Simplexity, A New Concept For Your Advantage—This Day, This Year, and Your Life

Simplexity is a new word that means a simple concept, but one that may be complex to put into practice. Here are two examples.

Simplexity No 1. Keep your body moving.
I recall over many years ago seeing my heart doctor on TV saying to elderly people why it’s important to keep moving your body. As he said this he was touching his toes then arching his back, then swinging his outstretched arms from side to side. The doctor said it increases blood flow that refreshes muscles, and carries essential ingredients to remote parts of the body.

Nowadays, every doctor tells his patients to move as much as they can. It’s why my present cardio told me to keep playing pickleball. Wendy Suzuki, PhD, is a neuroscientist who studies how exercise benefits the brain and mind. She investigates how physical activity assists cognitive function.

Originally, she was burned out in her work, but started to exercise and discovered it refreshed her body but also invigorated her mind. She went on to study this topic for a PhD, and then gave a powerful TED talk, and wrote a book on the physical and mental benefits of movement – called Healthy Brain, Happy Life. To watch the TED talk, click here.

But it’s still hard for me to get up from my chair while I’m writing on my laptop. I should get up and walk around every hour, but sometimes I sit there for 2-3 hours immersed in a writing challenge. I need to change my strategy, and my routine, but this is not simple for me – after all these years. The mind has readily grasped the concept but I haven’t been able to make it a habit.

Simplexity No 2. Find Something to Look Forward to Each Day.
On Sunday, I look forward to going to church and sharing with a community of believers. On Monday I look forward to playing pickleball with a group of friends. On Wednesday evening I look forward to watching Nova, a science show on PBS TV.

C.S. Lewis, the great English apologist, took time for pleasure. He said he enjoyed sharing ideas with a friend or friends over a drink and a smoke. He thought such simple pleasures were a symbol of pleasures in heaven that would be greatly magnified.

I’ve heard retired folks say, “This is what gets me up in the morning.” They are referring to some kind of a hobby. It’s known that if you retire without a list of goals, you can start to feel down or even depressed. Goals lead to a sense of accomplishment, and therein lies the hope. I knew a man who in his seventies started creating pens by machining quality wood. He gave me one, and was obviously proud of his achievement.

If nothing is happening this week, call a friend and invite them to lunch, or to go for a walk. I set up a lunch with an archeology professor and a minister from my church just last week. Although I was a little nervous at the beginning, the lunch went very well and all of us enjoyed the conversation over terrific Thai food.

What’s behind this simplexity is hope. Without hope the world looks darker. Hope is a hallmark of Christian faith, because no matter what happens, at the end of life we can look forward to a new life with God. And in present life, one way to feel better, as psychologists now admit, is to help other people who are hurting or disadvantaged in some way. We can offer hope, and in many cases we can bring hope to others.

The practical side of this means that if you don’t have something to look forward to today, show some initiative, be creative, call up a friend to chat or arrange to have lunch. Or offer to help someone inside your family, or outside it. Visit someone who is ill, or in a nursing home. Arrange something to look forward to.
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Well two new simplexities is enough for one day. I have a few more that I plan to share later. But for now I’ll leave you with a joke that I heard just last week.
The Gray Nomad.

The Dust Bowl was in full swing near where Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado meet. Amarillo in Texas was the nearest large town. The drought lasted ten years between 1930 and 1940. The land had been ploughed up too intensively, and wind storms picked up and moved the dirt and sand in massive dust storms. A world-class program on TV called The Dust Bowl by Ken Burns, a master story teller, can be found on PBS or on Prime TV.

During this time, the dust was so thick that many children died of pneumonia. The storms were so immense that sand was deposited against fences in the form of sandhills. 20-30% of farms were foreclosed by banks, and owners picked up and moved to California. Many Californians weren’t too happy about this migration, and called the immigrants “Okies”. The Dust Bowl story was also powerfully described by John Steinbeck in his famous book The Grapes of Wrath.

This joke was told on the Dust Bowl TV program. This may seem in poor taste, because the Dust Bowl was the greatest environmental disaster in the USA – ever. But this joke, which was shared amongst farmers living there, illustrates the severity of the sand.

A poor farmer was checking his fences when he came upon a cowboy hat lying on a sandhill. When he picked it up there was a cowboy buried in the sand with only his head showing.
“Oh my gosh,” the farmer said, “Are you alright. Can you breathe okay?”
“I’m not worried about myself,” said the cowboy. “But I am worried about my horse that I’m riding on.”
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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. [Romans chapter 15].