Simple Instructions for Life
I think if I had to do it again…I might name this article “Life is about finding a set of simple instructions, for each of the many complicated situations we will encounter, knowing exactly when to follow them, and allowing those instructions to guide us to inspired action.“
But that isn’t too sexy in a subject line, or to Google, is it?
It doesn’t make for great long-tail SEO, but it’s true…isn’t it?
The Internet is full of hacks. Health hacks, marketing hacks, video game hacks, and LIFE hacks. 5 steps to 6 figures. 3 Keys to Live Until You’re 100. The Top 10 Baby Panda Names.
Hacks, shortcuts…they get us excited. They appeal to our ever-evolving sense of instant gratification. In fact, you might have clicked on this article hoping for some “Simple Instructions for Life”.
Well…I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news.
The bad news is…this article, just like life, is anything but simple. As I review and edit, I can tell you…it’s gotten quite lengthy.
The good news? The good news is that once you’ve taken the time to realize that life is complicated, that it is long and difficult and challenging and complex. Once you challenge yourself to look past the shiny new promise of a “simple solution”…you can actually start to break down that complicated tapestry, into some principles that you can live by. Principles that can guide you, that can give you some peace, and that can perhaps even make life a little… simpler.
The interesting thing is, these principles seem to vary from person to person. There are certainly themes, principles that we all seem to nod at when we hear them. But make no mistake… the notion of a “simple instruction for life” isn’t about the instruction itself being simple. It is about YOU, digesting that message (that instruction) and having a moment of clarity…where the task at hand, sometimes life itself, seems much, much simpler.
You can all recall one of those moments, I suspect. A moment where a story, an anecdote, a directive perhaps…or even a quote…broke through. It struck you between the eyes, and it felt like the fog that had been surrounding or burdening your mind had been instantly swept away to reveal a heightened state of sensory and intellectual understanding. You could see clearly with your mind’s eye, and that clarity brought to you an optimism, and hope…that maybe, just maybe, you’ve got this thing figured out.
Some might simply call this an “a ha moment”. But it’s so much more complicated than that, isn’t it??!
And thankfully so!
Life is complicated, it’s long and difficult, and it’s challenging and complex. And if it wasn’t? If it wasn’t, we’d all be bored out of our minds.
Existence doesn’t owe it to you, to be simple. Nor do we give our own existence the dignity it inherently deserves by trying to force it to be.
Instead of looking for simple instructions to life, throw yourself in the deep end. Challenge yourself. Reflect. Embrace the complexity of this magnificent ocean of interaction and being that we are constantly swimming in…physically, mentally, spiritually. See the universe sprawling outward, all around you…and know that your willingness to embrace the good, the bad, the simple and the unknown…is all you need to stay afloat.
Search for your principles, vigorously…daily. Make your own ‘a ha moments’. Construct your very own impact algorithm.
Seek out those things that you want to stand for. Those principles that can and will bring clarity to your day.
Those principles, those foundational elements of who-you-are. Those are your guideposts. Those are the “simple instructions” that we all too often lose site of, as we drift and fight and struggle to make sense of it all.
Life is complicated. It is long and it is difficult. It is challenging and it is complex. And I wonder why it takes us so long to stop trying to figure out and tame that complexity, and instead embrace it, and celebrate it.
I suspect the answer lies in metaphor. For our lives are like nature itself.
So many things that appear simple on the surface, are found to be so much more…upon further inspection. And without the confounding complexity of nature, there would be no awe, and no wonder.
Your life…your existence, is complicated. Fantastically so.