Life is just not worth living if it’s complicated, stressful, and confusing—at some point, everyone needs to step back, look at the big picture that is your life, and simplify. But it’s not easy. While only some people hoard their physical belongings, almost everyone is guilty of holding onto unnecessary emotional baggage, unhealthy behaviors, unsavory characters, and recurring, unpleasant situations.
To help you in your simplifying, minimizing endeavors, I’ve come up with four life practices that have helped me simplify my lifestyle.
Stop and rest. Begin by taking some time out of every day, starting tomorrow—15 to 30 minutes. Devote that time to primarily doing nothing. If your day is always busy and hectic, then you definitely need to take a breather to rest and refocus. If your day allows for plenty of down time already, take advantage of it. Either way, rest your eyes for a few minutes, drink some water, take a walk, stretch, and let your mind wander. Think things through and open up some space for your brain to process everything.
Prioritize your needs. Now that you’ve opened up some space in your life, it’s time to sort through your needs. There are obviously your basic needs—food, water, shelter, and clothing—and in order to provide those for yourself and any dependents, you need to have an income (unless you live on a farm or in some other situation that enables you to provide these basic needs for yourself without money). Next on the list is most likely your family—while you may live far away from your relatives and only talk on the phone to your mom once a month, it’s nice to know that someone out there in this big world loves and supports you. Personal health/hygiene and social interaction are likely important to you, as well.
Live for your priorities. Beyond your basic needs (those discussed above), you most likely have all sorts of interests, activities, events, and responsibilities. Why not cut them out, even if it’s just for a week? If you live primarily for your priorities—your livelihood, your family, your health, and your friends—and minimize all other activities, disturbances, and time-killers, you will find that not only do you have more than enough time and energy to devote to the important things in your life, but you will also have loads of time to relax, unwind, and enjoy the simple pleasures that abound everywhere around you.
Savor simple pleasures. Having eliminated extra activities in your life and living primarily for your priorities, you will find an abundance of time to relax and enjoy life. As humans and as physical, animal beings born of and living in a physical, natural world teeming with sensual stimuli, one of the healthiest, sanest, most reenergizing things you can do is savor simple pleasures—sunbathe in the grass, walk barefoot on rocks, ride a bike on a cool night, take a walk when its raining, chase a squirrel, pet a cat, eat fresh fruit, curl up under your covers, sip a cup of steaming tea, run your fingers through your hair, make noises with a musical instrument, giggle with a loved one—do anything that excites your senses and connects you to your surroundings. Your physical, animal body is always crying out for sensual connection to the physical world, especially when you deprive it by focusing on stress, worries, and problems in your life. Instead of choosing to worry, choose to savor and enjoy.
By taking time out of every day to rest, by prioritizing your needs, by living for your priorities, and by savoring simple pleasures, your lifestyle becomes not only simplified, but healthy, natural, and sane. And while you will always encounter stress, complexity, confusion, and clutter, practicing these four habits will create a foundation to support you in tough times and an open gateway into simple, sensual bliss.
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