Every spring, I experience wonder and experience beauty anew. But if that riot of lurid green leaves and new blossom was there every day I would surely fail to notice how special it is.
The same goes in autumn. Warm golds and browns… the crunch of freshly fallen leaves underfoot… these are all the more beautiful for being in sharp contrast to what has gone before.
So it turns out that winter is massively precious to me — even though I’m often not a fan of it on its own terms. If nature around me was stunningly beautiful but unchanging I would simply cease to appreciate it unless I could find a way to make things new every day. The changing seasons do that job for me.
This illustrates the curious paradox you encounter when you embrace the fact that a good life is a simple life.
You start to deliberately design something simple and elegant to guide your days, but this brings its own set of dangers. As you make repetition a virtue — the tool that frees you from getting caught up in the complexities and distractions of the world — so it also becomes the rock you founder on without even realising it.
You see, the natural human tendency when going for simplicity is to pick something austere and rigid. A strict set of rules that force us into a narrow channel.
There’s nothing wrong with this idea at first glance. There can be great joy in truly following the austere and simple path. It fits all the obvious requirements.
But it can too easily become self-defeating.
When we repeat practices over and over (as we very rightly and naturally do in a simple life) then we become desensitized to them. This is hedonic adaptation [the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a set point of happiness after experiencing both positive and negative life changes]. We start to sleepwalk through actions on autopilot — failing to notice and appreciate all the good things about them.
So a simple life gives with one hand — allowing us entry to a multitude of good things that we would normally miss due to the crazy complex rushing of modern life. Then takes away with the other hand — as hedonic adaptation means that the joy you take in the simple life has a natural and inevitable tendency to fade.
Unless…
You can successfully walk the tightrope.
We want the balm of simple repetition. But we mustn’t start to take it for granted. And we mustn’t stop paying full attention.
This is not easy! No-one ever said that simple meant easy. But the obvious answer doesn’t work here…
Endless vigilance is no good. It’s too much effort to maintain — you can try but you’re sure as hell going to fail.
What’s more, it defeats its own object. It creates an attitude of constant strain which blocks you from relaxing effortlessly into the flow of the present moment (which is one of the great benefits of a simple life).
Instead, you must find a way to move towards positives rather than avoid negatives. This makes it a joyful act to seek them out — something that naturally replenishes energy and wakefulness rather than depleting them.
I’ve got three ideas for you.
First, practice mindfulness and actively expressing gratitude. However, don’t make it a struggle to live permanently in those states. Rather — as you deliberately cultivate these approaches in occasional, small pockets of time — they will naturally become more of a natural habit in your wider life. If you can embrace Beginner’s Mind then everything remains open.
Second, simple doesn’t have to mean rigid. You can set core aims or guidelines — but leave yourself free to pursue those broad principles in whatever way takes your fancy in the moment. You can then improvise your simple life, making it fresh and new every day.
You might find there’s no need for strict routine this way. That you find a way to be simple that’s always changing and growing just like a living thing.
Third: build intentional safeguards into the way you do your simple, repetitive acts right from the start.
Habits are no good here. They hit the letter of the law, but not the spirit of it. You’re almost designed to sleepwalk through things in this way.
But here’s where we can learn from the examples of the old religious traditions. They have made an art of turning habit into ritual.
You’re no longer simply required to repeat the desired actions. Instead, the ritual causes you to imbue them with deep meaning every time you do them. A positive, pleasurable reminder to stay awake rather than become a sleepwalker.
Go one step further. don’t just ‘do’ the ritual, but ‘dance’ the ritual. You’re not relying on the setup of the ritual to work its magic alone — you’re actively engaging in the dance as an equal partner.