JUGHEADS
Youth Juggling Company, LLC
5905 Concord Avenue
Edina, MN 55424
jugheads@comcast.net
or 952.926.0896

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February 2000

“The Discipline of Simplicity”

Truth be told, I am a naturally undisciplined person. This school year, I’ve been on a personal campaign of discipline: mental, physical and spiritual (baby steps at a time, mind you). Just like being on a household budget, one may comment that pursuit of personal disciplines are confining, restricting and complicated.

On the contrary! Whether in the form of a monthly budget, food intake, reading habits, exercise or organization/cleanliness, discipline is the ticket to freedom and simplicity in life. We could, as my natural personality is prone, simply live fly-by-night in every area, hoping that the checkbook balances, we remain physically fit and we’re growing in character and spirit. However, without some form of discipline in life’s vital areas, things begin to deteriorate and become much more complicated than if we’d enacted the necessary disciplines in the first place.

Why am I saying all this, and what is the goal of my quest for discipline? SIMPLICITY. Not necessarily non-activity or simple-mindedness, but freedom from the obligation to have the almighty schedule and the race for possessions dictated by the expectations of our culture. “Paul, you’re shooting yourself in the foot with that analogy,” one may say, “because JUGHEADS itself is an additive to our family’s schedule and possessions.” True, but just like my newfound discipline of reading 1-4 hours a day, I believe that involvement in JH is actually a conduit of simplicity rather than a robber of it. Kids are allowed to be kids, their bodies are challenged, their peer relationships are strengthened, and their self-image is improved.

A simple life is enjoying the pleasures of life which, by definition, can’t carry a price tag. Inasmuch as I’m striving for my own excellence through simplicity, I’ll encourage the same in the kids.