[caption id="attachment_287" align="aligncenter" width="352" caption="Photo Credit: Tambako"]

[/caption]Following the train of thought from Monday's post, I've been thinking more and more about this global "back to basics" movement and what it means when people realize that that which is simple is often that which is best. I'm reminded of studying this ideology in my advanced math classes back when I was majoring in engineering. As many of you math and science majors may remember, Occam's Razor is a principle used in Medicine, Engineering, Logic, and even Religion and Philosophy which basically states that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. While I never thought that I'd be using theories from my old Engineering classes, I'm finding this type of "simplistic thought" increasingly pervasive in several aspects of everyday life.Though I've been running into this "keep it simple, stupid" message over the last few months in my studies of personal finance, wellness, and beauty care, I became totally convinced this morning when one of Think & Grow Chick's Facebook followers, Ash Crown (thanks, girl!) posted an article on genes and longevity, from Impossible Magazine.

On the remote Japanese island of Okinawa, lives one of the oldest communities in the world. In this apart of the world a lot of people do get to live past 100, not only that but the majority of these centenarians live up to the age of 97 unassisted. They are complete independent, they look and act 20, 30 and some even 40 years younger than their age. They are extremely physically fit and healthy to the end as most of them tend to die in their sleep. Researchers believe this is due to their lifestyle. Now that gives a whole new meaning to ‘aging gracefully’.

The Danish Twin Study established that only about 10% of how long the average person lives, within certain biological limits, is dictated by their genes. The other 90% is dictated by their lifestyle.

You don’t see these centenarians chasing after the latest fad diets and if you look in their bathroom cabinet, you won’t find the latest anti-aging, anti-cellulite, anti anything creams. Surprisingly, what they do to stay “young” is simple and inexpensive.

Even with all of today's modern technology and advances in medicine, many of people would be hard pressed to see age 90, let alone past 100, because—in my opinion—we have a tendency to overcomplicate things. The further and further we get into Medicine and scientific theories, the more and more we realize that starting a healthy, simple diet complete with moderate exercise at an early age may be the answer to a longer life (as the above article demonstrates) and the end of many of our ills. In my never ending quest for self improvement, however, I realized that adopting a "simple" mindset in terms of my hair and finances, would keep them both—just like my health—growing strong.

Hair

In finding simple ways to maintain and grow out my natural hair, I'm surprised by how many methods I've stolen from my mom and how she used to do my hair when I was younger. I think people tend to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" when they admonish our Mamas' and Grandmama's heavy handed use of Blue Magic grease and that hot-as-fire pressing comb, but there was a lot of wisdom behind why they were doing what they did. It wasn't until after years of being rebellious to my Mom's traditions that I returned to them later because she had the right idea--protective styling, limited manipulation, avoiding too much heat, and only using a few, tried-and-true hair products--even if her methods were off at times.This methodology is echoed by even the Natural hair community’s most well-known champions. Everyone from YouTube stars KimmayTube, LongHairDontCare2011 and LeobodyC5 to the long-haired celebrities of hair forums like longhaircareforum.com, the same sentiment is shared. Be gentle with your hair. Keep it moisturized. Use heat sparingly. Avoid fads or “hair bandwagons”. Protect your ends.

Finance

Reading The Millionaire Next Door was the first book that both convicted and floored me about what America’s most financially sound individuals (i.e. - wealthy people) had to say about how they managed their finances. In short, the people who could afford status symbols the most avoided such luxuries while people with 1/5 of these millionaires overall wealth blew their income on expensive cars, homes, clothes, and restaurants the first chance they got. My financial understanding became sort of ironic in a way, as I realized that the things we buy that we think make us “rich” (a BMW, a Tiffany’s bracelet, a Louis Vuitton handbag) are actually the things that prevent us from being rich. All this time I had spent so much energy on earning more money, earning more money, and earning more money that I failed to see the one simple principle that has guided my financial understanding ever since:It’s not about how much you make, it’s about how much you keep.Whether we’re talking America’s most fiscally smart millionaires or your great-grandparents who paid for everything in cash, the people who do best with their money have learned to simply want less so that they can keep more of their money for the things that matter.

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Maintaining simple habits has been the best thing that I’ve done for my hair, health, and money within the last year. If you are finding that you are having difficulty achieving your goals, ask yourself if there are any things you are doing to make your journey more complicated than it has to be. This is not to say that the simplest principle will always be the easiest, but as Occam ’s razor points out, more often than not the simple answer is best. I find that the world operates this way because it displays God’s genius, but regardless of your faith, it’s hard to deny the effectiveness of doing things the simple way. How has “simple” worked for you?