Living Simply

7 Things That Make Life So Good Right Now – With Linnea Locsin

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Linnea with her dog Moomoo! 

This is a guest post by Linnea Locsin from her blog over at http://www.linnealocsin.com. Linnea is an amazing singer and marketer, and she owns Singer Savvy, an online community for singers to learn about singing, improve their own voice, and mingle with the community. She helps you find your voice and become an amazing singer through fun, relaxed, and extremely effective singing lessons (I would know – I took them!). Linnea is a good friend of mine so when she wrote this post on her blog, I loved it and I knew that I had to ask her if she would let me post it here on my blog too! And she said yes! So without further ado, here is Linnea! 🙂

7 Things That Make Life So Good Right Now

1. Vitamin D

aka…. vitamin sunshine!! This is a given.  The sun makes everyone happy! As we near summer, I’ve been making time for more lunches outside. And after a long stretch of work i’ll take a book out, sit in the sun and all sudden I feel calm again.

Oh man — this alone is making every day a little sweeter.  I feel happier and notice the difference in the overall quality of my day.

All you need is 10 minutes! Take a break! Go find the sun. Vitamin D is good for your immune system, your nervous system, your brain, your lungs…! You need it! And coming out of winter, we are all probably a little deficient in vitamin d.

2. Cooking Dinner Daily

(I live in the bay area… I live a fast-paced lifestyle…)  I recently believed that cooking was not a good use of my time. I couldn’t justify being in the kitchen over working, studying, or creating something.  While I do enjoy cooking, I thought of it as a weekend thing.  Doesn’t it take forever to cook a meal? Not really…. actually…

What I’ve been doing lately: I buy 6 different cuts of protein: chicken breasts, ground beef, tilapia, salmon, a cut of beef, and the 6th is whatever else I’m feeling that week (shrimp, bacon, more chicken..).  Then I buy 6-7 different veggies: green beans, asparagus, zucchini, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower….

Then I pair a protein with a veggie — I’m not picky about it either — and boom! There it is.  It’s pretty simple – sometimes, I’ll add rice, potato or salad to a plate.

To my surprise, cooking a simple meal every day has NOT overwhelmed me or stolen my time.  I actually feel like I have a better grasp on life now that I’ve incorporated cooking a meal. lol. Takes 20 minutes + 2 pans + olive oil + my flavor creativity (garlic, onions, seasonings…) It has also forced me and my husband to sit and eat a fresh meal together – There is something special about that.

What about meal prep? Yes! we are major fans of meal prepping! That’s what we were doing before. While it’s great for fitness goals, I was using meal prepping as a way out of cooking daily.

Perks of cooking dinner daily: 

  • A fresh meal
  • Eat together
  • Turns my day into night – I’m an entrepreneur and many days I work till late hours in the night with no pause.
  • Leftovers turn into tomorrow’s lunch meal prep.
  • I feel like I’m winning at life and being a wife (except jimmy likes to take over in the kitchen – He loves to cook – I don’t mind that at all)

3. Sticky Notes

2018 might have been one of the weirdest starts to a year. Sometimes it would seem like I couldn’t get my head on straight… and I’m pretty sharp… my head’s always on straight.  But THIS YEAR, I experienced my first anxiety attack. I was having trouble handling external pressures and I could not figure out how to organize my brain.

I tried all sorts of planners, journals, online todo lists… Nothing was really working or making me feel grounded.

THAT’S when I thought to simplify.  STICKY NOTES!!!

Every idea, to-do, campaign, strategy, goal, affirmation, —- I wrote on a sticky note and stuck it on my wall. 

It was so gratifying to see everything that goes through my mind on my wall.

Here’s are some of the things I put on my wall.

