Months ago I spoke with a good friend about the overabundance that Americans find in the average grocery store. I commented that I can feel lost trying to figure out what variation of which brand that I should buy. Ahhh . . . .  there are nutritional facts, low fat, no fat, regular fat, probably high fat options.

As I began my tirade against the great American excess story, my buddy spoke up to defend the glory of capitalism and the seemingly endless variety that he feels enhances rather than detracts from his life. I’m listening to his response and shaking my head back an forth, as much in disbelief as in practical resignation, knowing that he meant every word of what he was saying.

There is not a person on this earth that needs 42 choices in toothbrushes . . . soft, medium, firm, gum massaging, far reaching, and even music playing. Ugh! If you mix these options with the potential choices in toothpaste, we could while away many pleasant hours in matching Crest Ultra-Whitening Cinnamon with the Spin Brush Pro Rechargeable. And when our perfect match is found we can then spend 2 minutes brushing. The result of this glorious capitalistic experience? Ahhh yes, less time and mental energy and clarity to grapple with the problems that await our unique solutions.

This is the rub. Variety is not an evil in an of itself any more than money is evil. Money is a neutral facilitator of human business, not good, not evil. If however money becomes our god or our lover, it has overstepped its place and importance. When variety that was originally meant to give ease and pleasure becomes a distraction that retards progress and dilutes prosperity, it is time to spit the electrically-spun, cinnamon-flavored mouthful of foam into the sink and look for ways to simplify our lives before our nearly out-of-control culture of excess collapses under its own obese mass.

This blog is dedicated to my own experimentation and efforts to simplify in an effort to find time to write more, ready more, meditate more, serve more, think more, love more, to stare up at the clouds more. America has bitten off more than it can chew and it is choking on its own feast. I am participating in this gagfest of success. So, first is my admission of guilty participation and my vow to share with my readers my journey, my experiments, and my discoveries as I work to spit out the excess and begin again to savor the simplicity in all of its variety.