Less is Really More

Growing up, I always heard my elders say, “Back in my day we only had this much and we still were able to get by.”   I often wondered what this much really meant and if happiness existed with only the so little my elders spoke of.  Well fast forward into my adulthood and I must say material things and positions of power do not bring sustaining happiness to me.  However, I do enjoy some of the finer things in life but none of these things defines who I truly am.  The next best thing after receiving the last best thing is only a temporary high.  The immediate gratification seeking validation outside of self brings leaves me feeling more like that is it then yes I have arrived and made it to the next level of whatever.   It all sounds a little counterproductive to embracing success at first but upon further inspection, it is important to know and love thy naked self in the absence of worldly things and acclaim.  Both of my grandmothers taught me valuable lessons in how to treat people as equal despite status or influence.  My grandmothers knew that sometimes less is more because people do not have the pride of stuff to hide behind to use as an excuse to mistreat people of perceived lesser means.   I have my own version of a back in day moment and it simply is about how in college with less money my friends and I seem to have had more fun.   Pondering on this further I realize in the then fun is finding a creative way to do more with less.  The enjoyment of being innovative always sparked a genuine curiosity within each of us.  Every day I seek to reconnect with that curiosity by leaving my comfort zone and finding creative ways to stretch myself beyond what the limiting side of my mind may initially perceive as less.  Overall, often less is really more but one has to let go of any preprogrammed thinking that seeks to validate only a limiting version of what a current or future state of reality can be.