Hi, Everyone. This is my first post since I signed on as scribe. I thought I’d share my reflections on “Simplicity,” the Awakin Call topic this Saturday (Jan. 17). I also posted something much like this on the “topic page.” I’m a newbie; forgive me if haven’t gotten the hang of the protocol or lingo yet.

My Reflection

Before retiring I worked in a high-stress job, over-scheduled myself, and was busy from the moment I got up in the morning to the moment I fell into bed. I vowed to myself that someday I’d simplify my life. And I did. With a vengeance. I retired early and, after a period of aimless but harmless hedonism, I stripped my life of volunteer obligations, withdrew from my friends, and focused, through meditation, on my inner world. I had reached a point where my life was as simple as I thought it could be. But something was missing. It felt as if my life had dried up. It finally came to me very recently - years into retirement now – that simplicity had to exist in a context of “doing.” At last I realized: It also had to be about others as well as me. So I reached out to old friends and to volunteer organizations. Almost immediately, my life felt richer, lighter, and brighter. You could call that choosing to “complicate” my life. But it has not felt that way yet. I still meditate. I don’t over-schedule. And I don’t rush. Perhaps for now I’ve found what some people call their sweet spot and others call their middle ground. For me, simplicity, it seems, rests at the balance between being and doing. As Randy Taran said in her Awakin call this past Saturday, “it’s never too late” to start.