Has life become so complicated that we no longer enjoy the simple pleasures?
I can remember a story my parents tell of Christmas Day when I was four. They'd bought me a fantastic toy - a dog on wheels that you could sit on and push around. To their dismay however, I spent the whole day playing in the box!...

Toys are getting cheaper and cheaper so the temptation is to buy more and more. I notice in my own children that the more distractions you provide them, the more easily they become distracted - they become less able to really focus and concentrate on what is in front of them. They become less 'present' in the moment.

So where a young child can be completely engrossed in the simplest of things with total disregard for time, in providing them with too many distractions are we not decreasing their ability to appreciate the simple things in life - a leaf, a spider's web, one's own breath?

Isn't this one of our problems too? How long is it since you sat in total peace and quiet not thinking anything just being totally present in the moment and feeling what it's like to be in your own body?

"The more distractions you need to prevent you being bored, is the measure of your disconnection from the true experience of life."

Maybe this is why so many people get so disillusioned with the excesses of Christmas - the excesses cause them to experience life less. So this year why not focus on hedonism - the pursuit of simple pleasures? Why not buy and do less but experience more?