The modern life we live today can be sometimes overpowering. We have smartphones, tablets, desktops computers and TVs in our faces all day long. We’re now connected to the rest of the world 24/7. This is great, but it also has its disadvantages.
We spend so much time looking at screens instead of real people, put so much focus on building virtual friends instead of nurturing a small group of close friends in our daily life and technology has made us so fanatical about trying to keep up with a million things at once that our productivity sinks, our minds never rest and we gradually build up stress and anxiety.
This on top of our obsession over material items are the major reasons our lives have become over-complicated. We connect happiness to getting the next new gadget or some other toy or trophy to the point where, unless we get it, our minds are never at peace. And when we do get it, the feeling quickly dissipates like sand sifting through our hands. Then, we’re off to acquire something else to get the feeling back. This cycle of consumption never results in peace. It doesn’t bring us happiness. Instead we are full of stress, anxiety, anger and frustration. So by shedding our need for more, simplifying our lives and accepting the present moment as it is, we cultivate the grounds for true happiness. A happiness not built upon outside forces, but upon our own inner peace.
Simplifying our life is about removing distractions. It’s about finding peace in the breathing room we gain from removing those distractions and mindfully choosing to place our time with that which matters most to us in life.
There are many ways to remove distractions and simplify life.
First and foremost, put as many things on autopilot as possible. This means set your paycheck up on direct deposit (if it isn’t already) and set your bills up to automatically deduct from your account when they’re due.
Also, set up a savings account and have it auto deduct every month when you get your deposit. If you can’t afford to save much right now that’s OK, just start by saving a few thousand Rupees a month. Whatever you can afford, what’s most important is that you establish the habit.
Second, reduce the number of accounts you have. Most importantly, take the shredder to your credit cards. They just waste your money and build bad spending habits. It’s too easy to miss a payment and have your interest rate skyrocket to something crazy and then you’re locked in debt and your credit score takes a hit. The one exception to this would be a prepaid credit card for the purpose of building your credit.
If you’re neck-high in credit card debt and that isn’t an option then you can consolidate your credit. This will take all of your credit card accounts and combine them into one easy to manage monthly payment. It will also take all of those annoying phone calls and letters off your back.
Third, examine your monthly bills. Look to see if there’s any you don’t actually use regularly. Maybe you haven’t watched much TV in the past few months.
Lastly, pay for routine expenses with cash. By doing this you’ll avoid the confusion of trying to look at your online banking and match up what you spent with your available balance. This is a headache.
Each week take out the amount that you’ve pre-decided for each weekly expense category and separate them into stacks. You can hold them with money clips, in envelopes or any other way that works for you. This makes your weekly finances extremely clear and simple to work with.
Now is the time to look at your email account. Start by consolidating your email accounts. Closely examine exactly why you use each email account. By doing so you’ll probably find that a few of those are either useless or can be combined with another account.
Next, unsubscribe from email lists you never use or gain any value from. This should help reduce the amount of emails you receive daily and leave the emails of greater importance.
Lastly, now that you’ve simplified your email accounts, set up a system. Most importantly establish a schedule where you only check your email once or twice a day. Commit to yourself that you won’t open up your email outside of that block of time.
If email is an important part of your day block out however much time you need and get to work. Focus on the high important emails first and get to however many others you can in the rest of that block of time. After that, move on. Don’t let email rule your life and don’t be scared of leaving emails unread.
Now comes the biggest of all challenges. Reducing the screen time. Screens are a major force for distraction and mental dispersion in modern life.
First, reduce your TV time or stop watching it altogether. If you only reduce your TV time then at least watch online or subscribe HD channels, where there’s little to no commercials. This will save you time, reduce your commercial exposure and put you in better control of your time. You might not have to catch your favorite show when it’s on anymore, maybe you can just record it, but this way you never even have to do that.
Next, reduce the amount of time you’re on your smartphone.Go through your smartphone and delete any unused apps. When you have way too many possible distractions on your phone you tend to pick it up and look for things to distract yourself with. This is one of the more dangerous distractions in our everyday life because it’s always there with us. By drastically reducing the amount of times you pick your phone up in a given day you’ll notice you’ll have a calmer and less dispersed mind.
De-clutter your home now. Like most people, you probably have quite a few unused / unnecessary material items which are taking up space and cluttering your life. Most of us don’t notice the effect it has on us. But when you take the time to clear away the material clutter in your life you’ll find yourself with room to breath that you never knew you had. It’s pretty liberating to disconnect yourself from material items.
So how will you know what’s clutter and what isn’t? Do you ever use it? does it provide any value? No? Trash it. Do you use it but it wastes your time and provides no positive value for you or anyone around you? Trash it.
We try to handle so many things at once. Both men and women are pressured in different ways from society at large, but, both are expected to do so many things at once, do them all perfectly and all the while keeping a smile on their face. We don’t notice that this affects the way we act.
But we don’t have to follow along with this agenda. In fact, keeping up with the Jones’ only sets you further behind from accomplishing your dreams and goals. In order to establish the life we want we need to be willing to be honest with ourselves and those around us. When necessary, you need to be able to tell yourself, and those around you, NO.
The bottom line is don’t spread yourself thin. If you do, you won’t do a good job on any of the things you’re trying to do. Focus on one or a few tasks at a time and give 100% of yourself to them.
You might not generally consider your thoughts as an aspect of simple living, but it’s one of the most important areas you can simplify your life. Modern life is filled with distractions. These distractions over-complicate life as much as, if not more than, anything else.
This is when we go back to the practice of mindfulness. The easiest way to do this and begin quieting your mind is to start practicing sitting meditation. Sitting meditation is the most concentrated form of mindfulness and therefore will have the greatest effect towards what we’re trying to achieve: a more quiet mind.
Multi-tasking is a myth. Sometimes it’s possible. But it doesn’t get us the results we once thought it did. Multi-tasking only makes us -less- productive, more scattered and reduces the quality of our work. Multi-tasking also causes us stress and anxiety. So don’t fool yourself. No matter how much more productive you think you are while attempting to multi-task, you’re not. You’re only hurting yourself and forcefully complicating your life.
So you’ve simplified your life. You’re feeling pretty good. You have breathing room, less clutter, less distractions, less complications and life in general has just become more enjoyable. Overall, simple living has become a great source of peace and happiness for you.
But you need to maintain this in order for it to continue. You need to become a conscious consumer. Let your mindfulness guide you here. When considering consuming or purchasing something, new ask yourself: “do I need this? Or can I live without it?”, “will this take time away from something else that’s important to me? Am I OK with that?” and “will this contribute to my life in a positive way?”
This includes all 9 categories. When you consider adding an account or a new bill to your financial situation, when you consider taking on a new goal or responsibility, when you consider trying out a new social network because a friend asks you to join her or when you consider buying something new for your home.
No one can tell you what the right choice is to make, only you can do that. But as long as stay mindful and make a conscious decision you can maintain a simpler and more peaceful lifestyle.
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