Friday, January 29, 2010

Perspective: 30 Days of Simple

I've got my sister and her soon-to-be husband coming to visit this weekend (YAY!), so I'm wrapping up my "30 Days of..." a little early.


I've come to realize this month, as I integrated SIMPLE into my life, that it is really all about perspective.

In a new situation, I like to sit back and observe for a while. To watch life unfold around me and see how I feel about it. Decide what I think about it. I gain perspective. Nothing is ever completely black and white (at least not for me) and this removes the mental clutter and simplifies. It makes life manageable. There is much to be learned from watching.


That's not to say that other times, it's not simpler to just take the train by the whistle and put your cars on the right track.



As a mom, the conductor is the role I have to play. I have been put in charge of two new little
lives and it is up to me to be sure that we are chuggin along as we should. This is both wonderful and stressful to me. This is the job that finds me saying SIMPLE, SIMPLE, SIMPLE. The mental clutter sneaks in somewhere between the tv noise, the overzealous "NO, BABY!" being shouted by my toddler, and the phone call I'm trying to make while I cook dinner and the baby begins to cry at my feet to be fed. Really, it's not that big of a deal. But, in that chaotic moment, the demands being placed on me are many, if not small each on their own. I have to remind myself that the perspective needs to be switched to SIMPLE. As soon as I get in that mind set, it's all instantly calmer. *insert slow, airy new age music here*

So, while I did integrate SIMPLE into my life in tangible ways, such as organizing my recipes or making a schedule for the next day each night, it really became a mantra for me. SIMPLE is what I told myself when I needed to regain perspective. Such as when I looked across the house from the kitchen to find the floor covered in an insane amount of Lego Duplos just before I was going to vacuum. I was intensely annoyed right off the bat... then I chose SIMPLE. And it was funny. And it was a game and we found ourselves laughing and scurrying to race the legos back into their box. It was much different from the nagging, demanding tone of "put your toys away" that I would have adopted without the change in perspective. And so I came to realize that my definition of SIMPLE has changed.

At the beginning of this month (well, the middle, if we're counting) this was my definition:

SIMPLE: pure and without distraction.

and now it is

SIMPLE: is a state of mind; a perspective one chooses.

My original definition describes the state of mind; pure and without distraction. But, the key for me has been realizing the it is a choice I make. I decide to simplify. I choose SIMPLE.

1 comment:

  1. I love the insight in your blogs. It's always what I need to hear. you and I are in the exact same place at the exact same time it seems.

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