2/13/25 The Art of Living

The art of living: Sounds like too much to address, especially in a blog post. Maybe that's because we think it's too complicated. We can't possibly crack the code on living a great life, or can we? Life has been described as hard. We all can attest to its difficulty. And yet, we can also describe life as glorious, joyful, and yes, downright simple. When we decide that life can be simple, it is.

We can adopt an approach to life that allows us to stay in that simple framework. Here's what the framework looks like. We decide to remain neutral about the past, the present, and the future. Neutrality doesn't mean we don't have an opinion, or a longing, or a plan. It means that we recognize that we can't understand the ultimate meaning of something that has happened or we would like to happen, so we reserve judgement about it.

For example, if my car dies on the freeway and I need a new one, I can either tell the universe exactly how I want that new car to be, or I can reserve judgement that the universe (God if that fits for you) might have a plan that I wouldn't possibly be able to come up with on my own. So, I can say to the universe that I want a car of a certain brand or model, and I can also say, "I yield to the wisdom of the universe, because I can't possibly know what is planned for me".

This approach allows the universe to works its magic in our lives. To support this, we intend to be detached from outcome, reserving judgement about the good of the bad of something. In ths way, our powerful intention doesn't thwart the magic afoot on our behalf. Communicating with the univesre in prayer or meditation about our needs, deferring to the universe's plan for meeting those needs, remaining neutral about what comes to pass, is the formula: Lather, rinse, repeat. This approach acknowledges that we can only really judge something when we have full understanding. And, truthfully, we may nevr have full understanding.

For although we place great importance on knowing everything, we can't. That's the reality of our lives as humans. If we simply defer to the elements at work in our lives that we are not in control of, and remain neutral so we don't funk it up, we're living as close to the art of living as exists for us. This isn't complicated. We can do our best, and the complex approach to life we had previously taken deconstructs to something doable, even simple. Now, go live. great life.