Be Simple, Be Boring

Variety is the spice of life.

Or so they say.

Why live a boring life? Why are you so boring?

Life is meant to be enjoyed in all ways possible. Life is meant to be lived to the fullest.

We have only one life, so we should try to experience all things in it, and experience as much of life as we can.

These are the things that people around us tell us. These are the things that they themselves chase throughout their lives. These are the things they say that our life should be all about.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

And that’s because life is not about experiencing the outside world, but it’s about exploring our own self from within.

Life is not about pleasing all the senses of the body, but it’s about gaining mastery over all your senses, and going beyond them to understand that which is beyond the boundaries of the senses.

Life is not about wasting it all away in fulfilling one desire after another, which never has an end. But it’s about letting go all your desires, so that you can find who you are without any of them.

With the number of life-forms that live on this planet, not even counting those tiny microscopic ones, you can figure out how rare it is to be born as a human. What are the odds?

So, when you win this lottery and are born as human, life is not given to you so that you can waste it all away in seeking one pleasure after another. But it’s given to you so that you can use it to rise higher than your basic desires, and become free of all bondages.

It’s given to you so that you can make the full use of it, the best use of it, to gain enlightenment within this life itself, and not leave this enlightenment for future lifetime.

So, to achieve such a higher goal in one’s life, to achieve such a higher purpose in one’s life, one must stop running after every shiny new thing, and one must instead get to be simple and boring.

Being simple doesn’t mean to live a joyless life, but it means to find joy and happiness and contentment even in the simplest of things.

Being boring doesn’t mean to live a dull life, but it means to find joy and happiness and contentment even in doing everyday things. It means to find happiness within oneself, in whatever one does.

By being simple and boring, you stop chasing all those useless things in life which have no end to them. Instead, you find meaning in settling down and accepting life for what it is, accepting things as they are.

And it takes away a huge burden from your mind, so that you can instead focus the same energy and time on doing the most important things in your life.

There are so many ways to do this. The few ways that I do them is by having very few possessions with me (except for my spiritual and other books, because I need them to keep learning and growing in life).

I have just a few clothes (two pairs for outside, two-three pairs for home, and that’s it), and these clothes are plain and ordinary and look more or less the same. So I don’t even have to spend a second to choose what clothes to wear when.

I eat almost the same breakfast throughout the year, without fussing over what else I can try. It’s this simple routine at the start of my day that makes me free of choices, and instead I can focus on my other important routines for the morning – such as praying and meditating and reading dharma texts – rather than fussing too much, or fussing at all, over my breakfast.

I just have one pair of Sandal which I wear everywhere I go. Don’t have any shoes.

I sleep on a thin mat on the floor. Even my writing desk is a small one and I sit cross-legged on the floor while writing down these articles on my desk, using a pen and notebook, and later I type it up all once again to share here from what I’ve written in my notebook.

I still spend so much time every day in reading books, and I don’t consume most of those other online entertainment content as others do.

I can easily sit quietly for hours, if needed, and be happy with my own thoughts – or no thoughts at all – and don’t have the need to do anything to make myself busy or occupied or entertained.

I can easily take a long walk for an hour without any gadgets. I can easily sit at the window and look outside for an hour, instead of feeling the need to talk with someone, or to interact with something.

If I have all these other things that make others happy, it’s fine. And if I don’t have all these other things that make others happy, then that’s fine too.

I have found happiness in simplicity. I have found lasting joy in being boring. I have found contentment in having little.

Because if I don’t find happiness and contentment in these simple and boring things, then there is no way I will ever find them in anything else as well.

I do all my outside chores every day by taking a walk – whether to buy groceries or vegetables or to go to the flour mill or to the Doctor. So what have I got to do with what bikes and cars others want in this life.

Breathing in the fresh and natural air makes me happy. So what use do I have for any air-conditioners or heaters.

A soap is enough to clean my body properly. So of what use are all those products of beauty or fragrance to me.

Even simple home-made food feels tasty to me. So of what use are all those expensive and junk foods to me.

I walk every day. So of what use are those Gyms or any exercise equipments to me.

I offer various prayers to various Gods, and I also offer water to Tulsi plant, Shivalinga, and Surya Dev every day. So of what use are all those places of pilgrimage to me.

I have found abundance in having a little. I have found immense joy in the dullest of things and activities. I have found contentment in nothing. I have found bliss right at home, right where I am at this moment. I have found company in solitude. I have found myself without going elsewhere.

Every day is a new day. Every moment is a new moment. Even the same things that I do every day, I do them with full presence of mind and live fully in that moment. So any moment, no matter how mundane, how boring, how routinely, how simple, is a new and fresh moment to me. There is nothing dull or boring about it at all, which is what others may think if they saw me living my simple life every day throughout the year.

If any variety happens in my routine, because of some guests coming up or whatever reasons, I accept it. And when nothing out of the ordinary happens, I accept that as well.

It’s all the same for me.

What have I got to do with what else exists in this world. What have I got to do with what everyone else around me chases. What have I got to do with what ways of entertaining oneself exist today, and what new ones keep coming up every day.

I try to be happy with what I have, with who I am, with where I am going. Only my own path matters to me. And I try to keep walking on that path every day. I try to keep moving towards my own goal of enlightenment every day.

Because other than that there is nothing else worth aspiring for. Other than that, there is nothing else worthy of spending time on. Other than that, there is nothing else worthy of spending your energy on.

Starting to live a simple and boring life could be the very first step that you can take today to move ahead in your path towards enlightenment, in your path towards getting the ultimate that exists.

Let go all that’s useless. Let go all that that doesn’t help you become more spiritual with each day. Let go all the shiny objects of this world which are empty and meaningless at their core. Let go all the search for all those pleasures which only make you suffer at the end.

Instead, embrace the useful. Embrace what pushes you ahead towards a more spiritual life every day. Embrace the meaningful. Embrace lasting and permanent happiness.

Embrace simplicity and boringness.

Be simple, be boring.