Seek to remove as much unneeded junk from your life as possible. If you have three blenders that do not work, bunches of old magazines you will never read, or whatever useless thing with missing parts, throw them away. Clear your living space and your mind will follow, thus becoming more focused and less scattered.
Brilliant… wish my wife would follow that advice….lol
The amount of relief I feel after doing a “clean-up” (often singing the clean-up song, of course) of my spaces is so immense, you’d think I’d avoid the piles to begin with… but I’m a pile-maker!
When it comes to food, I do love a good juxtaposition of flavors. But you are correct, something’s just go too far. Our community has an annual fundraiser where local restaurants create grilled cheese “masterpieces” and part of the proceeds go the local food bank. One year, a restaurant made a “taco mama” grilled cheese sandwich that had ground beef inside and crushed Doritos on the outside. It was too far. Way too far. It was no longer a grilled cheese sandwich. (And I’m a bit of a grilled cheese aficionado. Please don’t read that as “snob”— I’ve just had many versions!)
I too have noticed that grilled cheese is now trendy and people are complicating a wonderful thing. One extra ingredient is good. Doritos on grilled cheese is offensive. You know a pickle or something is fine, perhaps pesto. I read juxtaposition as opposite flavors, which is a good thing. You want hot and sweet, you know… contrasting flavors that create a simple and balanced taste. Well that’s my opinion. As far as clutter, what looks like clutter can be organization to someone else. Everybody is different but I’m like the opposite of a hoarder. I want to throw away stuff just based on a feeling sometimes. Thanks for contributing to the topic.
My family has a lot of engineers, so I was raised with teachings like “Perfect design is when you cannot remove anything more”. I don’t think it always applies to art, but it’s a useful lens to occasionally hold up to my work.
That quote is awesome. I don’t think a result has to be simple even if your process to arrive is simple. Or the purpose can be simple, or the statement. I mean simple is actually complex I guess, in a way. But it’s hard for me to express exactly what I mean. I know from the world of mental health that complexity can mean too involved with too many things to ever start or finish.
True! I find that with writing it’s a simple idea/process going a bit adrift which leads me to sprawling complexity, which is very similar to my experiences with mental issues. 😆
And simplicity is relative; Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (the origin of that phrase) was talking about airplane design, which is an inherently complex and delicate thing. The question “if I remove this does the airplane continue to work” is very different to “if I remove this does the story continue to work”, but the ethos transfers beautifully.
Nothing stopping you from sticking extra bits back on for fun once you know which parts are *necessary*. Few things need to be as efficient as an airplane. 😄
I think everyone has heard someone say simple is not easy but have never stopped to think why that is. I am glad I learned something new by that fella you mention. I have the heart of an artist and not an engineer, so I could draw on the plane but not build it. Maybe I am talking about simplicity as in the essence of something and not monkeying around with that. No, on second thought that is part of what I am saying but not all of it. Thanks for making me think more.
Seek to remove as much unneeded junk from your life as possible. If you have three blenders that do not work, bunches of old magazines you will never read, or whatever useless thing with missing parts, throw them away. Clear your living space and your mind will follow, thus becoming more focused and less scattered.
Brilliant… wish my wife would follow that advice….lol
Hi Diana. Thanks. Well people surprise us sometimes, so you never know.
The amount of relief I feel after doing a “clean-up” (often singing the clean-up song, of course) of my spaces is so immense, you’d think I’d avoid the piles to begin with… but I’m a pile-maker!
When it comes to food, I do love a good juxtaposition of flavors. But you are correct, something’s just go too far. Our community has an annual fundraiser where local restaurants create grilled cheese “masterpieces” and part of the proceeds go the local food bank. One year, a restaurant made a “taco mama” grilled cheese sandwich that had ground beef inside and crushed Doritos on the outside. It was too far. Way too far. It was no longer a grilled cheese sandwich. (And I’m a bit of a grilled cheese aficionado. Please don’t read that as “snob”— I’ve just had many versions!)
I too have noticed that grilled cheese is now trendy and people are complicating a wonderful thing. One extra ingredient is good. Doritos on grilled cheese is offensive. You know a pickle or something is fine, perhaps pesto. I read juxtaposition as opposite flavors, which is a good thing. You want hot and sweet, you know… contrasting flavors that create a simple and balanced taste. Well that’s my opinion. As far as clutter, what looks like clutter can be organization to someone else. Everybody is different but I’m like the opposite of a hoarder. I want to throw away stuff just based on a feeling sometimes. Thanks for contributing to the topic.
Bacon, chutney, apples… each of those are acceptable. Doritos are a HARD PASS 😆
Sounds fair to me.
My family has a lot of engineers, so I was raised with teachings like “Perfect design is when you cannot remove anything more”. I don’t think it always applies to art, but it’s a useful lens to occasionally hold up to my work.
That quote is awesome. I don’t think a result has to be simple even if your process to arrive is simple. Or the purpose can be simple, or the statement. I mean simple is actually complex I guess, in a way. But it’s hard for me to express exactly what I mean. I know from the world of mental health that complexity can mean too involved with too many things to ever start or finish.
True! I find that with writing it’s a simple idea/process going a bit adrift which leads me to sprawling complexity, which is very similar to my experiences with mental issues. 😆
And simplicity is relative; Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (the origin of that phrase) was talking about airplane design, which is an inherently complex and delicate thing. The question “if I remove this does the airplane continue to work” is very different to “if I remove this does the story continue to work”, but the ethos transfers beautifully.
Nothing stopping you from sticking extra bits back on for fun once you know which parts are *necessary*. Few things need to be as efficient as an airplane. 😄
I think everyone has heard someone say simple is not easy but have never stopped to think why that is. I am glad I learned something new by that fella you mention. I have the heart of an artist and not an engineer, so I could draw on the plane but not build it. Maybe I am talking about simplicity as in the essence of something and not monkeying around with that. No, on second thought that is part of what I am saying but not all of it. Thanks for making me think more.
I enjoyed the writing and the message.
I’m glad.