Sophistication is for naught. Seek simplicity rather than sophistication. Simplicity is streamlined. Sophistication is a maneuver. Or let’s say it this way: True sophistication is simplicity. True sophistication does not look at itself. It does not label itself. It does not adorn itself.

Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points. Simplicity isn’t clever. It isn’t fancy. It is simple straightforward simplicity. It is uncomplicated.

Sophistication is being wise in the ways of the world. Sophistication is a sleek hairdo and a tux or a gown. Sophistication calls attention to itself. Simplicity slips through unnoticed. And yet it is from simplicity that joy comes. The cleverness of sophistication doesn’t quite do it. Cleverness is fingernail enamel. Cleverness poses and takes its own picture. Sophistication plays jokes on itself.

Living life is living life. It is being awake to this moment and not the consensus of it. Living life is not thoughts about living life. It is not production. Living life is a simple greeting.

We come back again to innocence. Innocence is like a natural ice skater who glides and has so much fun. Sophistication, on the other hand, has moves in mind and performs them elegantly, perhaps a little stylized.

Innocence is spontaneous whereas sophistication is canned. Innocence is truly your best shot.

Life isn’t always slow but steady. Life is not a measured step. It may be fast. It may be tripping the light fantastic. It may be a twirl or a whirlwind, or it may be an afternoon nap. Cannot life be what it is and you go along for the ride? Life is not for you to speed up nor slow down. Can you not be as you are?

Life is not a planned activity. Life is what it is when it is. Life doesn’t have to be one way or another. It has to be what it is. Is life better with long stretches than with short? Is the fast lane better than the country lane? Cannot life, like the weather, be welcomed as it is? You are not the sayer or naysayer of the weather nor of life. It is not for you to say: “Rain, rain, go away and come back another day.”

Life is to be embraced now, not later. You can look forward to life, and, yet, you can’t quite embrace it ahead of time. Life can be embraced only in its own time.

If the weather is too cold for your liking, put on a sweater. And if it is too hot, take off your sweater. And if it is still too hot, then be hot until the weather cools of its own accord. Let life have its day.

Life is about more than your creature comforts. Life is much more than about you and your preferences. When life does not please you, change your interpretation of it.

And if there is no snow and you cannot ski, then engage in another sport.

On occasion, I have heard you say that a day is ruined. Your expectation wasn’t met. Then meet your day half-way. Don’t kick the stones in your path. Whichever path you take, whatever the debris in your way, whatever the pitfalls, make your walk merry. This is life We are talking about. This is your life. Whatever its twists and turns, it is yours to make the most of. It is not yours to complain about. Would you like life to complain about you all the time?

If your suit of life is not always pressed, why, then, enjoy the wrinkles. You can love a pug dog as easily as you can love a poodle. It is not the surface of life that qualifies it.