Overwhelmed by the velocity of their lives, we turn to prescription drugs, which helps explain why America runs on Xanax (and why rehab admissions for benzodiazepines, the ingredient in Xanax and other anti-anxiety drugs, have tripled since the late 1990s). We also spring for the false rescue of multitasking, which saps attention even when the computer is off. And all of us, since the relationship with the Internet began, have tended to accept it as is: (Tweets, Texts, Email, Posts. Is the Onslaught Making us Crazy?, Newsweek, July 16, 2012).
I had a friend in college who would always say, “Organization is God’s plan to simplify man’s life”. But those were the days of the dot matrix printer, the telephone that just rang if no one was there to pick it up, and pen-pal letters that took forever to travel around the world. These days, however, simplicity seems to mean more than a reorganization of things in our lives. Our lives have become much more complicated, in other words “overwhelming”. Technology, our cellular phones allow us to be on call 24/7. Social Media, Facebook and Twitter, provide celebrity platforms now for each one of us. Have our lives changed? Indeed, they have and to a point where our health hangs in the balance. Two of the articles in this issue on Simplicity I urge you to read (along with the others) are “Multitasking and your Health” by Brenda Stockdale and “5 Ways to Simplify your life” by Rodger Constandse. Unless,
“we” design our life the way we want it to be, our life will or continue to spiral out of control. Did I say “we”? “We” and “Me” are always interesting pronouns in relations to God. When “we” begin living out of our desires for our lives rather than God’s, there is always a collision. It is this way of living that brings stress, Rabbi Gavri’el Moreno-Bryars notes in this issue’s featured article “Living from the Divine Center“. When we do live from a God -centeredness rather than from a “me” or “I” focus, we tend to have an affinity with nature that certainly leaves us longing for the life of the birds as John Gallegos points out in “Green with Envy“.
Apparently, we are caught up in a vicious cycle. Our current on-call lifestyle makes us technology zombies where we are more than likely to keep late hours during the night, eating the wrong foods. These foods are usually the ones that can lead to elevated cholesterol levels. Hopefully, we can learn and turn our lives around by making some better food choices. Freda Wall and Judy Mays offer some valuable and practical information for us in Cholesterol: What We Need to Know by Freda Wall and Reversing High Cholesterol Levels by Judy Mays.
May you find inspiration in our story for this issue by Maya Tolbert; an enjoyment in making your own balms for the autumn or whatever season you are in by Kathryn Kinley; useful tips to keep your relationship out of “its complicated zone” by Carolyn Moore; exercise for the temple by our fitness director Tonya Mitchell, and an admiration of God’s handiwork in the study of astronomy by Faith Tucker.
Special thanks to our guest columnists and specifically Christ United Methodist Church and Reverend Nancy Johnson for allowing us to feature their yard sale in this issue of simplifying our life.