  • Things to remember for taking care of my home
  • Health goals and strategy
  • Singing lesson plans
  • People to get back to
  • Finances to manage
  • Morning routine habits
  • Night routine habits
  • Business blogs to read
  • Courses to finish
  • All the parts to building funnels
  • All the parts of a marketing campaign
  • All the parts to integrating marketing platforms
  • Headline, Copy, Sales ideas
  • Videos to record and edit
  • Pictures to take and edit
  • Affirmations

Somehow, this gave me so much peace. To top it off, when I would complete a task, I’d remove that sticky note —- Not gonna lie, I think that feels even better than checking off a to do list.

And you know what else, seeing everything that I do made me proud of myself. It allowed me to validate my own feelings and overwhelm. I do a lot. I wear many hats. I love what I do. But girl…. better restrategize.

I’ve been doing the most self reflection I ever have in my entire life. I’ve analyzed every hour of my day, every emotion that comes with it, ever role I have, and job I have to do.

 

4.  A Blanket on the floor

This new habit happened at random. I couldn’t find my yoga mat so I grabbed a soft blanket instead.

A couple things happened:  1) Yoga, of course 2) Diaphragmatic breathing 3) Foam rolling 4) Mediation 5) Read more books 6) Napped with my dog

This blanket on the floor made room for things that helped me be more mindful and thoughtful of my body and breath.  I found that everything I did on this blanket made me grateful. Yoga centered me. Diaphragmatic breathing and foam rolling made me aware of my good health. Meditation took my mind to a place that made me ask questions like “how can serve more?” “What’s my purpose?”, “How can I love more?”. Books = knowledge…and who doesn’t get grateful for knowledge? And then there’s my dog, Moomoo… He made a dog lover out of me and I am so grateful for his love every day.

This blanket has become a special place for me.

5. Burning Candles

Why did I not do this more before?  I have been burning candles the whole month of April.  Day and night.  It just makes me feel good. I like to see it, smell it.

The main thing:  Having a candle lit seems to help remove any anxious feelings that I may have.

6. No Phones At Night

My husband Jimmy and I decided to take on the habit of not being on our phones an hour before bed. We do slip every here and there… however, the intention to remove our phones from the last hour of our evening together has been so rewarding. Doing this made room for great conversation but most of all …laughs!  Jimmy wakes up super early for work, so by 7-8pm he’s pretty delirious. This makes for some of the strangest times I’ve ever experienced. So many nights in this past month have ended with us laughing our faces off!

It’s easy to just spend the last part of your day scrolling… but I wonder what would happen if we ditched the scroll?  Would you read a delicious book, write a poem, play your guitar, draw, journal, have juicy conversation…  Try it. See what happens. Then tellllllmeeeeeee.

7. Affirmations

This goes back to the sticky notes and getting my brain together.  I have affirmation sticky notes all over the place now.

I’m all about the power of words, your voice, your mindset and the message you tell yourself.

The world is pretty loud and in your face – and most of the time the messages we hear are not so good. If you aren’t interrupting it with something you know is good, what do you think you are going to be focussing on?

Affirmations I’ve been telling myself:

I’m full of new ideas

I can solve any problem

I am here to serve

My body is strong and good to me

I will find the good in every moment

I am surrounded by good people

*I’m not making weak promises here – I’m feeding my mind good fuel. I am helping shift my worldview. 

Here’s the opposite of all my affirmations (Which phrase do you tell yourself more?…subconsciously)

I’m full of new ideas  –  I don’t know what to do. 

I can solve any problem – I can’t figure this out

I am here to serve – I’m here to make something of myself

My body is strong and good to me – I’m so tired, my body isn’t being kind to me

I will find the good in every moment  – I wonder what sh*! will happen next? 

I am surrounded by good people – Good people are hard to find these days. 

The best thing about this post is that everything on this list is very simple. Anyone can do these things to improve the quality of their lives quickly and easily without much extra effort. They could be enjoying life that much more by just making a few changes and making good habits (see my post on how to kill bad habits). I especially love her affirmations and I totally use some of them now too! 🙂 I challenge you to choose at least one of the actions above and incorporate it into your own life so that you can get more enjoyment out of life as well! 🙂

 

To living your best life,

Alex 🙂

How to Ditch Your Car, Get in Shape, and Follow Your Dreams :)

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My whip & Shasta 🙂

For the past few months now I have been riding my bike everywhere. On average, I have been riding about 8-10 miles per day. This milage might seem like a lot, but sometimes it is split up throughout the day, depending on what I am doing. Other times it is all at once. Either way, you are probably wondering why I would do this?

