The Simple Path To A More Fulfilling, Far Richer Life

Let us balance life like a book every day. Let us prepare ourselves for the end of life. For those who put the finishing touches to their lives every day, there will never be a shorter time.

Many of us say that we want an easier life, but we don't make the changes because it requires us to make difficult choices instead of just going with the flow. We say we want to be less busy and enjoy more of our days because it feels easier than doing what everyone else does.

The path of least resistance is an asphalt six-lane highway that descends in one direction. The constant hum of traffic leads you to believe that it is the best way to get where you want to go. If you are interested in a simpler life instead of taking the next exit, I would like to share a new route with you.

We accept the rules, expectations and beliefs imposed on us as adults. We submit to torture and lead chaotic lives. We think our sacrifices are worth it because they give our children a better life. But there is a price to be paid, which consumes our souls and raises the question of whether the life we contemplate comes with fair compensation.

Our reality is reflected in the life we want to pass on to our children. We pass the torch in a race that our children do not want to participate in. At some point we forgot that we have to work hard.

They need a source of income to have a roof over their heads, food in their bellies and clothes on their backs. Forty hours of work a week is a question. I am not discussing this with you. It's just that every job needs the same amount of time to get the job done every week.

We live in a consumer culture. As a result, we have come to believe that all our desires and needs are the same. When we fulfill the necessities of life, we begin to lose what we believe to be happy.

This forces us to spend our precious resources and time on things that do not make us happy. It catches us in jobs we don't want to do. It requires that we earn more money than we need to live a happy life.

In my mid-twenties, I had a job I hated and lived in a well-earned city I didn't want to be in. Instead of tackling the root of my misfortune, I bought a brand new, shiny sports car. I should have known better than to do that.

I got nothing in return, except more depression and a bankrupt monthly payment that should remind you that I can't buy happiness. I was depressed and wanted a car to satisfy my emotional needs. I didn't want to spend my life trying to avoid feelings of distress. I wanted to be there at the moment and enjoy my niece coming home for her third birthday.

She is the greatest mindfulness teacher in the world. She stops to let herself be tickled by the grass. She laughs at the feeling of a breeze kissing her cheek. Like a penguin marching through Antarctica, she waddles purposefully. She is present with every gram of her being.

I am in their moment, swept away by thoughts of an upcoming project or an email to which I have to respond.

Modern society crushes the bizarre in you like a fat June beetle on an imprudent foot. Decades of schooling and pointless work are like a bucket of water drowning a campfire. The fire that burns in your soul is just waiting for oxygen to bring it back to life.

In order to achieve the simple life, you have to make some difficult decisions and find your own way. It is the voice that says, "Don't sit down," that points you in the opposite direction. Maybe it's the words of Dr. Seuss or the urge to fit in where you were born to stand.

The start of a simple life does not require that you do nothing. It just requires you to focus on what it is worth to be appreciated in your life, and do it.

The philosopher Henry David Thoreau modelled his life on the Puri tribe for the ability to live and be fulfilled in the present. The Puri live on the north coast of South America in Brazil. Their way of life is to be in the presence of everything around them at all times: yesterday, today and tomorrow; they have only one word with which to express a multitude of meanings that point to yesterday, tomorrow and every day.

We do not have to uproot our lives to live like Thoreau in the woods, but modern life is sometimes a complicated life, and the Puri offer a simple solution to the chaos of an interconnected life. By doing less and focusing more on what we do, we are able to enjoy our lives, to wait and hope that in the future we will find happiness and fulfillment that we have achieved and deserve.

This requires us to ignore the noise of the world, the ubiquitous hum that drowns out the voice in our souls that has added up over the years. As children it whispers to us of discoveries and adventures. Each of us is driven by curiosity and refuses to stand still.

Living this kind of life depends on our ability to be present in the Puri tribe. In these moments of the present, we have the chance to listen and hear what our souls have to say.

We know that material things do not make us happy. We know that the rat race is a game in which we don't have to participate. We also know that promotions in this world do not fill the gaps that are missing in life.

This way of life is toxic to mind, body and soul. It is a disease that fills you with stress, destroys your family and gives you little hope. The rat race will crush your soul like grass under an elephant trunk. This omnipresent uncomfortable feeling is the beginning of a new, richer life.

The reality I faced was that I was forty pounds too heavy and that I had reached a low point in my mental health. I drank myself into the hope that I wouldn't wake up. It was only when I got the pain that I realised I needed help.

It was only when I was confronted with this feeling that I was able to strip away the things that did not satisfy me and make room for what I enjoyed. Every time you decide to be honest with yourself and let go of things that burden your mind, allow yourself to find joy in simplicity. Every time you get in the mood for life, you enjoy simple pleasures and excitement, such as your dogs wagging their tails, an unexpected smile from a passing stranger, or the way your sons glow when he smiles and recognizes happiness. If you live to distract yourself from your dissatisfaction and miss out on the results of your life, you know that it will not go on forever.

It is always at your disposal, as long as you are not too busy to catch up and appreciate your head.

The Puri tribe points out that every day passes to remind them that it is the only day they have. Every day brings new opportunities to be present and to live a richer life. In this sense, one should always look in the direction in which one wants to go.