see how simply the rice famers lived and yet they seemed happy. Their homes were a few makeshift tents made out of plastic fertiliser bags, supported by branches of wood, with a couple of stones to make a fireplace for cooking their rice.  One Balinese woman was washing her clothes in the stream that flowed into the rice fields and another woman was standing there naked washing herself. Such a simple, basic life and yet these people go about their daily lives smiling and content. My Dad couldn't understand how they could look so happy and care free when all they have is a 'home' made out of a few plastic bags, a handful of grubby looking clothes and one or two battered pots and pans.  My response was their life is so simple, they have few possessions to worry about and so they can be happy.

Life is so much easier and enjoyable when we simplify it. Hence a short blog from me this week! Hope you like it.

"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler, solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness."
Henry David Thoreau

Keep it simple!

Janet