About 2 months ago, I quit my job and started working on Life Tools full time. I saved up enough money from my job that I could have all of my living expenses covered for about 5 months. I would like to sound like I have life all figured out and that I had planned it this way from the start, but I didn’t. I just got tired of my job and realized that I really didn’t have to work and I could give 100% of my attention to Life Tools and my blog (side note: I have some AWESOME things coming very soon for this blog so stay tuned because it is about to be great!). So that’s what I did! If you read my previous post, I am on a journey this year to become happier than I have ever been in my entire life (so far) and I knew that doing this would greatly improve my happiness.

So what does this have to do with riding my bike?

A lot, actually.

The only problem I had was that my job provided me with a work car to drive that I took home at night. I was also allowed to drive to do my own personal errands and grocery shopping after work, and do pretty much anything I needed to do if it wasn’t too far out of the way. So at that time all I needed was my work truck, but when I quit my job I also lost my set of wheels. I didn’t want to buy a car because it would use most of my fund I had saved up to live on and I wouldn’t be able to pursue my passion and dream! So, inspired by Mr. Money Mustache’s blog, I decided that I could just ride my bike for a while until I need a car. Right now I simply don’t need one. Would I like one? I guess. Would I enjoy it? Sure. Probably not much more than my bike. But is it an absolute necessity right now? No. It is far more important to me that I work on my passion until it not only can support me financially, but can also more importantly impact thousands of lives in a positive and enlightening way. I would much rather work on this than have the material comfort of a car. Besides, cars are kind of expensive and then you have to pay registration, insurance, and you are at the mercy of the gas prices. Not to mention pollution (for most cars, at least).

What I have noticed when I ride is that you smell the most wonderful fragrances as you pass by beautiful gardens. You see things that you never would have noticed in a car, like a for-sale sign in front of a house or a new park, etc. You can hear everything around you and feel the wind and sun on your skin. And of course, you get in great shape (at least cardio-wise)! Plus, once I get to wherever I am going, I am always alert, energetic, and ready. That is just naturally how you feel after getting a little exercise. Plus, if you are trying to get in shape or get some cardio in, it is a lot easier to do it when it is your only way to get somewhere. Riding your bike also helps you prioritize the things you need to do away from your house and it really motivates you to chunk together all activities that are close in proximity to each other. Another nice thing I have noticed is how kind the drivers are to bikers (at least in my area). They will usually go way around you when they pass, they will slow down and let you by, and they are typically really careful. Whether they truly care about my safety as a person or they just don’t want a lawsuit, they are very respectful and it makes me feel grateful for all of the good people in the world. What a difference from when you are in a car! Everyone just seems to cut you off or drive ridiculously. So basically, with a bike you just become more efficient, more energetic, more lean, and more appreciative of everything around you. 🙂

Is this no-car, only-bike thing for everyone? Of course not. But my point here is that we need to look beyond what we think are necessities and understand that we can live life very simply – AND still be happy! Am I ever going to be a hard-core biker? Probably not. I don’t really have a desire to do that. I just use the bike as a tool. Choosing to ride my bike instead of spend money on a car allows me to have more time and freedom to do what I love and help others do the same.

I have learned that not having a car is really not that big of a setback and biking is not only a great alternative, it is really enjoyable. Do I feel like riding it every day? No. But am I grateful that I am riding my bike and working on my dreams (no matter how much of a headwind there is) instead of driving a car to a job that doesn’t fulfill me and sitting in terrible traffic. There are other options, of course, if you don’t have a car – depending on where you live. For example, I am really lucky that my surrounding area is pretty flat. If there were lots of steep hills, I would probably not be riding my bike – especially since my bike is a one speed. There is public transportation, Uber and other driving services if you are in large metro areas, carpooling (which I do when I can), motorcycles and mopeds, etc., even walking! There are many options! Honestly, many things in life just come down to how creative you can be. And guess what? This makes life very interesting!

