How To Live Life More Simply

 

We live in a global, interconnected and  modern world, where these days life for everyone seems to be hectic, complicated and stressful. One is often reminded of old custom and village life that was centered around good simple living. To define it, what I mean by simple living is to "live your life to the fullest accompanied by your hobbies and what you love and not careing what society or other people think from you or of your decisions".

Few academics, scholars and writers have penned down their own definition of simple living, there as follow:

1) "Simplicity boils down to two things: identify the essential and eliminate the rest"

- LEO BABAUTA

2)  "Stay low, stay quiet, keep it simple, don't expect too much, enjoy what you have".

- Dean Koontz

3) "A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with—that’s poverty—but how efficiently we can put first things first. . . . When you’re clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it’s clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar".

- Victoria Moran, Author of 'Lit From Within'.

There are ton of good and valid points on that internet that will help you live more simpler but the problem is that these points are cluttered on different places, different platfroms and different website across the internet.

For example, there's a subreddit on reddit with tittle 'Reddit  Simple Living' but it's soley based on personal experience and not based on researched based opinion by some life coach, on the other hand there'd be a pin on Pinterest with heading 'Simple Living Room Ideas' or 'Simple Living Wise Thinking' these ones are written by a professional life coach but these pin don't put into account coast of all the items would coast for a average lower middle class individual.

This creates content that's only upper echelons of society who already have the resources and means to change their lifestyles as they wish and effectively lefts or fails to connect with people who need these advices and tips the most.

This blog will try to change that by incorporating and listing tips form various sources like books, blogs and articles that I have read on this topic and from my own personal experience and habbits.

Beforehand I will like to mention the name of the book that has inspired me to write this blog which is "Zen The Art Of Simple Living".

Below are five ways, tips and advices following which you can live a simpler, content and happier life.


1) Learn To Say No - Set Boundaries

Often times we pursue or do things that we aren't interested in ourselves but we do these things out of public, family, social or peer pressure. A simple living is one where you take your own life decisions with well thought out process, not decideding on impulse or from others peoples influence.

Learning to say is a must if you want to live a content and happier life. This is done through by setting personal and professional boundaries that you abide by and others respect. There's this really good quote that effectively describes the importance of saying "no". Here's that quote.

"In order for us to practice self-control, we must have a goal. We must have something we are saying “yes” to, which necessarily comes with things that we must say “no” to. We use self-control to maneuver ourselves toward this “yes.” This goal must be entirely our own. The minute another person is choosing and managing our goals for us, we have left self-control behind".

- Danny Silk Author of Keep Your Love On - Connection Communication And Boundaries

While saying no, remember there's no need to be disrespectful, you should always politely decline and calmly explain yourself with a apt explanations. Learn to practice in-order to say no to things, thanks the individual for inviting you or telling you about that thing and kindly decline with an apology or explanation. Don't worry or judge other people's reactions to your decision, that's their doing and subsequently their own actions. You only have to worry about your own actions not others.

2) Limit Media Consumption

Media is essential part of a functioning democratic, helps in informing the citizenry of contemporary issues. But above all its a business and like it all businesses its goal is to make money. These companies do is by grabbing the attention of their listeners, readers and viewers.

Media companies these days have started sensationalised and biased coverage of news events, that ensures viewership but spreads polarisation in the society and stress in the individual.

Limiting media consumption, be it print, electronic or social media will be helpful to you living more content happier, stress free life. Keeping apps that are especially news related disabled, will make you forget that you have new related apps in your mobile phone without actually deleting or deactiving those said apps.

Secondly there are many tracking apps that will track your own mobile and news media consumption for you, I personally use app called RescueTime for my news media consumption.

Thirdly mute the notification from international new media agencies like BBC or CNN by muting their social media handles. This way you'll be hearing from these news media platforms less. I personally follow and practice this habbit and it helps in maintaining my mind and not get distracted evertime there's a new breaking news.

I've made this decision after reading this quotation online:

"Your morning sets up the success of your day. So many people wake up and immediately check text messages, emails, and social media. I use my first hour awake for my morning routine of breakfast and meditation to prepare myself".

- Caroline Ghosn

3) Eat Healthier And Practice Mindfulness

Eating affects every aspect of our lives, it's effects our physical health as well as our mental health. It shapes biochemistry of our bodies and thus has a effect on all parts of our bodies.

Importance of eating healthy can be understood well from these quotations;

¹) “Your diet is a bank account. Good food choices are good investments.”

