Voluntary Simplicity

By Charles MacInerney

There is a small but growing trend in America of people who turn their backs on lifestyles centered around consuming, and are instead embracing a new paradigm of voluntary simplicity. Even as India and third world cultures stampede toward the Western materialistic lifestyle, here in the west people are beginning to look for a simpler, saner, more spiritual way of living in the world.

Today there are more people practicing yoga in California than in all of India! Even Madonna, who proclaimed herself "... a material girl, living in a material world" is now practicing yoga and chanting. Grant Donovan, an Australian wellness consultant, was interviewed by the CEO of a large telecommunications firm. "If you could do just one thing for my company, what would it be?" Grant replied, "Teach your employees money management." "No, you do not understand," replied the CEO, "I want a wellness program. What would you do to make my employees healthier?" "Teach them money management," replied Grant. "As long as they are spending 110% of their paychecks, all the stress management in the world is not going to help."

If you add up all of the money Americans collectively save and subtract what they owe, it is less than nothing. We want to be happy, and the media shows us that to be happy we must spend, spend, spend, and in order to support our habit we end up having to work, work, work. A recent study on heart disease showed that when you eliminate age as a variable, the number one predictor of heart disease is not diet or exercise, and has nothing to do with smoking or any of the traditional risk factors... it is joyless striving!

The stress of our lifestyle is killing us. Our quest for happiness is making us miserable. The simplest things are often the most important and the most overlooked. For example what could be more important than breathing and drinking water. If you are not sure, try going two minutes without breathing, or two days without water. Because they are so important, you would assume that everyone takes care of these most basic needs, but you would be wrong.

Many of the people I know and work with have poor or atrocious breathing habits that negatively impact their health in a variety of ways. What could be more important to the individual cells of your body and to your brain in particular, than how you breathe? With just a little practice students see rapid improvement in their breathing habits, and report immediate and lasting positive effects in their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual sense of well-being.

Our relation to water is just as bad! How many people do you know who drink eight or more full cups of water a day, in addition to any other fluids like orange juice, coffee and sodas? Sixty-four ounces is a lot of water! If you are short of this mark you are probably suffering from chronic dehydration! This condition can contribute to and even cause a wide variety of health problems in humans.

Before you resort to extreme measures, make sure that your problem is not due to something simple. Learn to breathe well. Drink lots of water. Get plenty of rest. Eat moderate amounts of good food. Get a little gentle exercise every day and enjoy it. Take care of the basics!

Simplicity is often overlooked by people in their spiritual life as well. Descartes once said, "I think, therefore I am." This idea has permeated our culture. We define ourselves in terms of our thoughts. Joseph Campbell once said, "An American, given the choice between meeting God and attending a lecture about God will choose the lecture." We love to think! One of my students wore a t-shirt to class that read "Meditation: It is not what you think!"

In the absence of thought would you still be you? If we define ourselves by our thoughts, we naturally begin to fear the absence of thought and come to fear our own inner silence. In our constant striving to fill our own emptiness our minds race around in circles and remain agitated and our true nature is obscured.

When asked who are you, God replied, "I am that I am." Through meditation, learn to identify not with thinking, but instead with being. Stop, be still, and in that stillness recognize your true nature. It is really quite simple - there is nothing to be done. Surrender to the simplicity of the moment, and as God commanded, "Be still and know that I am God."

Over the last 10 years, Charles has earned the respect of the wellness community. He is a regular presenter at the National Wellness Conference, and has twice been the keynote speaker at the Seton Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation Conference.

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