Today's Theme: Simplicity

Make room for peace.

Theme for the 24th day of the month:

Daily life is complicated. Sometimes it’s far more complicated than it needs to be. Our culture is preoccupied with fullness. We live in a part of the world where over-consumption and accumulation continue to be rewarded. This bias distorts a healthy balance in the natural rhythm of emptiness and fullness, and creates the common condition of being “too full.” Too full of what? It’s easy to name many things. Food. “Stuff.” Stress. Information. Unfinished business. Incomplete tasks. Undigested thoughts and feelings.

It’s a challenge for all of us to find a healthy answer to the question, “How much is enough?” It’s one of the most urgent questions of our times. Many of us know that in the long run, too much of anything is not satisfying. Clutter and excess dull our senses, waste precious resources, and work against our efforts for peace.

Today’s theme offers a reflection on the many benefits of cultivating simplicity. By intentionally exercising restraint in one area of life, we make room for fullness in another. We can find examples of this principle everywhere. When we reduce our intake of food to just what we need, we have more energy.

When we willingly share some of our resources with others, we’re filled with the warmth of kinship and service. Clearing our environment of unnecessary clutter reveals the hidden beauty of order and simplicity. Sacrificing quantity often enriches the experience of quality.

Today is an opportunity to lighten our lives of the non-essential, and to pay attention to what we consume. There are many ways to approach a healthy balance of emptiness and fullness. Consider one of these today: Eat lightly. Reduce excess. Spend carefully. Take only what you need. Avoid fueling mental or emotional turmoil—yours or another’s. Choose quality. Reduce toxicity. Eliminate clutter. Conserve energy. Savor simplicity.

Through our efforts to cultivate simplicity, we make room for peace. We find a renewed appreciation of the fullness we have, rather than taking it for granted. We temper the mindset that more is better. Through practicing the balance of emptiness and fullness, we learn to appreciate genuine sufficiency—not too much and not too little—and contribute a refreshing simplicity to the rhythm of peace.

Rhythm of Peace:  Cultivating Peace in Daily Life
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Check back tomorrow for a new theme!