It’s Not That Complicated— At Least, It Doesn’t Have To Be

When did life start to feel so complicated all the time?

There was a time, perhaps very long ago, when everything felt simple.

The thing is, everything is simple. Beneath the confusion and complexity, there remains a constant, simple, objective truth.

Everything is simple until you begin to think about it. The more you think about something, the more convoluted it becomes. If you’ve ever been stuck overthinking a situation, you know exactly what I mean.

It’s not just thinking that makes things complicated. We attach and identify to certain emotions, beliefs, and perceptions, and these form the narratives of the stories we tell ourselves. Stories that, a lot of the time, are a lot more complicated and inaccurate to what’s actually going on.

So how do we simplify? By stepping back and observing the situation from a third-party perspective, or as a fly on the wall if you will. There’s the way you think things are, and the way things actually are. Sometimes they’re the same, sometimes they’re way off.

I’ve realized that the only time things are complicated and confusing are when I’m making them complicated and confusing. Changing my perspective and telling myself maybe it’s a lot more simple than this is enough to bring profound change. Our mind looks for what we affirm to it. If we’re always telling ourselves everything is complicated and confusing, it’s going to find and focus on ideas, beliefs, people, and situations that reflect complication and confusion.

Ask yourself why you’re so attached to a particular story or belief. Every moment we’re creating our lives, and if you choose to, you can make your life simple.

When you boil it all down, what you’re really left with are two simple propositions:

Either you do or you don’t.

Either it happens or it doesn’t.

Being in a state of allowing rather than attachment is what makes life flow. Just because something happens or doesn’t happen, doesn’t make it the end of the world. Just because you do or don’t do something, doesn’t make it the end of the world. We attach meaning to things based on our beliefs but beliefs can be changed if they’re something that holds you back from living an authentic, fulfilling, resonate life.

Every day, every moment, you are presented with the ability to choose.

You can continue to choose what you’ve always chosen, and get what you’ve always received and experienced.

Or you can choose something different.