try simplifying your life

In the modern world, life can become very complicated. Our lives involve many different things: a job, a relationship, entertainments of all sorts, hobbies. We fill up our life with things – things to do, things to think about – and we accumulate many material possessions, gadgets.

An eagle flies overhead.

Where was I? Ah, yes: we buy many things, toys, to entertain ourself with; creature comforts to make our life more sedate. And all the time we are looking for entertainment to occupy ourself. All of this actually takes us away from our innermost self. It stops us from seeing who we really are. It gets in the way of us feeling our essence. It distracts us from our spiritual journey.

By simplifying our life, we free up time and energy that we can use to go within, to go deeper into ourself. There are many ways to simplify life; I will mention a few.

The first is to cut down on entertainment. By entertainment, I mean watching TV, reading newspapers and magazines, novels. These things we do merely to occupy our mind. They have little benefit. So, try watching less television. In fact, why not throw out the TV altogether? I did. It's one of the best things I ever did. My life improved immeasurably without it. Stop buying papers and magazines. You don't need to clutter up your world with news, gossip, fashion. You will pick up on major news events anyway, just through talking with people. And that news usually relates to things far away, without much relevance to your daily life. So anything that you do merely to occupy your mind, is an area where you could consider simplifying, dropping the activity.

Gadgets, toys: these are another area where we can spend a lot of time and energy, not to mention money. And again, we can simplify our life. Do we really need the latest mp4 player? Do we really need the most high-tech smartphone? Do we really need a Blu-ray DVD player? Gadgets are always evolving, new models coming out. And if you look closely, when you acquire a new toy, you get some excitement from it for a few weeks, perhaps a few months. But it soaks up a huge amount of your time and energy. That is time and energy which you could be putting into discovering yourself. So buy fewer gadgets. You really don't need them.

If you have a very complicated job that is taking up a lot of time and mental energy, quit it. Find a simpler job, a simpler way of earning a living. You might not earn as much money, but you're not going to need it if you're not buying all those gadgets and magazines. So go for a simpler way of earning a living: one which does not lead to mental stress and exhaustion, one which does not require all the hours in the day. Free up some time and energy this way too.

And relationships: if you are constantly thinking about relationships, change something. If you are in a relationship that is causing you strife – that you are worrying about, that is not harmonious – just end the relationship. Live alone for a while. You will see: all that energy that was focussed on your partner can be taken inside, to explore yourself. And with that inner exploration, you'll be in a much better position to really meet someone. And if you are not in a relationship, but you are still wishing you were – always thinking about it, dreaming about it – again, try to drop that dream. Put the energy elsewhere: into your inner search, it is far more important, and far more real.

These are just a few ways of simplifying your life. I'm sure you can think of many more. But the important thing is to find a way of living a simple life. It is in this simplicity that we have a chance to discover who we really are. So try simplifying your life.