The Bare Necessities- Keeping Life Simple

Today’s inspiration came from a dream I had recently.  I don’t know if it has to do with the fact that I am a Pisces (known for being creative dreamers), or if it can be chalked up to my odd sleeping habits, but I am an avid dreamer.  I find dreams fascinating and sometimes on a lucky occasion I will dream up words, phrases, or ideas that I can use in real life.  

After having a series of bad dreams this Winter (very unlike me), I had a happy little dream last week where I pictured the characters from Disney’s “The Jungle Book”, and was singing along to the song “The Bare Necessities” as I watched the characters dance.  Then I dreamt that I was to write a blog post on keeping life simple and the message that came across to me in my dream.  If this inspires you at all today, you can thank my fun little dream for giving me writing material! 🙂

Here are some Lyrics to the song: 

“All you’ve gotta do is… 

Look for the bare necessities, The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the bare necessities, Old Mother Nature’s recipes, That bring the bare necessities of life.

Wherever I wander, wherever I roam, I couldn’t be fonder of my big home.  The bees are buzzin’ in the tree
To make some honey just for me.  When you look under the rocks and plants and take a glance at the fancy ants, Then maybe try a few-

The bare necessities of life will come to you, They’ll come to you!

Look for the bare necessities,The simple bare necessities–Forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the bare necessities , That’s why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life.

So just try and relax, yeah cool it.  Fall apart in my backyard.  ‘Cause let me tell you something little britches, If you act like that bee acts, uh uh, You’re working too hard.

And don’t spend your time lookin’ around
For something you want that can’t be found
When you find out you can live without it
And go along not thinkin’ about it–I’ll tell you something true,

The bare necessities of life will come to you.  (and they did quite literally via dream land ;))

I left out a verse , but that is the gist.  The mood of my dream was joyful and lighthearted , showing me a simple and easy bliss as if to say, “Don’t let your heart be troubled or heavy, this bliss is yours for the taking!”  I don’t know about you, but within the last year or so my life has gotten more complicated and stressful.  My heart has been burdened by things that can’t be shared here.  So even though I am a seeker of light and find inspiration in most everything, underneath it all my heart is heavy some days (especially while I was stuck resting this Winter, as not feeling well always makes everything seem worse).  Life for all of us at one time or another can be this way.  Often we don’t help matters much because we complicate things more by our responses to life.  I think that we CAN have more joy and feel more “light” in spirit if we learn how to keep things simple.  This is what this song is really about.

In a world where there are SO many choices, and this need for MORE of everything- bigger, better, and often keeping up with trends.  Often we compare ourselves or our LIVES to others, which can make it easy to not be satisfied.  How many times has the grass looked greener on the other side?  Have you ever compared yourself to others?  Have you ever wished you were a little more like so and so, or thought that if only you had more of this or that you would be happier?

How many times do we go around trying to keep up with all of our foolish needs and desires instead of just kicking back and enjoying what we have?  Do we ever feel we have enough?

I think part of the key to having more joy and satisfaction in our lives is:

• Learning to realize we have enough.  Most of us are beyond blessed in that we have shelter, food, and all of the basic things we need to survive.  We are a pretty spoiled nation, in that people in other countries often have way less than we do, and yet they are happy.  MORE of everything in life (money, things, etc.) doesn’t equal true happiness (even though it can bring pleasure, this pleasure is fleeting and doesn’t bring lasting satisfaction- it often brings a want for even more)
• Have Gratitude for everything-even the small things.  Look at the song (or watch the video below), it illustrates pure joy at the simple blessings of life.  Each and every thing we have is a blessing.
• Lighten up a bit!  (this goes for me too!) Things may not be easy, but we don’t have to be in a state of constant worry or stress.  We can enjoy what life has to offer (getting out in nature helps too).
• Give ourselves permission to be happy- no matter what.  Sometimes we have to make a conscious decision to be happy daily (especially when life gets really tough)
• Don’t bite off more than we can chew
• Slow down

Here is a video of Mowgli and Baloo from the Jungle Book singing the song behind today’s inspiration.  (click HERE if you need the link) It totally makes me smile!  (random fact-my belated grandma used to tell about how I liked it when she would say the word Mowgli as a child.  I guess it made me giggle to repeat it when I was very small. :))

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