Clear and Simple

"It's strange how simple things become, once you see them clearly." - Midas Mulligan, Atlas Shrugged

We've returned from a three day vacation (thus, the lacking of posting yesterday). It was good experience - the first time, as I pointed out to The Ravishing Mrs. TB, that we have taken a vacation as a family in almost 3 years.

It was good to be away - mostly from work, but also from essentially everything else as well: no computer, no radio, no news, no TV except for cartoons and the occasional news report.

It's one of those things that hits you as you return to the shell of your world without the meat, the inevitable preparation that occurs the day before you return to work, slowly categorizing things in your mind and getting them ready to re-initiate as you prepare for your daily routine.

As I sat in the darkness this morning, preparing to get up and address the day, what I realized is that my life is truly simple - if only I would see things clearly.

To see things unclearly is to see things as society defines them and what I am supposed to "get" from them. A simple example: I am supposed to "climb" the corporate ladder because that's what people do, it is the way to increased responsibility and income, it is the way of "society". The reality is that while I acknowledge the money is important to doing the things I want to do, the corporate ladder - at least as it has been presented to me - is not something I care to do.

Because all the energy and time that go into the job beyond the work - the catering to egos, the additional hours without recompense, the shorted resources and increased expectations - do not add one iota to my enjoyment of life, one additional second to the time I'd like to spend do things I like, one additional cent in my pocket enabling me to save or spend more.

The things of importance - the things of urgency - are the very things that I need and desire to spend more time on, not the things that at best marginally or at worst make no contribution to my life.

It's all a matter of seeing things clearly. Once you do, things become simple.