When Less is More by Joan from her blog on women

When Less is More
How's that for an attention-getting title? We (in American culture) long for less complexity and greater simplicity in our lives!

I can think of so many ways and times when less is more:


Less humidity = more enjoyment of the weather (it's really humid and hot here now)
Less stuff = more freedom from things and clutter
Less house = more time NOT having to clean
Less software = more hard-drive space and faster processing times
Less junk food = more health
Less content = more to think about
Less talk = more to hear
Less noise = more silence





But these are not the things I had in mind when I wrote today's title. Instead, I was thinking of a co-worker's guitar playing.

In addition to what he does for Lighthouse Network, my boss Victor is a flamenco guitar player, performer, and recording artist. Flamenco is that kind of guitar music (forgive the basic definition) that sounds like Spanish classical guitar. I don't know how else to describe it. I'm no flamenco expert (I know nothing about it), but Victor plays really well. I mean really well.

Well, despite his expertise, Victor is taking lessons now from a master guitarist in NYC. And since his first lesson, Victor has been working on bending the fingers of his right hand (the strum hand) from the knuckle joint in his hand, instead of using his wrist and forearm, too. I see him occasionally looking at his hand, working to bend his index finger in isolation from the rest.

(I only noticed because it looks a lot like exercises I had to do in rehab with my left hand after I broke it last year.)



Apparently, this technique allows for better control, less fatigue, and finer sound.

Less movement = more effective guitar playing
Less muscle involvement = more endurance (something important in long playing sessions)
Less motion = more control

Hmmm...less motion, more control. Now there's a soul-care tip if I ever heard one!

In the past when things challenged, frustrated, depressed, or overwhelmed me, I got busy: fixing, doing, solving, mediating, communicating, structuring, planning, trying, cleaning up, working it out.

I moved! I was a woman of motion. If my life then were a guitar, and I a flamenco guitar player, my actions would've looked like some weird spastic gyration of not just fingers, hand and wrist, but forearm, elbow, upper arm, shoulder, neck, back, spine, hips, head, and face.

The problem was, my activity was without control or steadiness. It may have looked good to the casual observer (and it often did), but it was without discipline or quality (as any master would've known and recognized). It was reaction, not pro-action. It was crisis activity, not calm address. I ended up bruised, broken, sore, depressed, confused, and burnt out.

But I'm learning.

I'm learning that “In repentance and rest is [my] salvation, in quietness and trust is [my] strength," (Isaiah 30:15).

Less = more

Taking time for rest, inactivity, reflection, quietness, stillness, sleep, prayer, meditation, quiet reading, a walk in the woods, a cup of tea on the deck where I can watch and learn from the sparrows -- taking time for soul care -- that's a huge lessening of "activity" for me.

Less "activity" = more awareness of God (at least in my heart and life).

And with less impulsive action has come greater peace.

Less really is more.

I just wish I'd known it sooner.

'Til next time,
Joan