Our world is filled with wars and rumors of wars. People murdered on the streets by fellow citizens, family members, and legal enforcement. Forests are destroyed for profit, and the economy looks bleak.
It isn’t because of politics – it is because of our fallen human nature.
We have rejected beauty and replaced it with “convenience”. Our brains have been programmed to stop thinking and live on dopamine rushes. We chase after the latest gadgets and flavors of energy drinks never considering the consequences financially or physically.
Ultimately, we have discarded what is freely given to us and, instead, embraced a costly style of living.
We have chosen to live beyond our means and lose ourselves in the lure of the next news story, latest products, and highest paying jobs.
But are we happier? Are we more at rest?
Can we get back to baseline?
Yes. But it takes effort to untangle ourselves from what we were told was a “better life”.
We begin by open our senses to the world around us, immersing ourselves in what the world outside modern life has to offer that is free. Taking walks among the trees, along the lakes or oceans, in the midst of wildflowers in the Spring, or stopping to admire a deer peeking out from the bushes.
What does it cost to look at the stars at night or breathe in the fresh air in the mountains? When was the last time you felt the crispness of Winter, the warmth of Summer, the crunching leaves of Fall, or the sights and sounds of new life in the Spring?
Are you wrapped in the cocoon of a temperature controlled environment, or do you take time to go beyond your comfort zone to really feel nature as it makes its changes known? Step outside and experience what exists beyond those walls.
Embrace that beauty that really surrounds us. Man cannot create anything that reflects the intricacy that nature has to offer. We live on this planet and are connected to it. Everything we need to be sustained is supplied to us without a retail store or money.
It is hard to let go of those means of living to which we have grown accustomed. But it is doable. Even if just a little bit each year.
Begin to let go of the conveniences. Shut off the news. Stop looking for the latest thing to buy. And just breathe.
What has been lost can be found again.
It takes effort, but there is nothing better to restore life within than connecting to the very world we were designed to live it. It was given to us to take care of and use, not to exploit.
Learn to embrace the beauty around us and reject the ugliness the man made world falsely calls “necessary” and “normal.” It’s neither.
There is nothing more beautiful than seeing the details on the wings of a moth, feeling the fur of a rabbit, or hearing the variety of bird calls in Spring. It is all there, freely given, to reflect the love of Him who created it for you to enjoy.
And it calms the senses and the mind, given pause to all the hatred and selfishness we have stored up inside.
Let it all go and live more simply. Live in peace and harmony with the beauty around you and stop embracing the ugliness of the world.