If you want to follow your dreams and passions, there is nothing holding you back but yourself. No matter what setbacks you face, the only one who can decide to persevere or quit is you. You are the only determining factor as to whether you can do it or not. Chose your dreams. Choose to make decisions in favor of them. Go all in! And NEVER, EVER give up!

 

To living your dreams,

Alex 🙂

PS– Here is one of my favorite speeches by Les Brown that will really inspire you to go after your dreams and what you want in life. I have listened to it countless times and it still motivates and inspires me each time. Listen and/or watch it on Youtube here. 

PPS– Peace of Mind Natrual Blend (the wonderful supplement for less stress and better sleep) now has a brand new label on Amazon! I just wanted to let you guys know about it so that you can check it out if you want! 🙂

My Goal This Year: Become The Happiest I’ve Ever Been In My Life (And How You Can Too!)

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Become my happiest self – happier than I have ever been in my life. That’s the goal I set for myself on January 1st this year. Now, I am not huge on New Year resolutions because usually I make a laundry list of goals that I would like to get done, and then I don’t get them done because it is too much and we forget and etc. So this year I decided to just focus on the ONE thing that I believe will improve everything else in my life as well by doing it: my happiness. I’d rather do ONE amazing thing than 1,000 mediocre things.

My goal for my happiness journey this year is not quite as simple as it seems. It precedes some bigger and deeper questions. How do you become your happiest? What is happiness and what brings more of it into your life?

I am taking a multiple pronged approach to optimal happiness. There are a few major categories that are scientifically backed in research to bring about happiness which I focus on improving:

The first one is doing what I love every day. Life is not about doing what is easiest and just lounging around all day. It’s not about playing it safe and taking the “normal” route. It is about pushing yourself to do something meaningful and worth doing in your life. It is about trying new things, meeting new people, helping others, and committing yourself to something that is bigger than yourself. For me right now, that is this blog and Life Tools. For those of you who don’t know, Life Tools is an online company and community I started to help each other naturally become happier and healthier for a higher quality of life. I love this mission and this is what I want to do with my time, energy, and passion. This is what I am here for and I know that I can help many, many people become happier and healthier, and live better lives. So, I do this every day. A lot. My passion comes from my WHY! So first step for you: find something that is bigger than yourself, be it a mission, a passion, or anything else that can help yourself and others, and make the world a better place. Make sure you love it and DO IT! Go all in! This will fill your life up with so much meaning and energy. You will have a huge reason to get up in the morning and your life will feel on track. You will know it is right because things will flow. From meaning, you find a deeper happiness and satisfaction in yourself and life.

Second area of my life that I’m improving is my health. Yep! Happiness and health are so interrelated that I’d actually venture to say they are the same thing. When you have a stomach ache or the flu or pain, do you feel happy? Exactly. It is much harder. I don’t think that you can have one without the other – at least not optimally. So this year I am focusing on becoming my healthiest to ultimately become my happiest. This means eating well, fixing nutritional deficiencies (through diet and supplementation), taking care of my body by stretching and staying active (such as riding my bike instead of driving a car), finding any hidden food allergies, having a calming morning routine, stopping and relaxing when I feel stressed, etc. There will be plenty of future articles on all of this! 🙂 Your brain and your body are one, and it is time we started taking care of it! So the first step for you in this area is to focus on eating a healthy diet with plenty of REAL food, and moving your body every day. You can do other things, but the simpler you keep it, the more likely you will stick to it. Once you’ve got this down, you can add more like looking for hidden inflammation and food allergies, balancing your hormones, supplementation, meditation, etc. I believe that a healthy diet and an active lifestyle is the 80/20 of health (what is the 80/20 principle?).

