Let me ask you a question. Do you ever think you are making your life more difficult more complicated than it has to be?
Do you ever think about ways you could simplify your life?
Sometimes it feels like trying to manage your life is like spinning ten plates at once.
There are so many things to think about, aspects of life to balance out.
Sometimes having to keep this up, spinning all these different plates, can feel overwhelming.
We all have a certain amount of clutter in our life. Physical clutter, but mental and emotional as well. Luckily
there are ways to invite more simplicity into our life.
Not through a magical cure or an instant remedy, but through shifting our mindset.
Because we actually do have the power to make our life easier, invite more freedom and clear the path for more happiness.
I'm going to share five mindset shifts or habits for simple living minimalism and happiness.
When you simplify your life
You take a step back from all the noise and distractions, to find what really matters. Things that light you up.
For me, a simple life means more through less. Less distractions, less burdens, less stress, less obligations.
More time, more space, more energy, more love, more life.
The first habit that I will share with you today to help simplify your life is to start making your own rules.
And live according to your own rules, your own values. In other words, start living for yourself more instead of for others.
Living a life that you want to live and that you are proud of.
Living for others means setting your goals based on what other people might want for you.
According to the expectations you might feel from parents, partner or even society as a whole.
Fitting into that mold of what you should go after or what you should want to be.
Or wanting to succeed at things in order to get validation and approval from others.
So when I say live for yourself and make your own rules.
I'm talking about living your life in accordance with your own authentic self.
Your passions, wishes, values. Of course
you should always think about others and there will be times for compromise.
So I'm not saying that you should be selfish to a degree where you don't care about others anymore.
But sometimes, following other people's rules will actually hold us back in life.
And if you're not sure what things might make you happy
it's important that you feel confident enough to shake these expectations of others and go out there and start exploring. and
That you feel free to question all the things you've been told in life and whether or not they are truly right for you.
Not making your own rules can make your life more complicated.
You might feel constant pressure to do things because they are expected of you.
There are so many people to take into account and all these people need to be kept satisfied with your choices.
But when you can make your own rules, there's only one person you have to think about when making decisions and that's yourself
So let's be curious about what will happen if we take a chance in our dreams and our inner wisdom.
What will happen if we decide to break the rules that we struggle with, that are not serving us, and start writing our own rules.
There might be more space, more creativity, more love, more connection, and by shedding everything that's holding us back
Definitely more simplicity.
The next habit to simplify your life is to focus more on giving instead of receiving.
When I say giving and receiving I don't just mean things of monetary value.
It's not just money or things. It can also be time, energy, a compliment, or a random act of kindness.
We all like to receive a present. But someone who focuses more on
receiving than on giving, means that they are always searching.
It's as if you feel that life owes you something or the people around you owe you something.
And people who are very much focused on receiving, will always be searching of things to get out of something or someone or a situation
It's kind of a sense of entitlement and a sense of wanting. If you focus on things to receive, you're
unconsciously saying you don't have enough. When a person focuses more on giving, it means that they live from a place of abundance
Even if they don't have that much at all.
They will feel like they have so much to give that they are open to give away.
They will see openings for giving something to another person
if even just a kind word.
Because they feel they have kindness to spare.
Seeing how this kindness affects the other person, will in turn make the giver happier as well.
Being a giver instead of a receiver fits perfectly into a minimalist lifestyle as well.
Research has often shown that people are happier when spending money on a gift for someone else than if they spend it on themselves.
This re-establishes that we don't need more things in order to be happy.
If you happen to be in a process of minimalism and the clutter in your belongings
you might experience this as well.
If you can give your things away to people who need them, or who have a better use for them
It feels so much better than to just keep them around.
Being generous with others is a great mindset to simplify your life.
Because it changes your mindset from seeking from others
(something you don't have under control yourself) to sharing your abundance with others (something you absolutely can control).
The next habit the simplify your life is to say no more often.
We are nice people, and it's hard to turn down a request or an invitation.
Which is why we often end up saying yes.
Saying yes
the things we don't really enjoy, or the things we don't actually have time for.
Or even two things that don't align with our values. If you find yourself with an
obligation or a commitment you wish you could get out of, you're experiencing this yourself.
A big part of leading a very complicated life is leading a very busy life.
We all have the same amount of time available to us in a day: 24 hours.
And if you're very busy, rushing from one thing to the next, it will complicate your day.
Especially when you're busy with all kinds of different things, spinning all these different plates.
When some of these plates are things we don't even get any value from, it's time to start saying no more often.
Our life is full of requests. Even things like messages on your phone, emails, your to-do lists
opportunities, invitations, and of course people asking you actual favors.
They're all asking something of you, which means that you have a choice in your answer.
Your time is so valuable. Your energy is so valuable. Don't give them away so easily.
