How Could You Simplify Your Life
By now, you’ve probably figured out that life is pretty complicated.
Things like staying on top of work responsibilities, keeping up with friends and family, paying your rent on time, keeping your kids, pets and house plants alive just aren’t easy.
Yet, simplifying your life will bring you balance, freedom, and joy.
A simple life has a different meaning and a different value for every person.
But at the end there are really only two steps to simplifying your life:
- Identify what’s most important to you.
- Eliminate (or at least minimize) everything else.
Of course, that’s not very useful unless you can see how to apply that to the different areas of your life...
Here's Our Suggestion:
Focus on the Essentials
Set aside a quiet time and ask yourself honestly, “Who are the people and what are the things that are essential to your happiness?”
These are the people and things (physical possessions, activities, experiences) that you cannot live without.
List these essential people and things on a piece of paper, hang it where you can see it every day, and commit to focus the majority of your time and resources on them.
They are your priority.
Now It's Your Turn
We can’t wait to read your comment and get inspired.
And until then...
I usually can answer your questions pretty fast but now I have to think… Isn’t that weird? I love to spend time with my friends (and would love so much to spend more time with my son than is possible right now), but thankfully I love to be alone as well.
I can’t live without the rain on my face, with the fresh breeze coming through the window (even now, getting a bit more cold), I cant live without my fantasies and the pictures in my head. And I SHOULD clean up my house, because none of the stuff is on this list! haha. Thanks for the question, I just got my answer. Love Pim
My sister is the most important person, after both our parents died. Concerning things; I believe that personal growth is something I cannot live without.
Thanks Eduard for your honest and open contribution.
Curious to know what would make your life simplified?
Since my car accident I experience that a simple life for me means: to achieve what gives you joy and what makes your heart beat.
So instead of making a must do list I now work with the “this is what I want to achieve this day list” and when I finished this I do whatever comes up to do in my head.
Instead of working with clients during the holiday week I spent time with my handicap son and enjoy quality time. I meditate, do some sport, walk every day.
I know that there are children who would benefit from my help and parents that think they need me but the time spent with my son is time that I cannot take back and once he is gone because he is very ill I don’t want to regret spending more time with him.
Therefore I am taking my time to think about ways to make a passive income and handing over clients to colleagues. You only have one life and the world will go on so instead of working all day and making money I now take the time to just sit, think, wonder and make sure I spend time with my son and myself.
I am in the process of learning that I am the only one who makes my life complex by thinking I have to do things and therefore I turned it into I want to things.
It is a process which I don’t know yet where it is going to end but I know that I don’t want to go back as it was. It is starting by listening to my body and head on doing what feels good.
Thanks Claudia for your wonderful and inspiring contribution.
I totally agree with you that we have only one life and when we’re gone the world will continue on (even though our ego doesn’t like that thought…)
I LOVE the decisions that you made and I wish you many more years with your son
1) I promised myself (2 weeks ago) to do ONLY things that gives me energy. And also see persons who gives me energy.
2) I want to laugh/spend quality time with my family. And our dog.
3) I want to spend less time on social media/my telephone. I decided this one today!
Thanks Marjo for your wonderful contribution on this blog post.
I LOVE reading your promises to yourself. I’m curious to know what are some of the things that give you energy?
Life flows pretty easy:
if you listen to your heart when you have to make a decision, have faith that the universe provides you the right answer on the right moment,
if you are kind, good and generous with other people.
thank you for teaching me all this!
Thanks Frank for this wonderful observation and kind words.
I’m curious to hear from you, if you can, whether you can give us an example how it works for you in simplifying your life
In the Tai Chi we have this quotes, look what is near, not what is far.
Fast is slow and slow is fast. Experience the movement within.
I love this advice Jacqueline, especially the part of “slow is fast”.
Could you give an example how it helps you in simplifying your life?
Don’t cry over the past
It’s gone
Don’t stress about the future
It hasn’t arrived
Live in the present
And make it
beautiful
So focus on the day and not on the past or the future.
The day is beautiful when I focus on my loved ones and on what is important that day. Do what makes me happy.
Thanks Cobi for this wonderful contribution.
Would love to hear some examples of what makes you happy and how it simplifies your life?
The win-win-win principle simplifies my life.
First win is for myself so I have everything I want in my life (that stands for my ego).
Second win is for others. My family, friends, my network (that stands for my soul).
The third win is for the world, the environment, the earth (that stands for my higher self, God or how you want to call that).
This simple principle gives me every day motivation to go on and on. To get the best out of me every single day.
Thanks Leo for this great contribution.
Could you give a specific example how you use it in daily life to simplify your life?
Thanks for the tip! It made me get my focus back on what’s really important to me and let go of the things that aren’t
Thanks Sandra for your input.
Could you give an example of what things you realized are important for you and what you could let go?
It’s for a longtime that I focus on whats essential. Sometimes it’ s difficult, but most off the time I do it well.
Thanks Hanneke for your honest sharing and comment.
Could you share with us what you found is essential for you that helps you simplifying your life?
Hello Vered. Simplifying my life is something I have continually done since I became a mom (almost 30 years ago now).