The next area of life that I’m improving is my social life. An active social life is SO important for optimal happiness, and it is something that I was definitely been lacking in for a few years. Just keeping yourself from being isolated and alone all the time is important and has been proven to dramatically reduce stress and anxiety levels. I most definitely learned that the hard way. But you don’t have to! For my social life, I have joined a few local groups where I am able to meet new people and make friends. I also plan on doing some volunteering at places I find interesting and enjoyable, or that I feel passion to help with. My business, Life Tools, has also been great for my social life since I am part of a few different associations and groups that meet up at various times throughout the month. I also started my own Life Tools Community group which I believe will become very successful and fun, since it is focused on helping each other become happier and healthier. There is no end to what you can do to bring more people and social events into your life. I am probably going to join and start a few more groups, and do a few more things as I continue to gain momentum, which I will write more about soon! So the first step for you in this area is to get social by joining a group, team, club, event, or getting a job that is social, etc. (NOT a cult though!). Just get yourself out there and get the ball rolling. The more you do it, the more people you will meet and the more events you will go to and get invited to, and the more people you will meet and become friends with, and on and on. Just start. This one is a compounding effect. 🙂

The fourth area of life I am focusing on is putting extra time, effort, and attention into those important people in my life. Looking back on my life, I want to remember the times when I did crazy, fun, amazing things with the people I love the most. I am still improving in this area of course, but what I have learned so far is that if you have a good, caring, and loving relationship with your spouse, kids, family, etc., your whole life feels so much happier and brighter. If you are happy within your romantic relationship, you feel much happier in your life as well. If you are in harmonious relationships with your kids and extended family, your own happiness levels are going to be harmonious too. By kicking out toxic, stressful people and only focusing on those amazing and wonderful people in your life, your quality of living will skyrocket! You will feel a weight lifted from your shoulders and you will feel much happier overall. Maybe because of less stress and more fun with each other. So the first step for you is to identify all of the amazing people in your life who you truly love and appreciate, and make sure they know you love them! Put extra time, attention, and effort into these relationships, and enjoy life with them. Even if they are far away, call them! Take a road trip to go see them. Whatever, but don’t let these important relationships fade. No excuses. Also, make a list of anyone who is toxic and stop having relationships with them as soon as possible. These people drain you of your energy, health, and happiness and you don’t need them in your life (unless you enjoy negativity, stress, and rapid aging).

The next area of my life that I am improving is focusing and simplifying my life and myself. I put these two together because I think that you can’t really have one without the other. How do you simplify your life without focusing on what you want and need? How to you focus on something without simplifying the process and simplifying your life around your focus? I have been pretty good so far this year about focusing and simplifying things – not necessarily on purpose, but I think a lot of my focusing and simplifying actually came from the changes above I am making in my life and in myself. Life is much more peaceful now, and I know what I need to do, and I know what I want. I don’t own much, but I’m getting rid of most of what I own because I don’t need it – and somewhat by accident I recently found out that I actually don’t even notice when most of my belongings are gone or inaccessible. It made no difference in the quality of my life whatsoever. Once you know these things, life becomes much more interesting and enjoyable. So the first step for you is to make a list of what (and who) is truly important to you in your life. Focus your time, energy, and attention into those things and people. Reduce your time, attention, and energy on pretty much all other things. It really is this simple. However, it does not mean that actually doing this is easy. Execution is the hardest part because it is much easier said than done. But it is something that anyone can achieve if they want a happier life, and to become happier within themselves.

