by Annie Zalezsak     © 18 January 2011

Voluntary simplicity comes from within. It is a social movement of a more sustainable, gratifying, and spiritually connected existence.

from the article Simplicity as a Lifestyle by Gwen Nyhus Stewart

The typical western lifestyle runs at high speed overwhelm even in the down times. Over-scheduled, crammed and crowded places breed impatience. We fixate on getting somewhere else before we’ve even tasted ‘here’.

Stop!

Don’t overcomplicate your life by putting unrealistic, unreasonable and imaginary demands on yourself.

Just stop. The world will not end if you stop. It’s kind of a sad truth, but also a very liberating one. You are free in every moment to do as you choose. Whatever your circumstances and challenges, ultimately, you decide what to think and how to behave.

Make your own choices

Most of us operate as if random people and events are in control of us. We run our lives by store hours and train schedules as if they were solemn gospel. We convince ourselves that there is no leeway.

But there is. There is nothing you ‘have to do’ in the way that you think you’ve been told to do it. Take a later train. Shop (or acquire your needs) somewhere else.

Your own judgment about your circumstances (or someone’s opinion you’ve bought into) can become a habit of limited thinking. You’ve adopted a belief system of impossibilities. Begin to question them. Step out beyond illusion and into the realm of the possible!

Minimize

Simplify your life and your living. Do you really need to be responsible for all that junk lying around? Abandon the burden of superfluous, dispensible ‘stuff’. If you don’t love it, leave it. Someone else out there will probably value it far more than you do. So let them have it.

Ultimately, “you can’t take it with you”. Lugging it around now drains energy and makes your life heavy. It infringes on your clear thinking. It adds to your worry. Let go of overwhelm. Dwell in simplicity for true peace, happiness and comfort.

Focus on now

What’s going on in your life now? Forget yesterday, it’s over. Tomorrow hasn’t happened yet, and so much has yet to pan out today, that no one can truly know what tomorrow will bring.

The only moment you truly have is now; a whole bunch of consecutive ‘nows’. Indulge in each one fully. Use it up. It’s not going to come again. Embrace, drink in, metabolize every moment as it happens. Focus on the now, and you can be instantly happy.

All is well in this moment.
 

For more about the simple life, visit our website
Snailite.com: the slow, simple life

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