Let’s have some fun! Yeah, I know, we’re adults and we stopped having fun a long time ago. Our lives are very complicated. With all the demands being made on us, we have no free time for tom foolery. This is serious! Do you not understand what will happen if I don’t confront my mother about her meddling ways? Do you not understand what will happen when I confront my mother about her meddling ways? No, you don’t understand. How could you? My life is very complicated, and I’m sure your’s is simple. Although, I doubt your life is simple. You seem to be more anxious than I am. So, now I’m really stressed out. I can’t even depend on you to help me sort through these complications. You have too many complications of your own to deal with!
Are we having fun yet? You may not be, but I am. I’m having good old fashioned fun writing about the simplification of complication! Life is good, and always getting better for me. Why? Because I’ve learned how to simplify, and have fun doing it. I remember the first time I tangled the line on my fishing pole. I became more and more agitated, and more and more frustrated, until finally I threw down the knot and the fishing pole in a fit of anger and disgust. I then stomped away, to find something more fun to do. I really loved the mysterious nature of fishing, though. Casting out a hooked worm or plastic lure and reeling it in, never knowing what kind of strange creature might attach its slimy-self to my hook and come splashing back to shore; all this to satisfy the eager delight of my childhood curiosity. And so, my love for fishing motivated me to master the art of untangling. For anyone who has ever dealt with fishing line, and more specifically knots in fishing line, you will agree that the properties of this transparent, monofilament line are specifically designed to frustrate any attempt at untangling. I believe that there is a conspiracy being perpetrated by the fishing tackle industry. A conspiracy with an end goal of aggravating anglers to the point of throwing all of their equipment into the water. For the fishing aficionado, this will mean a return to the point of purchase to buy all new equipment, thus starting the cycle of aggravated-fisher-person-addictive-entanglement all over again. It’s not really all that dramatic for the majority of fish lovers, but learning to untangle your line can certainly be helpful if you intend to harness the patience required to keep on fishing.
So, using the complicated tangle (the knot) as a metaphor, think about the complications of your life. To simplify any tangle, you’ll first need to find at least one of the ends of the tangled mass. Seemingly, every complication in life has at least one cause. We’ll imagine the cause as one end of the knotted line. It is widely accepted that every cause has an effect. The effect of this cause, is the complicated tangle of thought and emotions that you have attached to the complication itself. Stay with me here, because I know that sounds like a dog chasing its own tail. It’s confusing because that’s the nature of complications – they confuse us. If we think about the cause as one of the ends of the tangle, we now have a place to start, at least we think so. We might theoretically untangle the knot of complication by backing the end (the cause) through the tangle, section by section, until we have untangled the entire knot, using the original cause as our starting point. Now, I’d like to suggest an unconventional method of untangling complication in your life. Stop focusing on the cause. Forget about untangling the knot. Don’t search for the end of the tangle. Instead, focus on the effect of the cause (for the complication), which translates as your confusion, aggravation, stress, anxiety, depression, or any other negative effects on your thoughts or emotions. In other words, focus on the effects of the complication on your intellectual or emotional well-being. Look at your complicated, and stress filled life from a new perspective. Recognize that you are destroying your health and well-being by remaining focused on complications that are often beyond your capacity to untangle. Get back to the basics of taking care of yourself physically and emotionally, so you will be healthy enough to live your naturally complicated life, in a way that’s meaningful and enjoyable. Who knows, you may even have some good old fashioned fun while living it!
Where’s the fun in that? My answer: Fun is, as fun does.
"Grand Providentia United" 