The last area of my life that I’m improving is spending time relaxing and rejuvenating. You can’t work every second of every day. That’s why we need sleep – so that our bodies and minds can rest. So I am focusing on getting enough sleep, doing things that I enjoy that also help me relax (such as hiking or songwriting), and stopping whatever I am doing and taking a break when I feel stressed out or anxious. No one can do their best or most efficient work when they are in this state of mind. It is also really bad for you – kind of like drinking a soda or something. If you feel anxious and stressed out, you must learn to control this. It may sound hard to do, but if you can get good at just pausing and stepping back for a breather, this will become simple. For example, when I am working on my business and I start feeling uptight and anxious, I stop and do something relaxing until I feel better. Usually, I only need about 10 minutes to feel better again. It doesn’t really matter what I do in that ten minutes as long as it is enjoyable and relaxing – sometimes I take a walk outside, other times I do some gardening, sometimes I take a warm shower, other times I call someone I love and just talk, and sometimes I just read a book. The important part is just taking this time to relax and come down from this state of high stress and anxiety. The problem is that most people don’t take that ten minutes, and carry that anxiety around with them for the rest of the day, and they bring it home with them to the people they love. This is not the kind of pattern you want going on in your life (especially since you want to focus extra love, time, and attention on your loved ones, not extra stress, fights, and anxiety). So the first step for you is to monitor your feelings and notice when you are feeling stressed and uptight. Once you are able to identify this, you can practice taking breaks to relax and get yourself back into a better mindset. I know that this can be hard for many people, especially at work and places that don’t approve of you taking “unnecessary” time away from your work. Luckily, there are ways around this and if you just bring a little creativity to the table you will still be able to do it. I’m not saying be lazy at your job and try to do nothing; I’m saying when you are anxious and stressed out, take the time you need to reset or else your whole day will go down the anxiety toilet! If you need a break you need a break.

So, this is what I have been doing so far! If you plan on implementing these things above, don’t try to do this all at once – just do it as it comes. I am not trying to accomplish major, specific, set goals towards any of these areas above. My goal instead is to just improve my happiness and health every day. I spend time learning about happiness from experience and other sources, and any time I see an opportunity in line with my happiness journey, I jump on it. I say no to everything else. I can tell you that lately I have been feeling happier than I have felt in a long time, so what I am doing is definitely working! I’ll keep you updated on my happiest-happiness journey as the year continues, and hopefully you can learn from it as well!

Stillness

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There is a stillness within each of us.

It is especially noticeable when we wake up in the morning and when we are about to go to bed.

If we could capture this stillness and extend it throughout our day, how would it change our lives?

There may be more peace and serenity. Or more love for, and enjoyment of, every moment. Or maybe just less going on.

This stillness is a peaceful place and if we can cultivate it to grow throughout our lives, then we can always come back to our stillness, our essence, at any time. All we have to do is simply move into this state of mind whenever we feel it is desired or necessary. The more we can learn to extend this stillness throughout our day, the easier it is to utilize at any time wanted or needed.

Stillness is contaigous. It starts with just one of us, and then it multiplies exponentially as we impact those around us. What would our world look like if we all were able to utilize our calm stillness throughout our day and naturally spread this to others.

Would we have less fighting and troubles? Or less greed and selfishness? Or more friendship, community, and openess to change?

It starts with one.

We can all live more peacefully and intentionally, starting with slowing down and embracing the calm stillness we feel at the beginning and end of our day.

To living your happiest & most peaceful life,

-Alex 🙂

:) How to Literally Smile Your Way Out of Negative Feelings & The Art of Body Language (w/ Pictures & Examples)

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Smile! It’s Friday 🙂

How often do you find yourself smiling? Next time you feel grumpy, stressed, or down, try forcing yourself to smile for 3 minutes. Doing this will noticeably increase your mood and your happiness.

On a more scientific level, what happens is this: When you smile, you are changing your physiology by partaking in positive body language. It turns out that your physiology directly affects your psychology (brain, thoughts, mood, etc.) and therefore, the positive body language of smiling sends messages to your brain that are in direct contradiction to your unhappy feelings. The reason to smile for a consecutive 3 minutes is to continue to strengthen this process happening in your brain until your negativity is overridden. 🙂

To double the strength of this exercise, smile for 3 minutes in front of a mirror. By doing this, we are activating one of our powerful senses: sight. When others smile at you, it brings on feelings of openness, warmth, and a greater sense of happiness. It is also very easy to smile back. By using a mirror, you are recieving all of these benefits from yourself while compounding your own efforts to efficiently boost your mood. So smile more, and enjoy a higher quality & more relaxing life! Oh and remember to spread the love and smile at other people too!!

