Simple Living, High Thinking (And why "more" is making us miserable)

A 30-year perspective on finding the "inner peace"

I was sitting in my garden this morning, listening to the birdsong, and a phrase kept circling my mind - one that has been my compass for almost three decades, since I first read a battered old copy of Downshifting: The Guide to Happier, Simpler Living, by Polly Ghazi and Judy Jones, which still sits by my side today:

"Simple Living, High Thinking."

In our modern world, we've accidentally flipped the script. We've ended up with Complex Living and Low Thinking.

We spend our energy managing "stuff" — cluttered calendars, endless notifications, the ego-chatter of social media.

Or is that just me❓

We're so busy managing the complexity that our thinking becomes shallow.

We react instead of respond.

We complain instead of explain.

I've spent 30 years teaching yoga in Penwortham, and the biggest transformation I see in my students doesn't happen when they master a difficult pose.

It happens when they start to simplify.

When you simplify your outer life — your calendar, your living space, your reactions — you create a vacuum.

And the soul loves a vacuum

That empty space is where "High Thinking" lives. It's where we finally hear the conversation that's been trying to reach us for years.

That quiet inner voice that is our truth, whatever name you want to give it.

How do we start?

We use the R.E.A.L. method:

1. Rest — Today, find 5 minutes of Sabbath. No phone, no book, just you and the silence.
2. Ease — Instead of reaching for a distraction, take three deep breaths. Let your shoulders drop. Feel the energy already in your body.
3. Align — Notice where you're gripping — your jaw, your shoulders, your grip on the day itself. Can you let it release, just a little?
4. Live — One of my classes' favourite guided relaxations is the "let go, let go more, let go even more." Give the rest of your to-do list that same permission today.

What can you let go of today?

So here's the question I'm actually sitting with today, and I'd love to know yours too:

If you genuinely gave yourself permission — not "when things calm down," but today — what's the first thing you'd let go of?

Leave a comment below and let me know — you'll need to sign up (free) to join in, but I'd genuinely love to hear what you'd let go of.

And if you're the kind of person who'd rather sit with questions like this alongside others walking the same path — not shouting into the void of social media — the Sanctuary is exactly that. Somewhere to pause. A hearth to warm your hands at, not another feed to scroll.

Linda Johnrose
30+ Years of Yoga Wisdom

P.S. Ready to simplify your path to peace? If your mind feels like a browser with 50 tabs open, let me help you close a few.

A little more, just for you.

That copy of Downshifting is properly battered now — cracked spine, dog-eared pages, the whole thing. I've moved house more times than I can count, and it's always come with me.

What I didn't say above: it wasn't really about "doing less." It was permission. Permission to stop treating a full calendar as proof I mattered.

Lx