It's Complicated!

Last week I found myself chatting to my sister about a situation I’ve been dealing with, a complex one. Many times through our discussion, I caught myself saying, “It’s complicated.” After a while she responded, “It’s really not complicated, you’re making it complicated. It’s simple.”

I’ve been pondering that thought for a while. What makes us see things as complicated and what makes them simple? In this example, we clearly had two opposing viewpoints about the same issue. My viewpoint – complicated. My sister’s viewpoint – simple.

And that’s when I had an AHA moment.

What is the opposite of complexity? I had always thought of it as simplicity… Yet, on second thought, I now realise that it is clarity.

When we have clarity, we can cut through complexity and know exactly what we need to do or not do.

Our clarity often gets overtaken by the clutter of our thoughts; by the bombardment of information (some true and some less so) on us; and by the thoughts and expectations of others as we go around asking for advice. This is what gets complicated. Trying to please others. Trying to meet expectations. Trying to do the right thing (according to who?). And not trusting our own inner voice.

When we get clear on who we are, what we want, what would work for us and where we want to get to, the complexity dies down. When we listen to our inner wisdom, we know what we value, what is important and what is significant. We know our own truth. That is clarity. Clarity of thought, emotions and purpose.

Now… it’s not always so simple and definitely not always easy. But when we get clear, we know ourselves and we understand what to do. When we have clarity, we make perfect choices.

It is no surprise then, that when I decided to pick a card for the day today, the one that came up for me was clarity. In the words of Diana Cooper and Greg Stuart (creators of Wisdom Cards),

“Notice the simplicity of truth

and the limitations that complexity places

on your ability to see what is of value.”