Is Convenience Synonymous with Simplicity?

We are living a life of upmost convenience.  Anything, quite literally anything can now be manifested into existence. Even as I sit here on Fuerteventura in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, anything that I so desire from across the globe can appear in-front of me within the matter of days. All this from the movement of my fingertips.

Let's frame it this way: if we proposed the likelihood of this scenario to any population pre-dating the 1950's, they would suppose that this scenario could only exist in the realm of imagination, and if not imaginary, they would probably joke and attribute this occurrence to the occult, the dark arts or perhaps a form of voodoo!

But as our lives have become more convenient have they subsequently gotten simpler or more complicated?

I'm going to presume that a lot of people reading this are unanimously screaming ‘complicated' in their minds.  

Our days have become 'filled up'; we have to squeeze everyone and everything in.  With so many gadgets, accessories and amenities to make everything 'easier' then why does life unfold in a manner that is rushed, laborious and quite frankly stressful?

Perhaps it's because we don't choose carefully how to utilize with the time we've been given - in a day, in a year, in a life. 

For example, we’ve been sold the idea that quality communication is once again at the end of our fingertips.  Hours upon hours are wasted with general small talk via messenger and WhatsApp and so forth.  Imagine if this 'convenience' was no longer available.  Would setting a date and time in the future to meet with a friend face-to-face invite more simplicity and with it, deeper meaning into that relationship? I think so.

Here's another idea: world foods.  Now whilst I adore cooking and do see the value in exploring the realms of the culinary world, I also dream of a time and wonder how it must have felt to be a human of the land. 

To know only of the simple and ample food that grew around you.  No complications and certainly no mangoes, avocados and figs in Ireland. Just simple food - that like the real friendship - contains depth and time hidden within it's very nature.  

So without sounding like I am impossibly yearning for a bygone era, what do we do about this? How do we invite simplicity into our modern lives?

Two tools I would suggest are Mindfulness and Compassion.

Practically this means that after you buy your groceries (with ease), take the time to invite that spaciousness into the food.  Make a mental note of the process that begun when the seed was planted, then how much time passed until the roots grew, eventually blooming into the vegetable... the pickers working hard, the journeys the vegetable took from it's origin of country to get your plate... and all the hands in between. 

Then a moment of thanks before that same vegetable goes into your body whereby through transmutation(!!) it is converted into the vital life force (prana) upon which you live.  Convenience doesn't give you that simple but profound realization.

In the same frame of mind, compassion arises when we can extend this mindfulness to others.  Caught in the urgency of communication on WhatsApp? Be mindful that someone else has their own life going on too.  Convenience, I would say, discreetly and unfortunately enforces a notion that it's all 'about me'. But the simplicity arises through the opening up of compassion.

We then consider that there could be a plethora of reasons as to why they can't instantly reply, leaving us not be agitated or confused but simply being. 

So.
Be simple. Be a friend. Be an inhabitant of Earth's nurture. Not just a consumer.
Nothing more and nothing less. 

And certainly not a convenient but definitely-not-so-simple automated phone line.