Often we tend to think that we are needed.
I need to agree to bring two dozen handmade cupcakes to this meeting, because they are counting on me.
But in reality, we are more easily replaceable than you might think. And that is a good thing.
Because if you say no when you've said yes before, people might be surprised
But then they will find a way to do it without your help. And they will succeed.
Is not the end of the world if you don't agree to do something or to go somewhere.
Don't worry so much about letting others down, and start worrying a bit more about letting yourself down.
One of my favorite quotes is this. When you say yes to others make sure you are not saying no to yourself.
And of course, I'm not saying to start being selfish and never agreeing to help others.
We've just established that helping others and being a giver is a good thing. But it is all about balance.
When you find yourself too busy and your life too complicated
Saying no is such a powerful tool to bring more simplicity into your own life. And from there
You are much more free to think about what makes you happy and how you can contribute to others happiness without sacrificing your own.
Something that's relatively new to our life
But can definitely impact our life very strongly and make it more complicated is FOMO. Fear of missing out.
FOMO makes us feel inadequate. There are so many things we should be doing.
People having the time of their lives, people doing interesting things.
We should be there. People starting successful ventures.
Our life does not compare. And our society now has so many channels
that foster is fear of missing out. If you want to experience FOMO, It's only a click away.
We can look at Instagram and see all kinds of things we could be a part of.
Reminding us of the fact that we are not. And this leads us to agree to things just because we don't want to miss out.
Going away with the company outing to do something you would normally never enjoy doing.
Just because you are afraid of seeing that picture of your colleagues having a good time, or what seems like a good time anyway
And when you're there, you might not have such a good time.
But at least you were there, and you didn't miss out.
Or going to a busy club on a Friday night with a bunch of people
Because that's where all the cool people are. And you end up paying $15 for a drink.
But at least you were there, and you didn't miss out.
Maybe you're the type of person who loves these type of big parties.
But maybe you're at a type of person who prefers intimate gatherings with only one or two friends, laughing and sharing
conversation. Or someone who loves taking a walk in nature with a dog.
When you're able to feel Jomo instead of FOMO
It gives you the freedom to make your own choices, say no to things that don't
align with that, and by doing so making your life a whole lot simpler and less complicated.
Jomo means the joy of missing out.
So you don't feel the need to keep up all the time, or to check your messages the entire day for fear of missing a
status update.
Jomo means being able to choose what you truly value, and gladly miss out on what you don't.
The fifth habit to simplify your life is to start living in the present moment more often. Instead of being stuck in memories or
expectations for the future.
This part of simplifying has to do with having less going on in your head all the time.
Because when you take away memories of things that happened in the past and
worries, thoughts, and plans for things in the future
the present moment is actually a lot quieter, calmer and simpler than we often notice.
In the famous words of Alan Watts.
While I said it is of tremendous use for us to be able to look ahead and plan.
There is no use planning for a future which, when you get to it and it becomes the present, you won't be there.
You'll be living in some other future, which hasn't yet arrived. And so in this way, one is never able to actually
inherit and enjoy the fruits of one's actions. You cannot live at all unless you can live fully NOW.
Human beings are probably the only ones who have the cognitive powers to remember everything in such great detail.
And to use these memories to plan for our future. It has proven very useful.
But when you think about it, the past doesn't exist.
It exists only in our memories, which are colored and which we remember in the present.
The future also doesn't exist. It is yet to happen. And while we can try to plan for things
no one truly knows what the future will bring.
Something that greatly complicates our daily life is worrying. Worrying about things in the future.
Let's say that you have a surgery scheduled for next week and you are dreading it.
It means that for one week in your life, you will have a really hard time.
And when the surgery comes, your worries will have accomplished nothing or changed nothing in the outcome of the surgery.
If you have been able to live in the present during that week before
you would have had a pleasant week. And your surgery still would have gone the exact same way.
Now of course worrying is normal, especially for things like this.
But when you find yourself worrying, making your life complicated by either living in the past or living in the future, it
helps to take a step back. Take a breath and remember that this is now.
You might be worrying about something right now, as you're watching this video.
But try to see what's actually going on right now.
Perhaps you are sitting somewhere comfortably. You're sheltered
You have clothes to wear, food to eat, water to drink.
You might be in pain, but you might also not be in any pain. And the thing you're worried about isn't here.
So choosing to focus on living in the now can really help to uncomplicate things.
Because 90% of the time, or even more if you're blessed
life is simple. Or at least a lot simpler than it felt a minute ago. Thank you so much for watching
I'd love to hear what you think about these five habits to simplify your life. So share that down below.
I also have a pretty exciting announcement, which I will share with you in the top comments. So check it out.
Have a wonderful day, and I will see you again next week. Bye bye  my friend.
