Simple Living High Thinking

I'm often asked how life in Sydney is, especially since I moved here 2.5 years ago. It's a valid question, and my usual response is that I like it, though the full answer depends on who’s asking. The truth is, I'm at a point where my life isn’t defined by where I live. It’s defined by how alive I feel inside. More and more, I realize that the labels we use to define our lives—like the city we live in, the suburb we reside in, our job titles, the cars we drive, or the brands we wear—are just distractions. The only thing that truly matters is how we feel inside our heads, within our bodies, and in our hearts.

We carry ourselves wherever we go, and if we’re unhappy, that feeling isn’t going to change just because we’re in a beautiful place. While a change of scenery might help temporarily, eventually, that inner emptiness will resurface, leading us to seek out another distraction. This cycle continues until we’re ready to confront that emptiness, recognize it, accept it, and commit to understanding it—right where we are, without running away or relying on external stimuli. The real challenge is taking an honest look at ourselves, without any crutches.

When we embrace a life that seeks an honest and direct relationship with itself, we come to realize it embodies the essence of "Simple Living, High Thinking." This phrase, once commonly heard during my childhood in the late 70s and 80s, seems to have faded from popular discourse today. Let's take a closer look to better understand what simple living truly entails. No matter what social class you belong to—whether rich or poor, famous or unknown, educated or uneducated—the basic daily activities performed by human beings are remarkably similar. In a typical 24-hour day, we often allocate 8 hours to sleep, about 2 hours to self-care like exercise and personal hygiene, 8 hours to work, and 4 hours to media consumption, including TV, reading, social media, or online content. Despite the vast diversity in culture, language, food, and race, we are all more alike than we may realize. 

Simplicity is defined as the quality or condition of being easy to understand or do. To embrace simplicity, one must be deeply rooted in their beliefs and inclined toward self-reflection and introspection. The simpler path is one that let’s go of unnecessary embellishments, guiding you back to the basics or the fundamentals. Keeping life simple is a choice, and at every crossroads, you can opt for the path of simplicity. But how do you proactively recognize what is simpler? The key lies in understanding that simplicity varies for each individual. There isn't a one-size-fits-all definition of simple. To choose what's best for you, it's essential to know yourself deeply. By cultivating self-awareness and maintaining an honest, unfiltered relationship with yourself, you'll naturally gravitate towards what simplicity means for you.

If deep self-awareness is key to making the best choices, what fosters that awareness? While meditation is often suggested, a more practical approach is to limit the noise around you. We are constantly surrounded by influencers—friends, mentors, social media—telling us how to live our lives. The more we follow, the further we drift from our true selves. While it's unrealistic to completely disconnect from the media, it's essential to build the strength and resilience to prevent external noise from disturbing your inner peace. True wisdom should come from within, not from the tips and tricks picked up from others. Swami Vivekananda aptly said “So long as we have no knowledge of our real nature we are beggars” 

Life isn't meant to be navigated through shortcuts or quick fixes; it's a journey to be uniquely experienced through personal growth and individual lessons.

Attempting to bypass this process never truly works. And it is in choosing the path of personal learning that you develop the muscle of high thinking. Going back to simple living and high thinking, it is when you live simply do you allow yourself the time and space to reflect on yourself, become more aware and in the know of who you are and what your purpose is and thus as you navigate your life’s experiences the learnings culminate into high thinking. Quoting Swami Vivekananda again “Knowledge can only be got in one way, the way of experience; there is no other way to know.”

Just as you can’t learn to drive a car without actually driving, you can’t fulfil the purpose of your life without actively steering it and making the difficult choices it demands. In an era of instant gratification, constant pursuit of excitement, and craving for adrenaline, the wisdom of "Simple living and High thinking" becomes even more vital. It reminds us to stay grounded and recognize that the true journey of life is inward. No matter how high you soar outwardly, in your final moment, when you take your last breath, you will face it alone. The only thing that will truly matter then is the authenticity with which you lived your life.