“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ― Henry David Thoreau

Simple. Such a word has so many meanings. The word itself speaks to the heart in a way that not many others can. But what does it mean to exist in this frame of thought? How do we embrace the simple sphere?

When I hear this word spoken I think of comfort, a perfect blend of life and spirit. I think of a time when not a care in the world invaded my mind. I think of youth, of carefree days when my only concerns were dreams.

I recall one time in particular near the age of eight, sitting and watching life as it happened just beyond my driveway.

Our house sat at the foot of an upward rolling landscape, free from any development. An older neighborhood sat perched atop the hill but preceding it were open fields of tallgrass. I sat one day looking upward toward the top of the hill, imagining the grassy world was my own kingdom.

I watched as flocks of starlings played in the sky, swooping and fluttering in patterns, making shapes only they knew to make in perfect unison. The movement was simple, it was life flowing in accord with nature’s will.

I watched at the grass blew in a respectful bend with the wind and remember thinking how beautiful it might be to be the wind, to be as simple as such an amazing force. I wished to float atop the grass and move as each blade would, to touch the top of the hill and then again be blown on down to tumble in the soft caress of mother wind.

We are all like the wind in some way, blowing from one place to another, moving life around as we touch it. We are truly this way. We are all truly simple.

As I’ve grown older it seems harder and harder to reach that uninterrupted state of simple wishfulness, of simple thoughts and of simple dreams. But, these are always with me.

We push forward continuously, always changing, always learning, growing and living. But do we ever stop to recognize the simple?

Our busy lives remove us from simplicity, from that purity of thought too often. We worry, we care, we wish and we struggle to stay afloat at times. We live a life full of so many ideas, patterns, routines and structure, yet the lives we live are starved of the simplicity that the heart desires.

The canvas of our lives is painted each day by the simple wishes of the heart, though most often we’re blind to the light that shines upon it.

We should all take the time to visit the simple sphere, to wash ourselves within the heart of life. Only then will we open ourselves to the natural beauty that surrounds our lives, no matter what our dealings may be at the time.

Revisit the simple moments of your life. Reclaim the comfort of that tossed away memory and you will soon see the smile that you once held.

As we move throughout our own personal, worldly spheres, we must remind ourselves of our heart’s command. We all have a simple nature, a simple dream and a simple gift. Let us move to open this treasure once more and once again live through soft eyes, and simple grace.