First it was more about getting rid of the clutter in my life and implementing schedules and systems in my life to keep it all going.
Now it is more focusing on what really matters: taking care (and being responsible) for my body, soul and spirit and being fully present in the connections with my loved one(s).
Thanks Jacoline for this valuable input. I’m sure many of us can learn from it.
Simplify my life is easy when you can stick to a routine.
Go to bed a certain hour, wake up early, set my daily goals, start the day with joy and movement. Then ease on through the day as mostly expected and set out for. Let most distractions pass and be thankful of everything achieved. Reflect on what has not worked and don’t fuss over it.
Talk with loved ones to share what you’ve done and learned.
Plan new things for new days to come and take enough time to meditate or take walks.
Be conscious of all the choices you make.
Live it over and over again with new experiences.
Listen to my heart.
It knows what I need and want.
My life is quite simple and yet so full and rich.
I need to reflect on this more so I can see it clearly.
Life doesn’t need stress and yet we can feel urged, hurried, spend, pushed, etc.
So simplify. It is a great exercise. Thank you.
That’s a fantastic input Boukje.
Thanks so much for it
Quiet your mind and enjoy life, see who’s acting.
Thanks for your wonderful input Corrine.
Would love to get more explanation, if you could, to what you mean by it and how does it simplify your life
Thanks Vered, for your reaction and question.
It’s very interesting how my mind fills my day and tells me what to do. For example when I meditate, I can feel the mud sink as in a lake and it gets more clear and shiny.
When I really find out who’s acting, whose doing all the things, I can enjoy life and not running after what my mind tells me.
It’s simplifies so much my life.
Enjoying life, and be thankful helps a lot, and stay in the moment. Sometimes I see a glimps of what I really am and what I’m doing.
Does that resonates?
Thanks Corinne. It certainly resonates, but would be great to get a specific example how you use it in daily life to simplify your life
For instance almost every day I stand up half an hour before sunrise, dress in the colour of the day and sit down and reside some specific sounds, stop 4 minutes before sunrise and sit still. I distance myself from my self, and see what ‘I’ am doing in my life.
This helps me a lot in daily life to simplify my life.
At this moment I am reading a book you don’t have it you do it. I discovered I am worrying too much.
When I stay focused on my life with my loved once and trust my child more in what he does. My life will be more at ease.
What helps is to focus first 30 minutes on the day to give something nice to someone in a message or post. Think about three things I am greatfull for. Learn something new and do breathing or short meditation to start the day.
Thanks Japke for this wonderful input.
Ouch. I immediately started making a list of all the important people in my life. I have so many!!
I think it would make my life a lot simpler to spend most of my time with the 8 people I have on that list now.
And then what I could do is each time when one of the other (also important but not THAT important) people in my life would ask for my attention/ time/ energy, I’d just check if I spent enough time and energy on these ones.
Focus is anyway my biggest challenge, so this will definitely help!
I just canceled a dinner meeting with someone who is not on my list… and started thinking- I always find it so important to make new friends, but if they’re eating time from my valued ones, should I actually spend time on making new friends?
That’s a great question Gerdy. I think the question you need to ask yourself is WHY are you trying to get new friends.
WHAT is it that you’re looking for when searching for new friends, what is missing in your life that you need it. What is it that you’re hoping to get from new friends.
The last question you want to ask yourself is – how do you define a friend? Do all friendships serve the same purpose?
Those are also great questions. In the first years of my life (primary school) I didn’t have any friends. High school one- and she died in a car accident. Only after that I managed to make friends. You asking these questions makes me realize how scary I always am to also lose my current friends, and end up being alone again- scares me very much. I think I’m filling a gap. That I believe I’m nobody without friends. Friends prove that I’m a nice person to be with.
Wow. These questions give a lot of insight in how I look at friendships and what they mean to me- and why I act in a certain way.
Interesting enough this is not the same with existing friendships-
There I can totally go without contact for a long time and also always be the initiator is ok. Which I am with most of my friendships. But I’m having quite a bunch of friends- and those are definitely enough. I only put three of my friends on the list, while I might want to add more.
Also interesting that I would want to add more but I’m also ok in not doing it- but putting these three on the list is focused.
Thanks for this great contribution Gerdy.
Curious to know how you choose those 8 people. What would be for you the criteria?
Hello Gerdy. I was reading your comment and wanted to add a wonderful insight I received last week through a friend. I also have trouble to keep up with my huge ‘network’ of friends and want to give attention to way to many people. Then this person mentioned the following:
“In life you have friends for life, friends for a season and a reason and present friends.”
To know this distinction really helps me to focus on the ones that are there to stay and the ones that are currently important in my life.
Oh, I like the distinction, thank you… So you mean you don’t focus on the ones that are there for a season and a reason? but there’s a reason for them, no?
I had another thought- I was yesterday having a discussion about safety. Which is very important theme in my relationship, and my friend asked me if it was also a theme in the rest of my life. I think my friendships are also based on that… because having many friends means having a safety net or so… if I ever need help there will be a friend… not a very giving thought…kinda selfish, actually… but also … now that i see it… it will also help me.
mai. What a simple question can do:)