In the past, I've often found myself distracted or overwhelmed by all the things that were going on in my life.
Life was go-go-go, days rolled into weeks, into months.
And before I knew it, a year had gone by. I used to base my life decisions on what everyone else around me was doing.
Until I started to ask myself.
What do I really think about this? How do I really feel about this? What do I really want?
intentional living can help to bring clarity purpose and joy.
And it means asking yourself why you do the things you do, and why you make the decisions that you make. And then also be
okay with whatever answer comes up.
So if you want to learn more about this...
Or if you just want to get inspired and learn about ways to slow down and simplify your life...
Then stay tuned. Because I've got ten habits that you can start incorporating into your life today, to help you live more minimally and more intentionally.
Intentional living means that you are consciously trying to live your life in alignment with your
beliefs and values. And not just thinking them, but actually living them.
So instead of just going along with the stream of life.
You are taking a step back from it and evaluating it objectively, to see where is this stream headed?
And is this even where I want to go? And that also means that it teaches you to
dare to make different choices than the people around you are making, if that is something that you believe in.
So instead of basing your decisions on what's considered normal, you base them on what adds to your happiness.
This is really the best thing about
intentional living if you ask me. Because it really empowers you to think for yourself and make your own choices.
Even if they are different from the rest. And of course
this doesn't mean that you should try and force everything to go your way.
Or that you should stop thinking about the needs of others.
It means going along with the natural flow of life, while still
actively choosing to go either left or right depending on what feels best to you.
Intentional living works really well with minimalist living. And this next habit will help you to create a more minimalist home and
create a space that you love, with intention.
So instead of seeing the cluttering as a project with a start and finish date, and maybe doing it once or twice...
see if you can make it an ongoing thing. And make decluttering into a lifestyle. No matter how many times I've decluttered my home
I still come across items
sometimes that suddenly I realize I want to let go of.
Because I don't use him enough, or I don't find any value in them anymore.
If you make decluttering an ongoing thing, it will teach you to really see everything you own.
Because we get so used to our stuff being there, that we don't really notice it anymore. And this way, an item could be taking
up space in your home, without you even really noticing it.
While at the same time, subconsciously it is clutter, and it is cluttering up your home and your mental space.
So being more intentional with your belongings is a really good habit to develop. Next week's video is going to be devoted entirely to
decluttering your home and letting go of the more challenging difficult items. So be sure that you are subscribed to the channel.
So you won't miss that video. And also, please let me know in the comments
Which items are the most challenging for you to declutter and get rid of. So that I can incorporate my advice into that video.
Gathering is hardwired into our brain. And that is because our brains have not changed much or evolve much ever since
hunting and gathering was the way that we could survive. And so, people are constantly
consuming new things and gathering as many things around them as possible
to satisfy that basic need. And we're always chasing the next thing to buy.
But in our society, where so many people have more than enough stuff...
this can create a disconnect. Intentional living can help us to consume so much more mindfully and
thoughtfully.
And for me, as a person this has made me really a lot calmer. Because I no longer feel that I
need things, or that I need more, or I'm not really searching for the next thing to buy.
This can easily be an entire video on its own, but for now
I recommend watching this video right here. Where I talk about doing a new spend
challenge. Because that can really work wonders to break patterns and shop more mindfully.
So if you're interested, I will link it right here and in the description box below this video.
The next habit for intentional living is to stop and smell the roses. And to enjoy beauty as it comes. Because there are so many
simple small joys that are completely free, and they are there for you to appreciate them.
But the catch is that you have to be aware of them in order to
be able to do that. The way to practice this, is to do things a little bit more slowly and mindfully. And then whenever you
do see something beautiful, like maybe a flower or a bird flying by or
puppy or her really nice breeze hitting your face on a hot day...
Just take a short moment to stop, take a deep breath and appreciate it.
And the more you practice this, the more beautiful things you will notice and the more you will see.
That there are so many simple small moments of joy in a day.
Your life is made up of choices.
And every day when you wake up
you get to pick your attitude and how you want to face the day.
You get to make your own choices and decisions and you have more power than you might think.
