This week I encourage you to find spiritual growth and happiness through simplicity. Somehow the notion of consumption has shifted from acquiring what we need, to being the purpose for our lives. We trade true love and satisfaction for momentary gratification that is destined to fade. The kabbalists encourage us to end our devotion to accumulation and short term gratification. This is in fact the meaning of the commandment to “have no G-ds before me.” We are asked to stop worshiping our credit rating and start engaging in the world with simple sincerity.
Imagine how you would feel if you were satisfied with having what you need, and then focused on experiencing the joy of being present in the world. What would happen if we all focused on creating a soul satisfying world and released the need for bigger and better? The Kabbalists remind us that the more possessions we have, the more we will worry. Wealth and property do not create a happy ever after life, or protect us from pain and sadness. Rather, when we continually expand the notion of what we need, we find ourselves sacrificing our health and well-being.
Simplicity means we can stop the hunt for one more title, or the newest phone, or the biggest piece of jewelry. We can open our sincere and pure heart with a sense that it is our simplicity, our honesty that will bring us the most intense levels of spiritual and emotional joy. In the end people will not love us for what we owned, but for what we shared.
Spend one week cultivating simplicity in your life. And then please, let me know what shifts for you.