For many people, the world has become defined by things. Our advertising-saturated consumer culture encourages everyone to mindlessly acquire goods. But all these material items do is clutter up our homes and distract us from what’s really important in life. Take the time to remove all the unwanted junk from your home, and you’ll find that the process unlocks more time, energy, and attention for introspection, creative pursuits, and building strong relationships.
Your mind, just like your home, can accumulate excess junk. Oftentimes, the most destructive rubbish it collects are the lies, fibs, and small fabrications we tell ourselves and others. Ditching these untruths is often harder than trashing objects.
So, why do we lie in the first place? Mostly it’s because lying is easier than facing the truth. Little lies allow you to hide who you really are. For instance, when talking to friends or colleagues, you may exaggerate the good things in your life while omitting any negative struggles. Additionally, you may lie to yourself in order to avoid facing a problem that’s difficult to fix. For example, you may pretend your marriage is happy – when it’s not.
But even small fabrications add unnecessary complexity to your life. Maintaining a deception or false image for others requires effort and energy you could be spending more productively. Lying to yourself only sweeps issues under the rug – you’ll have to face them eventually.
Learn to appreciate the small joys – like a delicious, healthy meal.
If you approach your menus mindfully and pay close attention to your body’s reactions, you’ll find which foods work best for you.
When you’re trapped on the hedonistic treadmill of consumerist spending and instant gratification, nothing seems like enough. You’re too distracted thinking about the next big purchase to appreciate what you have. Even the small joys of life begin to slip away.
Often, there’s a connection between overconsumption and other issues. Maybe your compulsive shopping habit masks a deeper problem. Take this opportunity as a chance to ditch the lies and seek the truth.
Understand your core values to navigate life with ease.
Our choices are often swayed by some outside factors such as advertisements, peer pressure, and social norms. And unfortunately, these external forces don’t always align with our internal needs.
Without stable values guiding you, your entire trajectory will be molded by outside interests.For instance, you may take a job you hate just because it pays well, or spend all your money on luxury cars and clothes in order to fit in – when you really just want to save for early retirement.
Set aside some time to examine the four main categories of values: Foundational, Structural, Surface, and Imaginary.
Foundational values are the broad, baseline things most people want from life. These are things like good health and good relationships. Structural values are a bit more personal. They’re the qualities you want to embody, like sincerity, humility, and autonomy. Surface values are the more ephemeral things you merely like – think things like aesthetics or hobbies. And finally, imaginary values are the day-to-day things that feel important, but really aren’t. These include things like answering emails or watching your favorite TV show.
Once you have a handle on these values, you can evaluate decisions – both big and small – based on how well they align with your ideals. For instance, if you get an enticing job offer, ask which values it enables. Sure, it may help you live your surface values by paying for swanky furniture, but maybe it inhibits your foundational values by putting your health or relationships at risk. Once you see the choice this way, the decision is easy – and true to you.
Manage your money and avoid accumulating unnecessary debts.
To really maximize your savings, learn a bit about investing. Amateur investors will often dump money into flashy ventures like individual stocks or precious metals like gold and silver. Avoid these – they are volatile investments and can be risky. Instead, put your money in a solid mutual fund, which is a package of many stocks bundled together. That way, your risks are distributed, and your wealth will grow slowly but steadily until you retire. After all, staying debt-free is the best way to reach your dreams, whatever they happen to be. For instance, if you have no debt, it’s much easier to leave a job you hate, move to a new area you love, or simply set your children up for a smoother, more prosperous future.
There’s no question that these are all creative people. But creativity isn’t the exclusive realm of fine artists. A carpenter cobbling a table, a dietician designing a healthy meal plan, or a corporate account manager making a punchy Powerpoint – these are all also creative people and pursuits.Really, anyone who solves problems or contributes value to others is creative.
A major source of distraction – and a big driver of procrastination – are our digital devices. It’s hard to focus on creative projects when your smartphone is right there, offering endless easy entertainment.Unlock your latent creativity by logging out of the digital world.
Decluttering
Decluttering often requires you to make some tough choices. If you’re torn about tossing a certain object, consider this: if the item can be replaced in 20 minutes for less than $20, it’s probably not worth keeping around. Put that thing in the bin!
Theminimalists.com
Meandering leads to perfection 