“The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.” – Douglas Horton

Children are often told to “make it sweet and simple.” Adults never ask us to make things complex and confusing. Of course, we are also told to make things that will stand out.

So we ask ourselves, what do people in our community want? Both simple things and complex things have their own positives and negatives.

We usually prefer complexity in simplicity. Big words . . . right? But ask yourself: is this not what we try to do all the time?

Simplicity comes only when we understand complexity. If we are not able to think out of the box and stretch our limits, we cannot know how to be simple. Also, we can come up with complex designs for items, such as a wall hanging, with a simple way of creating them. Only if we understand complexity can we come up with something that looks complex but is easy to make.

According to Greek mythology, Hestia, goddess of the hearth, lives a simple life, unlike the other Olympians. But in the novels Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Percy values her and asks her to help him, as she is simple and big hearted. Hestia is the oldest Olympian, tired by the godly family quarrels. She becomes the god of hearth and hope, thus helping humankind, and lives a more ordinary and peaceful life. It is this complex quality of appreciating simplicity, which no other god has, that makes Percy go to her.

I find that my community values both simplicity and complexity; we understand how to make complex creations simple and simple creations more intriguing to the human eye.

Ask yourself the same question: Are you, as a person, simple, complex, or a mixture of both?