Simplify Your Life

Hello Beautiful Friends…  It has been a little bit since I have written one of these blogs and this morning in the beautiful coolness, I knew it was time to reach out to you again.  I spent some time thinking about just the right topic that would speak to people today and guess what came to mind.  Simplifying our lives.  So, without further rambling, let’s see where this story goes. 

I have recently been contemplating the pressures of life.  Feeling deep empathy for the busy people who spend all their physical mental and spiritual resources chasing “the dream”.  Whatever that means to them.  They get up early and stay up late and every moment in between is spent traversing the busy thoughts and actions with the intent of reaching their goals.  In theory this is helpful and creates the opportunity for positive changes in our lives.  However, the question that comes to mind for me is, what do we do when that starts to drain away our inspiration, our creativity, and our progress.

When thinking about simplifying our lives, where do we begin?  As busy humans with a supercomputer operating between our ears, it might be helpful to sort this out in the realms of mind, body, and spirit.  Listening to our inner voice and instincts can be helpful.  Even the smallest effort can create space for inspiration, or peace...  Which ever you might be searching for in your life now.  A final thought, the harder we struggle against what we are feeling, the harder it can be to find an answer that works for us.

Maybe you lay awake at night or cruise through your day feeling distracted and like all the thoughts are coming and going so fast that you can’t grab a hold of one, let alone find a moment to make sense of what it means for you.   Maybe you spend too much time engaged with a screen, I like to call it the “death scroll.” It is avoidance and stimulation all at once and it keeps us from being an active participant in our lives, and it keeps our mind cluttered. A busy and cluttered mind operates a little like a faucet turned on to full blast.  The pressure behind the information is pushing it through so quickly that there is little time to understand what you are receiving.  We can slow this down, and we can turn the spigot back a bit to create a slower flow, one that allows us to gather up some things of value and to make sense of it.  If you follow me on Facebook, you will notice that I share a lot of things about mindfulness.  This is our mental health workout.  It’s a way to create intentional movement, and space between our ears that can absolutely impact how we navigate the busy thoughts, distraction, and emotional reaction to the things that we experience in a day. Mindfulness comes in all kinds of forms, and I guarantee there is one that will work for you if you are willing to be intentional and create the habit.  Keep in mind that our busy world that is constantly online or connected has made it harder and harder to create intention in this area, so it might be difficult at first, but with practice you can and will be able to create that intentional space you need to help your mind find a calm space to rest.  The funny thing about regularly practicing mindfulness is the benefits of regular use will sneak up on you.  At first you may feel uncomfortable or distracted, but as you sit in this space that is set aside specifically for the here and now your mind will follow your lead and begin to quiet.  The more we can create this intentional quiet time, the easier it becomes, ultimately being a powerful tool to help when things get out of control, highly emotional or overwhelming.  If you have been thinking about introducing a mindfulness practice in your life, there are lots of great resources to help with this, but an easy way to get started is using an app like “headspace” or “calm”.  Check them out if you are interested.

Another way to help simplify our life is in our physical spaces.  It constantly amazes me how much time I spend thinking about all the things I must do.  Things like cleaning out my closet, or reorganizing the pantry, taking that pile of donations into the local non-profit thrift store, or fixing the leaky faucet in the bathtub.  A quick scroll through the socials will reveal to us no shortage of ways to make this part of our lives simpler, or more efficient. The absolutely hilarious thing about this, is that it feels like no matter how much time you spend on this, it feels like there is always more to do.  I get the sense that this connects to our highly commercial and consumer way of life.  I am not saying that we don’t indulge in things that bring value and joy to our lives, but my question becomes, how much of our need to constantly buy more is related to us seeking a peace of mind that can’t be filled no matter how many handbags, shoes, books or other creature comforts that whisper the promise of happiness if we just click the “check out now button”. My thoughts here are two-fold.  What if we take a pause, commit to not buying as a way of comfort, and we start with the small stuff that we already have.  Go through a drawer, a closet or cupboard, maybe the storage under your stairs.  What can go...  what might benefit someone else.  If we do this a little bit each day or week, will we reduce the stuff and create spaces that are more comfortable and calming?

We all have a flame inside of us, one that has deep passion and purpose.  It can be fueled by lots of things, unfortunately so many of us do not pay attention to that flame.  So much so that sometimes it comes close to going out.  The good news is that flame can be saved, relit, and fed in a way that creates powerful peace in our hearts.  This part of the simplifying process is all about connecting to things that we love.  Maybe you are a musician or a poet, that hasn’t spent time doing this because of how busy or overwhelmed you are at this time.  Maybe you love hiking or sports or art.  Are you taking time to fuel your fire by doing things that help you feel creative and fulfilled?  Another way to connect to this passion and purpose is by the people you relate to. Find your circle, the people who come into your life and help fan the flames of what is important to you.  The ones who see you as beautiful, talented and are incredibly grateful that you exist in this world.  Those are the people who will help you see yourself clearly and move in the direction of what makes you content and peaceful.  This week I had the opportunity to join some of my colleagues for dinner.  The purpose of the meeting was to create connection and networking between people who walk with others in their work.  The energy of the event was amazing, the connections and reconnections were palpable.  I left dinner that night with a deep sense of joy in my heart.  Being with people who share your flame and fire is good for the soul and can create a spark in you that reverberates into all other areas of your life.  Find your circle of people, spend time with them, talk about things that are important to you.  Feed your fire.

Our world moves fast, we can get swept away if we aren’t careful and intentional.  I will leave with you a few questions to consider.  “What would it look like if I cleared some areas of my life?” “How is the clutter that is present in my life impacting me?” “What is possible for me if I invested in clearing some of my emotional or physical clutter?”

Thank you to those who have read this far. I hope that there is something of value in the words for you.  If you or someone you know is struggling and looking for help in their journey.  I would be honored to see if I can be helpful in that journey to finding your very best life!

In light and love,

Teri