To triple the strength of this exercise, practice more forms of positive body language while smiling. The more the merrier. Here are some examples of positive body language (these are all just free stock photos I found on the internet for examples):

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The boy in this photo has excellent positive body language going on. This particular pose (with both hands up in a “victory” type of stance) is scientifically proclaimed to be embedded in our subconscious brain as an action we do when we succeed at something great, or just feel really good.

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Great one to do while smiling at yourself in the mirror for 3 minutes straight like a crazy person. Might as well look even crazier, right? 🙂 This one will make you feel more important and more self-confident, but it only works in front of the mirror or if someone else is doing this action to you. 

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Hands on the hips helps you keep a good overall posture, regardless of whether you are standing or sitting during this exercise. Good posture is also good body language and therefore it will help you feel happier as well. 

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Arms outstretched and open to the world. Opens up your body and lungs to take deeper breaths (which is good for you, and is a topic for another post someday) and this pose helps you feel more relaxed thankful. 

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Hands on the head is a good one to feel more relaxed as well, along with more confident. 

 

 

Hre Are some examples of body language that leads to unhappy feelings (and what NOT to do during the smiling exercise):

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Curled up and closed off. This will make you feel worse than you already do if you are in a state of negativity. Bad.

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Bad posture, hunched over, looking down, not smiling, and looking small in the way that he is sitting – which in turn, of course, makes you feel smaller as well. Also bad.

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Better, as she is smiling, but crossed arms is a sign of defensive behavior and closing off from interaction. Unless you are cold, doing this pose is just going to make you feel more insecure and defensive toward others instead of open and relaxed. 

As you can see, smiling and positive body language is really important to your general happiness. Notice yourself slumping in your chair, or looking down a lot? Those types of body language poses will not help you feel better. Luckily, the body language you use everyday can be changed. It is just a bad habit, so all you need to do is change your habits and replace your bad body language habit with a good one! My Article on changing habits can help you with this.

So smile more and share this article with anyone you think would find value in it! The more we can get people to smile, the happier this world will be as a whole 🙂

 

To your highest quality life,

– Alex

The Art of Living Simply

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There used to be a time when I would rush around, continually trying to keep up with my day. I was always so busy and preoccupied that I didn’t have time to stop and notice everything around me.

I’m sure we have all felt this way at one point or another. But how often do you find yourself living this way? It’s like you are so busy with life that you have no time to live! How ironic right? But the truth is that many people are stuck on autopilot, speeding around everywhere at 100mph trying to keep up with… what exactly? Themselves? Society?

It is time to slow down and live life to truly live, not just survive and get through it. (see: Stop Living A Mediocre Life!) Time is valuable and we don’t get it back. If you think that you don’t have time to slow down, then you are the one who needs it the most.

Today I would like to show you some ways to cut out what you don’t want, and truly be able to live life. Enjoy!

It is not what we add, but what we subtract, that simplifies our life.  

People are always falling into this trap, where they want to simplify their lives and be happier, so they add more to their already overflowing agenda. Soon enough they are right back to where they started, thinking that whatever they added didn’t work, so they scrap it and add some other method instead. The problem here is not the method they are using (whether they are trying to meditate every day, or write every morning, or eat healthier, etc.) The issue is that they did not subtract. You can’t pour water into a glass forever. At some point it will overflow. Same goes for your life. You can’t keep adding new things forever or you will become too overwhelmed, frustrated, and burnt out, and nothing will work. The key is elimination. If you want more time in life, do less. Cut out anything that you don’t need to do. Study your daily schedule and find where you can eliminate time that is typically wasted and pointless tasks. You must subtract out the old bad habits and time-wasters before you can add more of what you want into your life.