– Bethenny Frankel

2) “Healthy eating is a way of life, so it’s important to establish routines that are simple, realistically, and ultimately livable.”

– Horace

3) “You don’t have to eat less, you just have to eat right.”

– Unknown

Eating healthy can be a tricky especially our fast paced consumer driven world. First thing to do is to cut saturated fat and sugar, eat less salt, limit intake of refined carbohydrates do not go for long without drinking water and never ever under any circumstance miss morning breakfast.

Secondly, try increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables, foods that have high strach content, eat more fish. Always remember that, a balanced diet is a healthy diet.

Some people eat good and balance diet but chew they're food fast and thus making the process of digestion even harder. Health Expert and Nutritionists all over the world recommend slow eating with pauses in them.

Here are few quotations that'll help you understand the importance of balanced diet even more.

1) “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.”

– Adelle Davis

2)  “Eating healthy food fills your body with energy and nutrients. Imagine your cells smiling back at you and saying: “Thank you!”.

– Karen Salmansohn

Being mindful you're aware of what you are doing and what consequences your actions will have on you and those around you.

First thing to be more mindful is to focus more on your own body and its physical needs, than pay attention to little things in life and be greatly for them, next I'll personally recommend to maintain a diary and that way you'll write down your own thoughts. Meditation and Yoga with regular exercise will go long way in helping achieve mindfulness and will give you improved attention span and resilance.

Apart from all this, take preodic breaks from your work activities and wonder into nature. Nature in itself is a great soothing agent to our senses.

4) Learn Stuff And Invest In People With Similar Interests & Hobbies

Learing new things will give you different life experiences and help you be more confident in your own capabilities and you'll be more aware of your weaknesses.

If you've a stable internet connection than you don't need anybody to teach you anything, use your online presence and free time to your advantage. If your not looking for getting paid and just looking to get a new hobby, and than you can do that too.

To learn a new skill, first ask yourself, what passionates you, what meaning and difference will learning that skill will bring into your life. Make yourself a practical, appropriate timetable with prioritisation done on it, self motivation will play a important key in you getting that skill, so work on your mental health.

If you're learning by yourself from the Internet it's highly effective to take preodic brakes and test yourself with frequent tests. Self Practice and Self Testing is one of the fastest and effective ways to learn new skills if done rightly and honestly.

After learning new skill, find a group of individuals that finds that skill fascinating and try to make a personal as well as a professional bond/friendship with these.
People that share mutual freinds tend enjoy each other company more and as well learning from one and other.

You can meet these people from online forums as reddit or anyother social media platform and as well as from real life. In real life exhibitions, festivals, music concerts, art galleries are where you'll find plenty of people with varied interests.

5) Set Realistic Goals And Reward Yourself

Set Realistic and Practical Goals !!!              This goes for previous point as well as this one, don't let procrastination overestimate your own strengths, this will make you week and in long term suffer as a result.

Setting realistic goals starts with breaking these said goals into small breakable, manageable goals. Don't be fixated on the big picture and live in the moment.

Don't be afraid of falling, only be afraid of not trying and regretting later, fearing from failure will make you even more tear even more.

Here are few quotates from people who've achieved something in their lives and what they think importantace of setting realistic goals is to them and why this is so important.

"Focus on what it is that you want, set a realistic goal. Start setting goals that you feel you can accomplish. Don't try to go right to the top in one leap. Every time you accomplish a goal you develop the strength and wisdom to accomplish the next one".

- Chuck Norris

"Part of the issue of achievement is to be able to set realistic goals, but that's one of the hardest things to do because you don't always know exactly where you're going, and you shouldn't".

- George Lucas

3) "Realizing your goal, resolution, or transformation is a journey. Change, like any meaningful endeavor, proceeds sequentially through steps. The journey begins with the contemplation stage of specifying realistic goals, getting ready, or getting psyched. The planning stage is all about prepping. How exactly will I do this thing? At some point you will jump from preparing and planning to perspiring, the work of implementing the new, desired behavior. Getting there is wonderful, but we need to keep you there, which entails persevering through slips and, finally, persisting over time".

- John C. Norcross

Even after achieving small goal/goals, reward yourself with something that makes you happy, this will make you motivated to complete the next goal even  with more efficiency.

Humans are biologically hadwired to work hard if they know there's something for them at the end (a reward), this happens because rewarding increases dopamine, a neurotransmitters that's responsible for making us feel happy, increased our appetite for food and improves our sleeps during sleep. 

Small things like chocolates, picnic, cheat days or even a day off can be considered reward, its your fiancal health that will determine what your reward will be.