Cutting Costs and Living Simply

Out there in blogland there are so many folks posting about cutting expenses in this shaky economy.  This almost always turns into the subject of living simply.  Some information out there seems to be re-runs of what we all know but somehow forget to do.  Most of us are smart enough to know where we are wasting money, yet few of us understand that we spend more than we should, buy more than we need, consume more than is necessary for one reason, we are trying to calm that pain or that difficult thing that resides inside of us.   We play music constantly,  sit at the computer for hours,  eat more than we should,  shop for things we don't need, hop on a hundred new bandwagons or just simply bite our nails because we don't want to be silent for a second since that might mean we have to face whats driving us to overindulge.   Imagine for a moment that you sat in silence, looked straight on at the very things that are making you behave in a way that costs you more money than you want, has restocking your pantry every month because you found a new way of eating, or being afraid to listen to that voice of reason within each of us, imagine you faced that pain inside of you that controls your actions, and in doing so, understood it, looked at it from a calm place within, and saw that it can show you how to look at others with deeper compassion,  and to love that wounded child within.   It would bring freedom from all those things that cause us to live in a stress, live in excess, live a life where we trade reason for unreasonable actions.    The best way to live simply, to live a cost effective life, is to dwell in peace from the inside out.  To do that, we have to sit in silence, without distractions and listen to our hearts and discover what we are feeding with food, shopping, spending, complicated relationships, new concepts, new gadgets.  Finding the problem, learning from it and seeing it in clear light will take care of the things that are stealing from us.  We will live simple lives without the need to impress, without the feeling of being inadequate and grant us peace.