Simple is always available but never easy to implement. And if the simple is not available, often there is not much you can do. But simple is often too simple for the mind. Mind loves complexity. It needs to be challenged. Just because you are given the capacity to think, you have started believing that all solutions lie in thinking. So, you think too much.
Simple action done repeatedly brings amazing results. But humans love venturing into unnecessary complications.
Let’s take health for example. Everything boils down to this – Eat in moderation, move your body, and sleep well. That is simply it. But we have a billion-dollar industry telling this simple advice in a million complicated ways.
Another example is money. The simplest universal advice is this – save some, spend some and invest the rest. But we have now an unending supply of financial advice in the form of YouTube videos, finance blogs, Facebook groups, podcasts, and books.
Take relationships. Majority of the conflicts are result of poor and ineffective communication. Either you waste too much time waiting for someone to say things you want them to say, or you already assume what they are thinking. Simple, honest, and truthful conversation can fix this. Not necessarily easy to do, but precisely simple in nature.
Simple is not easy, but it is THE most effective.
The reason we complicate and seek more is because the prescription is something we are unable or unwilling to do, because of deeper reasons.
Every student knows the “HOW”. He knows that the way to ace an exam is simply to study the material. But he’s not going to do that. He can’t.
Why is he unable to do that? He doesn’t know. He doesn’t find out. The culture isn’t gonna teach him. Its just gonna call him lazy.
So what does he do? He seeks a complicated way to MAKE himself study.
Its the same with breathing. It is simple to watch our breath. But no one can do that without a restless mind saying “NO”.
So we ask “How do I breathe right?”
Its the same with eating right. it is seemingly simple to eat the healthy foods and not eat the bad foods. But no one can do that. The mind won’t let them.
So we ask, “How do I diet?”
The underlying causes have not been explored.
That which seems simple, Studying, Eating, Breathing… is not simple at all.