What 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness? 

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, was created by Joseph M. Juran. He named this principle after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who published his first paper “Cours d’économie politique” in 1896. In this paper he explained that about 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He also recorded that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. Why is this principle important to living simply? In a book by Richard Koch called, The 80/20 Principle, he explains, “The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually leads to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards.” By remembering this principle, you can understand that 80% of your outcomes comes from 20% of your inputs. Knowing this helps you leverage your time and money to truly live the way that you want to; to live your dream life. If you can understand and apply this principle, then you can live life productively and seek maximum satisfaction by only focusing on what is truly important to you. 

So by asking yourself what 20% of sources are causing 80% of your problems and unhappiness, you are able to begin putting the 80/20 Principle into practice! Once you identify what these issues are, you just have to figure out how to eliminate them from your life. If you can’t completely eliminate them, then at least you can greatly reduce them so that you can spend your time and energy on better things.

What 20% of sources are causing 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?

Once you have figured out the main issues that you need to eliminate, you can now go on to look at what you can keep and increase in your life! You have subtracted out what you don’t want, and now you have room to add in what you do want. 🙂

You can also ask yourself some other questions based on the 80/20 Principle, such as:

Who are the 20% of people who contribute to 80% of your enjoyment and help you grow?

Who are the 20% of people who cause 80% of your anger and second guessing?

There are so many questions you can ask yourself based on this principle, so don’t limit yourself to just these above. Come up with some of your own if you want! If you have a good one, you can always put it in the comments below so that others can think about it too.

Keep an Open Mind

People with an open mind experience much more in life simply because they are open to it. Keeping an open mind is being slow to judge. It means trying new things, and letting go of old negative energy and grudges. When you keep your mind open, your world opens up too. You find that there are more possibilities for you than you thought and that your life is not just set in stone. It is open to whatever you are. Keeping an open mind opens up new opportunities, adventures, and experiences. It also rids you of a lot of unnecessary negativity that comes with a closed mind. Closed minds are stubborn and complicated. When you start living with an open mind, everything is so much more simple, clear, and fun. You can learn a lot by simply experiencing everything without judging so much.

Listen to Your Inner Self

For me personally, I put a lot of emphasis on this because it is so true. Every time I have tried to ignore what my inner self was telling me, I became miserable. Some people call this inner self God, or the Universe, or your gut feeling, etc. It doesn’t really matter what you call it as long as you understand what I am talking about. Everyone has their own personal preference as to what exactly this inner feeling is. But no one can deny that there is some kind of inner feeling that seems somewhat spiritual in a sense.

To trust your inner self you must first get to know your inner self. Maybe you do this through prayer, or meditation, or some other way. Knowing your inner self is one of the best things you can do for yourself because once you know your inner self, you can listen to its guidance. Your inner self is your true self, and it already knows what you truly want and don’t want out of life. It simply knows everything you need for a fulfilling life. All you have to do is listen.

Sometimes we think we know what we want but when we get it, we realize that we didn’t actually want it. This is because we actually didn’t know what we wanted.  We thought we knew what  we wanted, but in reality we didn’t. This is because we didn’t connect with our inner self. The inner self always knows exactly what you need, and it is always there waiting to show you the way. All you have to do is pay attention to it and be open to it.

By listening to your inner self, you start to live according to your true values and desires. Life becomes more simple because you are not confused with what society wants for you, what you think you want for yourself, and what you really want for yourself. You know deep down what you want, and life becomes much more simple and enjoyable when you listen to that.

There are many other ways to live simply – such as eating healthy meals, hanging out with positive people, keeping your thoughts positive, personal development, smiling, connecting with nature, etc.- but instead I decided to focus on how to easily and permanently change your habits to live a simple and fulfilling life. I believe that if you follow these main principles above, then the rest of living simply will come to you as a byproduct.

To living your best life,

-Alex