The Art Of Simplifying Your Life

 

The people who are happiest in this world are the people who don't have as much...

I think a lot of people are trying to downsize a bit, especially when they get a bit older. Making decisions about what we want in our lives, from the people in our world to the possessions that we live with — the things that we have in our homes and the clothes that we have.

I recently had a conversation with a woman in her seventies about how we overdramatize situations. While we may have simplicity in our surroundings and possessions, we overcomplicate our minds. We fill our minds with complexities. And that needs to be simplified too.

We talked a lot about worry. Older people worry more because, from their wisdom of life experience, they know how situations can get complicated and end up in tears.

I think if you can simplify your mental process and your physical reality, it would be a more comfortable way to live. We need to learn to extract the drama from situations and learn to see life through a simpler lens.

If we change the mental process, we actually don’t need as much stuff. We fill our hours thinking about the things we need to get, about where we are going to go, where we are going to shop. Consider the consequences of the future for the actions that you are taking now in buying indiscriminately. If we can clear the mental clutter, we can actually negate the need to be such an active consumer.

Simplifying your life can really add to the quality of your life. Human beings tend to have a need to be celebrated and reassured so they look for the complexity of being famous — even if only on social media. In reality, it is better to have one good friend instead of a thousand likes.

Most of the material things we have are unnecessary. We use them, not because we need them, but simply because we have them. Look around you- how many of the things you own do you actually need to live a quality life?

A lot of us have experienced the chaos of downsizing and deciding to keep or go without. To me, downsizing isn’t about saying “no”, it’s about saying “yes”. “Yes” to the things that I really love and “yes” to the things that are important to me.

Avoid gossip and drama. Saying “yes” only to the things you love gives you a much deeper appreciation.

Hopefully, with these pieces of guidance, we can all try to establish more effective living.