Simplicity

Simplicity:  A simple state or quality, as of form or composition; freedom from intricacy or complexity.


I'm sure I've written about this topic before but I often forget the simplest truths, the ones that, for me, spell the difference between happiness, emotional sobriety, contentment, and their great nemesis, Restless Anxiety.  I think of these truths sometimes and it's almost as if I've gotten an electric shock.  The sense of wonder over the beauty of these simple rules for good living overwhelms me.


"That is so GREAT," I'll think.  "How in the world could I have forgotten about that?"


I've been pondering the knowledge that I don't know what's best for me.  Not even close.  But I am so often convinced that I have a perfect understanding of what's best for me even though my experience is that I have almost no clue as to what's best for me.  This helps remind me that I need to stay in today.  I am perfectly equipped to handle this day.  I'm like Robocop or the 6 Million Dollar Man or whatever passes for a super hero today - I've armed to the teeth with fantastic, futuristic weapons and tools, sheathed in impenetrable armor, and connected to the latest intelligence network.  That's when I stay in today.  When I go into tomorrow I'm a skinny old man in a ripped loincloth holding a limp carrot, facing Genghis Khan and his Mongol Horde.


I have to laugh - a weepy, chagrined laugh, not a pleasant belly laugh - at how much time I spend in the future trying to solve problems in the future.  The thing is that future problems don't often become present problems.  Present problems need to be addressed.  Future problems are bullshit.