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Simple Is Sophisticated is one of the four paradigm shifts transforming your world that I address in the Living Deliberately Program and Body & Soul Mentor.
“Some perverse part of me wants to be sophisticated – worldly and smart, part of the in crowd of movers and shakers. I can’t help it. It’s my breeding.” I confess. “Shoot, I graduated from Harvard.”
I have failed at conventional sophistication. I can’t seem to pass the dress code.
My beloved aloha shirts don’t go with the tuxedos.
Besides, going to bed by 8:00 PM forces me to miss the elegant soirées.
“Simple is sophisticated,” intones my financial guru.
“Now, there’s an idea,” I muse, “that might get me out of my addiction to sophistication.
“I could just declare – true sophistication is being simple.
“Hmm, I wonder if that would work.”
In investing, my guru says simple and sophisticated means you buy blue chips companies that pay dividends. Avoid suffering at the hands of the most recent “sure” thing.
What are the “blue chips” in your daily life?
Living Deliberately Is Living Simply
When you live deliberately and live with sophistication, you choose what has lasting value for you.
Sophistication depends on finding and choosing what has lasting value for you. You could call this choosing quality over going cheap.
This requires deliberation. Deliberation brings the refinement that is sophistication.
Living simply is sophisticated.
Here’s what you ask yourself:
· “What works in my life?”
· “What has lasting value?”
Hint: Wise people suggest choosing quality experiences over things.
Make your selections, then do more of what works.
Example 1: As we settle into our new home with a nice view, I sit on the couch with Suzanne looking out the window being still, reading, or chatting. Delightfully simple.
Example 2: When we go on dates, most frequently we walk in some lovely place conversing easily, just being together holding hands, without interruption. (We adhere to the guideline – don’t talk about household finances or the kids. You can do the same.)
Example 3: When I leave the house in the morning to go to my office, I wake Suzanne up, kiss her goodbye, and tell her I love her. Very simple, but it makes my day.
You can see this is not very glamorous. Magazine editors don’t bang on our door begging to shoot a glitzy photo spread of our lives so other people can feel envious. We don’t appear in the society pages in glossy magazines and newspapers.
Do I feel deeply wealthy, you bet. Am I grateful? Yes.
The new status symbol will be free time -- not more things or more money. Remember when it was a status symbol to have a cell phone. “I’m so important; people need to be able to reach me 24/7.” Now, the truly successful are only available when they choose.
What do you think?
Choosing an Icon for Simple Is Sophisticated
Since this is one of the paradigm shifts I see coming, I want an icon to illuminate all my articles that deal with Simple Is Sophisticated.
I have selected the concept of the golden section, the divine proportion as the perfect symbol of Simple Is Sophisticated.
The nautilus shell at the head of the article illuminates it perfectly. Its simple, elegant design compels admiration, appreciation, and heart opening wonder.
The divine proportion can be seen in the spiral form of galaxies, seashells, sunflowers, and the proportions of your own blessed body. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code gives the most poetic and passionate description. I suggest you read the page turner.
The Fibonacci series, a simple arithmetic progression, generates the golden section. Don’t glaze over, stay with me. This is simple and neat.
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The Fibonacci Series
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0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 ...
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Each term, number, is generated by adding the two preceding numbers. So the next term would be 8 + 13 = 21. Right?
The Icon Winner –
The best image for Simple Is Sophisticated is the Holy Fool striding through the Fibonacci spiral you find at the top of each page in Body & Soul Mentor website.
This version of the Holy Fool comes from Zen drawings dating back to the 7th CE. You likely know him as the laughing Buddha.
As a monk, he spent years meditating, getting clear, reaching enlightenment. His last step in his process was returning to the world. He lives simply. He laughs often. He loves well. He’s happy.
I aim at these things for you in the Deliberate Living Program and in everything I offer at Body & Soul Mentor.
Oh, my promise for Body & Soul Mentor states,
Give me ten minutes a day …
Simple, yes?
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