Easing Into Simplicity
Navigating the bumps of life without getting plugged in, stuck, or lost
"Life is what happens to us while we are [busy] making other plans."
—Allen Saunders
We've all had those days when life shows up unannounced, in ways we didn't ask for, or see coming.
That was me at Costco on an ordinary weekday afternoon. The place was packed and it wasn't even Thanksgiving!
It started with someone mindlessly wandering off with my cart. She had gone quite a distance and would have kept going if I hadn't run to stop her.
Didn't think much of it, until it happend again! Different person this time. Caught in the act. This time I'm laughing.
Until I'm not. As I'm checking out — doing that rushing thing that we do when the lines are long and we just want to get outta there — one of those big, unwieldy, flatbed carts full of huge sacks of grain comes out of nowhere and rams into the back of my legs.
Ouch! Seriously, dude?! Are you frickin' kidding me!?
That's when I lost it. Lost my center, my resilience, my patience, my equanimity, my humor, my mojo — all of it went poof — not from pain so much as from shock, fight-and-flight activation, and moving too fast. The energies were clearly wonky that day and I had no bandwidth to deal with them.
It reminded me of this cartoon:
The good news is…
I know enough about stuck energy and spaces (and people moving through them) to know that stress is not personal.
No one set out purposefully to hurt me that day. It's just energy after all; energy that can get disturbed when we're unable to process the chaos as it unfolds in real time.
Yes, left unchecked, a glob of stress can stick around and grow into a minefield of mindlessness and short tempers for all of us to bump into — especially in big box stores full of people with big carts.
And while we cannot control the mindlessness or the madness, we can change our relationship with it and raise our game.
We can actively choose to slow down and simplify the moment we become aware that something is off. We can use our senses to tune into the energies in a space that might be wonky. We can detach and surrender when we realize that these energies are not ours. We can choose self-care to reverse the effects of a chaotic situation by having a good laugh, perhaps, or even just looping back to slowing down to bring us back to feeling good again.
The “five S’s” of spaciousness
Yes, slowing down, simplifying, sensing, surrendering, and self-care, they’re the secret sauce of conscious clutter clearing.
Whether it is navigating the chaos of big box stores, or the chaos that lurks within, these “five S’s” are infinitely adaptable, fast-acting, and far-reaching. Like a muscle, with time and daily practice these five steps make it possible to release anything that holds you back.
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If you would like to build that spacious muscle, or keep building it, I invite you to join us as we begin again for another 10-week clearing series…
on simplifying.
All you have to do is say yes, and keep reading.
Ahhh 🏡
Simplify With Us
If the prospect of simplifying seems uninspired or boring, or too small a gesture to address the chaos that lives in your head, home, or heart, consider this scientific fact:
When you reduce a task into smaller, doable steps, and repeat the task, you effectively bypass the fight-flight-freeze triggers in the brain and rewire it. Over time, this reduces internal clutter, noise, and overwhelm—for good.
Taking a simpler, baby-step approach to life ultimately makes it possible for us to accomplish a whole lot more. And a whole lot more means a richer, more inspired, and more spacious life.
Does this sound good?
Then join us for the next 10 weeks as we peel away more layers.
All you need to do to is:
become a paid subscriber
get a copy of A Year for You
read the introduction to A Year for You
That’s it.
Tap the button to learn more:
Note, if you’re concerned that this series will require you to participate in any group activities, worry not. This is not a class, it’s a journey. In this journey you can walk solo or join together with others in the private comment and chat threads as the spirit moves.
Archives
Everything we have covered so far in this journey is accesible in the Archives. Tap the button here and scroll from bottom up.👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
Great story with a fully embodied energy to it Stephanie…oh how I could sense that chaos in my body!