Simplify your life

The first week of August is Simplify Your Life Week. This has me wondering all sorts of things about simplifying my life. What does a simplified life look like? What are the key areas to focus on? What tools do I have access to? What do I value most?

Clearly, there are many ways to look at simplifying one's life. There's simplifying the physical around us, the emotional elements that can weigh us down, and the mental chatter that clutters most of our heads, to name just three perspectives. What, when, and how we simplify things will be different from person to person and over the course of our life.

Choosing our Focus

Rather than trying to tackle all areas of our life, it can be helpful to select our area of focus. This can be both a calming and empowering exercise. What parts of my life feel cluttered, stressful or out-of-control? How would I like things to look and feel? Take a breath and close your eyes. Envision a simpler, more peaceful, easy state. Consider jotting down what's most important to you in a notebook.

What're your blocks?

What's stopping you from experiencing that easy, peaceful, simpler state that you were just thinking about? Is there an obstacle in your way? Is it the compulsion to mindlessly scroll online? To react immediately to every notification? Is it a limiting belief that you're holding onto? Or is it that you need some other event to occur first? If so, make a note of that and consider again what is preventing that particular event from occurring?

Serenity 

Sometimes, when things can feel overwhelming, I'm reminded of the Serenity prayer. You don't need to be religious to appreciate the wisdom in this short mantra, which is about having the courage to change the things you can control, the ability to let go of what you cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference. Sometimes we teeter off on one side (making excuses instead of doing what we can control) or the other (trying to control others or circumstances that are outside of our power). Being centred here is what gives us the delicious feeling of being serene.

Recognizing the things that are within our power to change (and the things that aren't) can be great for our focus. We can't change anyone but ourself. So what steps can we take to make those things we want more of easier to attain? How can we clear out the clutter and make room for the things, activities, and relationships that nourish us and put us into a state of contentment?

Make a list of actions you can take. Also, write down any anticipated hurdles and what steps you can take to remove or minimize these. For example, if you want to clear out your garage so it can be used for your car instead of as a storage facility, what factors prevent you from doing so? Is it that you intend to do it each evening but feel too tired when you get home? Is it the weekend when you intend to clear but find other options more enticing? Consider breaking it down into small chunks of time and/or asking someone else to help you, perhaps as an accountability partner. Maybe playing some of your favourite music during the process would soften a hurdle.

A tidier space, calmer mind, time for artwork, writing, or meeting up with a friend for coffee and laugher are all examples of simplifying our life. Perhaps it should be called refinement. Because when we clear out clutter, we make space for what really matters. It's how we increase the quality of our life.

We hope you found this issue inspiring and useful to make the most of your day, and the days to come. Breathe easy.