S-L-O-W-i-n-g down....

So an interesting thing has been happening in life over the last few days. I have been in training and trying to prepare a teaching curriculum for my summer job, yet it has been interesting to see how it has effected me. I've learned quite a few things about myself, such as the fact that I work better when I have specifications on my role and what is expected for me to produce. However it has been interesting to note how much I feel that the "simplification" process of the last few months of my life has sort of changed how I approach work and daily life.

An interesting tidbit that I learned over the last few days (realize I've been working with lots of education and therapeutic types) is that recent brain studies have discovered that our brains are not developed enough to truly function within the environments that we have created. Our society is such a high stress, go-go-go place that is full of a variety of consistent demands. And fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) our brain development and functioning abilities have not changed much since our caveman days, when our primary needs were just securing food, companionship, and shelter on an as-needed basis. So all this research has shown that due to the everyday strains that are our societal norms, we basically are functioning mentally at a high-stress level all the time. You can then assume that since our mental processing controls often the majority of all other functions, we are then running at high stress level emotionally, physically, and whatever other categorical breakdowns you want to include. (Is it so strange then that people get sick often or feel that they have "no time" for a variety of health inducing activities, including spirituality?)

Another interesting fact is that people vary on the amount of stress that they can experience before some sort of breakdown occurs. Some people deal with the high level of constant stress yet are still capable handling additional stressful moments. You can imagine this as someone who has a stress cup that maintains constant stress at half full and therefore still has half a can to fill before spilling over or the can explodes (breakdown). Then from there you can imagine that others have a constant stress level due to daily stress that is maintained at 3/4 full and so they only have room to incorporate 1/4 additional stress before breakdown can occur. Additional stressors can also look different for different people based on personality and other life determinants. "Breakdown" itself can also look different: weight gain or loss, physical illness, depression, anxiety, insomnia, crying for no reason, and a variety of other things (although it's important to note that these typically are more psycho/physical reactions instead of true biological or chemical imbalance issues).

Okay so back to my point, in our current society where most jobs (and/or over commitments) take up so much of an individuals mental processing, it is easy to see how we begin to compensate by taking away time from other aspects of life that are extremely healthy. Part of the simplicity movement, generally is to weed things out of life that detract from healthy living. Some examples could be cutting back contracted work hours, moving to reduce commute time, reducing debt by changing our "needs", and generally otherwise looking for ways to free up time. Within our society we've all engaged in elements of multitasking, however in true simplicity form multitasking generally is frowned upon. Instead the focus is in downsizing areas of stress in our life by behavior patterns, in order to truly focus on individual tasks and to be able to re-incorporate elements of daily living that we need to be balanced (ex. time to go for a walk with a spouse, time to read a book, time to garden). Now not to be too new-age, but the desire is also to really truly be present in that individual moment and therefore be benefiting from and giving fully to our daily activities.

That ALL said: The simplicity movement has in some degrees really changed my life. In previous blogs I've written about cutting back in certain areas, but throughout the training I realized how different my life is than a lot of other people who were at the training with me. It has been a long time since I have really over committed myself time wise and I have pruned my interests and activities in order to really be present in whatever it is that I am doing (although I could argue that maybe I don't give as much as I should in some ways anymore). However, I feel that as a result of the simplicity movement I have really benefited. No longer (well currently, we'll see how I am while working in this high stress summer job or when I get back to the city and back to grad school) do I have constant stress knots in my back muscles. Last night I spent several hours curriculum planning, which I only was allowed the weekend to start and finish. However today I woke up feeling unmotivated to jump back into the details of work, instead I felt like I needed to do something to engage my senses and to meet my other daily needs before I can truly apply myself to my work. So I took time to pull weeds out of the flower beds and enjoy the dirt on my fingers, I sat and watched the birds in the backyard while drinking my morning tea, and I have engaged in a little email environmental discussion with a friend of mine. In order to meet my work demands I feel like I must meet some of my other needs to truly focus and then productively use my work time. Interesting concept and one that I might not have dealt with in previous years.

Now I realize in our society it's not easy and sometimes not completely possible to embrace a lifestyle of simplicity (nor do some people feel the desire to do so-there's also the debate about whether some people have become addicted to that high stress feeling). But I would love if everyone could at some point in their day engage in at least one feel good activity in which they were truly present, without worrying about all of life's other responsibilities. May you each receive some simple blessings through your daily walks of life!