By Leo Babauta
This morning I was eating a really simple meal, with minimal seasoning, and I savored its deliciousness.
Often I go the opposite way: I eat too much, too quickly, with an overwhelming number of flavors. And I barely taste any of it.
This is how I sometimes experience life: I do so much, so quickly, and have an overwhelming amount of stuff going on. So much so that it’s hard to really experience any of it fully.
When I simplify, it’s not necessarily about getting rid of stuff — it’s about letting fewer things really be experienced:
- When I have fewer things, I can really use those things fully, appreciating them fully.
- When I have fewer things to do, I can really pour myself into those tasks, and really experience them.
- When I engage with fewer things online, I can engage with them more thoughtfully.
When I remove the extraneous, it gives me a chance to savor what’s left. The flavors can really shine.
And my experience of this is that life is really revealed when I have less in front of me.
That’s not an argument for always having or doing less. There’s something to be said for embracing the fullness of life. Instead, it’s a noticing of what happens when I slow down, when I do less, when I fully experience things instead of rushing through them so I can do more.
The fullness of life is often revealed in simplicity.