I have this notion that life is about addition and subtraction. The first portion of our life is a process of adding things we believe we need to succeed in life. The second portion is about subtracting the superfluous – the bright and shiny things we found we didn’t need.

“Things,” in this context, is a broad concept that includes ideas and beliefs.

What I find that many people are doing in the subtracting phase is contracting instead. That means they are withdrawing rather than expanding.

Many contract into their life-long prejudices rather than subtracting them. Others contract into their ethnicity, race, religion or ideologic view rather than pursue a more ecumenical world view.

When you contract, you withdraw from the world and create an exclusionary one of your own.

Contraction, based on my observances over the years, causes physical contraction in your body. It doesn’t surprise me that people who have been described as “tight” (rhymes with right) wind up with crippling arthritis or constriction of blood vessels causing circulation and heart problems – long before the rest of the population.

While arguing to be right, they continue to contract and add to their physical misery.

It’s not necessary for these people to have a wholesale change of opinion, just a bit of a subtraction process that demonstrates to them that their opinion doesn’t matter. By subtracting, they find out who they are without their opinions. This causes expansion.

There is an expansion within their bodies as well. I’ve seen it too many times to deny that expansion gets people healthier and, dare I say, happier.

“Don’t sweat the small stuff because it’s all small stuff” is a great mantra for those seeking expansion. Life will go on when your constricting opinions die with you. Look at anyone you deem to be “really old and healthy” and notice that they aren’t contracting. They’ve just subtracted what doesn’t really matter.

All the best,

John