Joy of a Simplified life!

A lot of people seem to connect with the message of simplicity, and yearn to find a simpler life in this world of ever-increasing complexity, of overwhelming technology

Living a simple life is about paring back so that you have space to breathe. It’s about doing with less because you realize that having more and doing more doesn’t lead to happiness. It’s about finding joys in the simple things, and being content with solitude, quiet, contemplation and savoring the moment. For those seeking happiness, simple living is often promoted as a way to achieve happiness, or at least to achieve a level of contentment from which happiness and joy can bubble up.

Why should we consider living the simple life?

We will live a life of peace and not chaos, a life of essentials and not a complication. We will slow down and stop living the frazzled life, a lifestyle of stress. We will live the good life of pleasure, flow, meaning, and purpose. Though everything in life is impermanent, though everything changes, we will focus our time, energy, and financial resources on what is important, and not wait for a crisis. We will eliminate clutter, which distracts us from the important things in life. We will be able to live within our means and avoid the burden of a mountain of debt. We will live mindfully, in the present moment, and not ruminate with the worry about the future or regrets of the past. We will live a balanced life— have time for work, love, family, leisure pursuits, fitness, and spirituality. We will have freedom from those conditions, commitments, responsibilities, and people who prevent us from living the good life. 

We will have the freedom to live as we desire—authentically.

Hacks For Simplifying Your Life 

1. work-life balance

We must make time for work, time for family, time for a lover, time for friends, time for leisure pursuits, and time for spirituality. Firstly, we must have some pleasure in our lives, such as taking a trip, time enjoying hobbies.

We must also learn to live the “engaged life” by working in an enjoyable and rewarding job, by immersing one’s self in leisure activities that provide a sense of flow, by developing meaningful friendships, by spending quality time with a lover, and by achieving what is important to us. Finally, a work-life balance requires that we add meaning and purpose to our lives.

2. Get Rid of Unnecessary Stuff

Most of us have much more than we actually need. Despite this, a good sale or cool item may inspire us to add to our collection. In so many ways, our society reinforces this belief that possessions will make us happy and will impress the people around us. This focus on the material keeps our minds and our homes cluttered. Chances are, there are things in your closet that you haven’t thought about in years.

Set aside some time for a decluttering session. Consider donating items and think about the fact that someone out there might be very grateful for something you no longer need. Sell whatever is appropriate and then throw away the rest. It’s incredible how many of us are holding onto items that are damaged and broken with the goal of fixing them “someday.” Unless it’s truly valuable, let it go.

3. Create a Morning Ritual

It’s tempting to hit that snooze button a few times when our alarms go off in the morning but we all know what that’s going to mean — another frazzled morning spent running around getting dressed and gathering what we need for the day.

An alternative is to create a ritual that gets your morning off to a more positive start. The night before, lay out your clothes, pack your bag and then go to bed at a reasonable time. Set your alarm for half an hour earlier than you need so that you can do something that makes you feel good such as yoga, a short walk around the block or sipping a hot beverage by a window. Make the choice to do this every morning and reap the benefits throughout the day.

4. Organize Everything

It can be time-consuming to go through and organize different areas of our lives but it’s better than wasting time trying to find the shoes we need to wear or the bill we need to pay. Instead of wasting another panicked minute tracking down lost items, come up with a better system.

As soon as you’re finished using something, put it back where it belongs. That way, everything will be where it’s supposed to be when you need it. If need be, pick up some bins, folders or containers to help you tame the madness. It will feel (and look) so good!

5. The Beauty of Simplicity

In today’s society, we might get lulled into the belief that having more will make us happy. While that might be true for a select few, the reality is that most of us have more than we need.

Make a conscious decision to simplify your life by whittling down your possessions, commitments and the people in your life. Address any nagging worries, doubts, and regrets while focusing on personal goals and authentic sources of happiness.

By decluttering your life, you open up space for the things that are truly important. Rather than filling up every corner of your home or moment in your schedule, find fulfillment in personal growth and fulfillment. Embrace a simplified life and you will gain much more than you ever dreamed.

6. Single-task by putting your life in full-screen mode

Imagine that everything you do — a work task, answering an email or message, washing a dish, reading an article — goes into a full-screen mode so that you don’t do or look at anything else. You just inhabit that task fully and are fully present as you do it. What would your life be like? In my experience, it’s much less stressful when you work and live this way. Things get your full attention, and you do them much better. And you can even savor them.

7. Create space between things

Add padding to everything. We tend to cram as much as possible into our days. And this becomes stressful, because we always underestimate how long things will take, and we forget about maintenance tasks like putting on clothes and brushing teeth and preparing meals. We never feel like we have enough time because we try to do too much. But what would it be like if we did less? What would it be like if we padded how long things took so that we have space to actually do them well, with full attention? What would it be like if we took a few minutes’ pauses between tasks, to savor the accomplishment of the last task, to savor the space between things, to savor being alive?

8. Get clear about what you want, and say no to more things

We are rarely very clear on what we want. When we see someone post a photo of something cool, we might all of a sudden get fixed on doing that too, and suddenly the course of our lives veer off in a new direction. Same thing if we read about something cool, or watch a video of a new destination or hobby. When someone invites us to something cool, we instantly want to say yes, because our minds love saying yes to everything, to all the shiny new toys. What if we became crystal clear on what we wanted in life? If we knew what we wanted to create, how we wanted to live … we could say yes to these things, and no to everything else. Saying no to more things would simplify our lives.

9. Practice doing nothing, exquisitely

How often do we actually do nothing? OK, technically we’re always “doing something,” but you know what I mean — just sit there and do nothing. No need to plan, no need to read, no need to watch something, no need to do a chore or eat while you do nothing. Just don’t do anything. Don’t accomplish anything, don’t take care of anything. What happens is you will start to notice your brain’s habit of wanting to get something done — it will almost itch to do something. This exposes our mental habits, which is a good thing. However, keep doing nothing. Just sit for a while, resisting the urge to do something. After some practice, you can get good at doing nothing. And this leads to the mental habit of contentment, gratitude without complaining.

Of course, these are not the only lessons you’ll need for living a simple life. But the best ones are the ones you discover yourself. Try these and see what happens — I think you’ll find out something beautiful about yourself, and about life.

The best kind of simplicity is that which exposes the raw beauty, joy, and heartbreak of life as it is.

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