It's... not.

A quick post, then back to bed. Tying the first two words was a session of "mangling the text," and most of my initial time was spent undoing the errors and working around the ever-helpful autocorrect.

You can guess how I feel about that. But, as Steven Colbert often said, moving on...

A friend of mine had some brilliant gifts to share yesterday... we talked about the same issues I shared yesterday, about finding leaving the property (of my house, the house and the back yard/patio, specifically) to be as unpleasant as it gets, making me often regret every moment of the adventure.

He reminded me of a favorite saying I had for students who were having math or programming difficulty: if you have no idea what to do (typical in high-school math circles), just remove complexity. Doesn't matter what you do or how. Just remove complexity.

Think about the basic high-school algebra struggles, all about "X = what, exactly?" They're hammered with things like "reflexive" or "associative" or all sorts of things, but all of them usually confusing as to WHY you would do "whatever." Basically, it works out to put all the X's on one side of the = and the not-X's on the other side. Use the rules, make only one X, in front of the equal sign. Then if you need to, fiddle with the non-X side to make the answer as simple as possible.

My condition is what it is, and my current state means that I experience certain things, which things have costs. There's very little, if not nothing, that can be done, and what there is makes me feel better or worse. So, my friend said, what about the basic principle: Reduce complexity.

Leaving the property involves complexity, often that turns out both useful and horrible. So, reduce complexity: stay on the property. Stay in bed and rest.

And what's bad about ... that?

Sure, if I don't go to TomatoMania this weekend, I don't get to buy the plants I want to have in my garden; the obtaining of which is simplicity itself if you're not chair-bound or long-list-of-issues that I'm beset with. So, I don't go... what's the downside? I contact my Garden Guy and tell him that the tomatoes are on him, I'd sure love my Tomatomania goodies but I've loved everything he has planted, so no long-term downside there. Go with the flow. Relax, even, why not?

But basically... reduce complexity. What's mostly lost is discomfort, effort, and dissatisfaction. Suffering, even.

And how is clinging to suffering a good idea?

It's...not.