Even big negative patterns can ultimately be broken by all the small choices that you make on a day to day basis.
You don't have to like your past determine the path you want to take in the future.
You have a choice. By complaining and blaming, we are basically shifting the power of creating our own happiness
to others or outside circumstances.
And when we stop doing that, and realize that every day is a new opportunity to support our own well-being and our happiness...
then we are kind of taking the power back to ourselves.
So instead of complaining and blaming and focusing on the negative, or
even all the things that we do not have control over in life because there are a lot of those as well...
We choose to focus on the positives. And on gratitude. And all the things that we do have a say in and that we do have
control over.
I recently read a book about minimalism, and the book is in Dutch
Unfortunately, so most of you will not be able to read it.
But the author talked about minimalist living as living as if you're traveling. And what he meant by that, is living light with only
minimal baggage. So that you can maximize your freedom to do what you love to do at any given time.
That really resonated with me and it made me think about this new habit
that I have gotten into over the last years, which is traveling light.
For me, traveling light has made me enjoy my travels so much more.
Because if we travel with really big clunky suitcases filled with stuff...
it might seem like it's really convenient, because you have everything with you that you could possibly need on your trip.
But what it in fact does is it weighs you down. And it also
decreases that sense of adventure and aliveness that travel can bring. And so for me
I always like to travel with one carry-on now, if at all possible, and it just feels amazing. I love it so much.
The next habit for intentional living is to find what lights you up and try to allocate more time to that activity.
With minimalism, we're often talking about things to do less or things to own less.
But that is not the whole picture. Because a life with less then also gives us an opportunity to create a life with more.
More of the things that we love to do and that
give us energy and that make us happy.
And it could even surprise you which activities that are for you. So if you want a little help with identifying
what adds value for you, what lights you up, what gives you energy, then I recommend downloading my free ebook.
It is called the Simplify Your Life challenge, which is a free seven-day challenge.
Takes about 15 minutes a day. And it can really help you with identifying your joys in life.
So I will link it for you in the description box.
One area where we can greatly simplify our life and live more intentionally is with our wardrobe.
So try to create a smaller more minimalist wardrobe, that only contains items that you actually
really love and wear all the time. And this sounds very weird
but if you own less clothing
you will buy less clothing.
Because if you only own items that you really love, you will be much more
content with your wardrobe and you feel less like you still need this or need that to fulfill your needs.
If you want some help with this
I recommend watching this video, where I talk about how to create a capsule wardrobe. And I really break down the process
into very clear and easy steps that anyone can do, even if you don't really have a strong sense of personal style yet.
Try to live more intentionally in your digital life as well.
Because our digital devices play a very important role in our life and in our world. And let's take social media
for example, most people start out using them to keep in touch with family and friends.
But our intended use of social media and what our daily use actually looks like are often completely different.
Identify the digital tools that add the most value for you and then eliminate the ones that don't. So it's really about
optimizing how we use our devices, to make sure that they actually improve our life.
Let me know if you're interested in learning more about digital minimalism, because I have been thinking about making a video about it.
Then also please share any questions that you have in the comments, so that I can take that with me when I make the video.
If I'm gonna make a video about digital minimalism, I need to learn how to pronounce digital.
It is such a difficult word in English to pronounce, digital, digital minimalism.
Open your eyes and be open to learning from others. Even people who are completely different from you
can still teach you something if you are open to that. And even if people make choices that you would never make yourself.
You can often still find something in these people that you can learn from or get inspired by. If you see someone who's really living
their life in a way that
supports them and that also fits well with your ideas and beliefs, then try to be curious and see how did they
shape their life that way? Which steps did they take?
What habits do they have? Or maybe what are they doing when you are observing them?
So try to see
what wisdom you can find in what others are doing, or not doing, and
see if you can use that in your own journey as well. Thanks for sticking around.
Please be sure to give this video a thumbs up, and of course subscribe to the channel if you're not already.
Because it really helps. I will put two videos that I recommend watching right here. And as always, questions, comments, conversations down below.
I wish you all a lovely day, and I'll see you next week. Bye. Bye.
