The Key to Simplicity

There’s a great quote from Blaise Pascal that goes,

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

I believe there’s a lot of truth in that. And I believe that in this quote lies the key to living a simple life. Hear me out!

What Happens If You Can’t Sit Alone

Let’s first talk about how the quote is true …

If you are unable to sit quietly in a room alone, then we can imagine:

• You’ll always need to be entertained, distracted, busy — which is why many people are addicted to distraction, their phones, and busyness.
• If you’re having stress or unhappiness, you’ll need to numb yourself out, because your feelings of sadness or stress will be too uncomfortable to handle.
• You’ll need to find ways to get pleasure externally — from online shopping, video games, watching TV or videos, social media, food, drugs, alcohol, etc.
• Because of all of the above, you’ll likely be spending too much money and have difficulty with finances; your health might be worse; your life will be overwhelming.

I think whole books could be written on the kind of life that this would lead to, but I’m hoping you get the idea by now.

Being comfortable with yourself does most of the work

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