Life is involved

I am so grateful for brief glimpses of simplicity, especially in dealing with people and relationships.

I recently stopped feeling guilty about ignoring my phone, a habit that has worsened over the past few months. I now realize that I love people and my interactions with them, but it is not neccessary for me to available 24/7 via 3 or 4 different methods of contact. I write emails and check them at least twice a week. I answer my phone calls when it is convenient or if I feel the matter may be of greater than usual importance. I text. I am not a recluse.

I am extremely grateful for so many different modes of communication. My sister lives in Colorado and my parents in Texas. If I didn't have these technologies available to me my communication with them would be limited at best and I certainly don't want that. However, I refuse to anwser the phone just because it rings. I would rather save my time for things I want and need, like staying close to my family.

There is a growing trend for us to conduct our relationships over "the line". An absurd reality when you realize that a tiny percentage of what we say is communicated through our words. I rarely feel like I have truly deepend a relationship after a phone conversation or resolved an issue via email. I don't feel that neccessary closure occurs until I have spoken to someone and seen their face register my words and watched their body shift as they recieve or reject what I am trying to communicate.

Simplicty comes when closure is swift.

I am thankful for events and realtionships that don't prolong closure. I have a friend who is unusually forthright. I would not describe her as overly confrontational but she definately deals with things in a "nip it in the bud" manner that I admire and desire.

That phrase is so telling. When you are pruning a plant and you "nip it in the bud" you are cutting off any undesireable off-shoots before they grow too large to deal with quickly and then risk the health of the tree when they must be removed or utilize too many of the plants nutrients and resources stunting the things growth overall. You cut it off at the source. That is how I want my relationships and my life as a whole to be. I want to stop allowing undesirable "off-shoots" like unresolved issues and things that go unsaid, commitments I have made and no longer have a passion for, and habits I have formed based on obligation and useless propriety to stop stealing my resources. I would rather live a life that flourishes because I chose the branches that would help me grow.

I want simplicity to be a daily blessing instead of a momentary glimpse.