Simplify Your Life

Reconnect with nature to find purpose and meaning

Simplifying your life allows you to have the opportunity to fill that void by giving you the time and resources to figure out what you truly want to do. And if you have figured out what you truly want to do, simplifying your life will give you the time and resources to do it.

Probably the greatest thing you'll find after you figure out what you want to do, is that more often than not, you will continue to lead a simple life. Your purpose in life overrides any of those things that tend to complicate our lives. Our purpose becomes more important than the latest car, the big screen TV, the computer, etc., and we become content with the things we have that allow us to live our purpose.

Material items would then be used to further your objective, but in no way will they become the end objective anymore. Most people are incredibly busy, confined almost every moment to the indoors at school and work, and on weekends so burdened with shopping and chores that like-it-or-not (and I don't), we are becoming more and more disconnected from the natural world. We simply can't get outdoors enough! And the problem is different for different age groups. For example, my almost eighty-two years-old mother loves to walk. She's out there communing with nature pretty much come hell or high water. Nothing beats a day on the horses (even those shall we say challenging rides?).

We all need inspiration on this one, as parents (teenagers, anyone?), for ourselves, and to help those who are aging:

Kids

1. Do an outdoor activity that requires you to get dirty (such as playing in the mud)
2. Take wildlife-watching walks
3. Take a trip to a working farm

Teens

1. Play outdoor sports
2. Outdoor seasonal projects (raking, gardening, filling the bird feeders)
3. One meal a week, parents should ask teens to make the food choices and talk with their kids about the production (organic versus conventional, etc.) of their foods.

Adults