May

22

Simplify and Focus on Meaning!

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Well, I have not posted to my blog for a while, I just became too busy. After reading some of the suggestions to simplify your life by Linda Breen Pierce posted on Free from 9 to 5 caused me to reflect on the current business in my life. The suggestions from the article really got me thinking, to take a step back and examine my life:

  • Don’t let any material thing come into your home unless you absolutely love it and want to keep it until it is beyond repair. Too much stuff - it’s suffocating us. Purchasing, maintaining, insuring, storing and eventually disposing of our stuff sucks up our precious life energy.

I have too much things and stuff which I need to maintain not only things but also some activities which I do because its expected or a tradition!

  • Live in a home with only those rooms that you or someone in your family use every day. Create a cozy home environment that fits your family. You will find this is much more satisfying than living in a museum designed to impress your friends. Spending time and money to maintain a home that is larger than you truly need diverts these resources from more fulfilling endeavors.

This reminds me to be real and authentic, purchasing to impress other is futile! I value people not things…..

  • Limit your work (outside of the home) to 30 hours a week, 20 if you are a parent. To live a balanced life, we need “down” time - time to daydream, to relax, to prepare a leisurely meal, to take a walk. If we surround our structured activities with empty spaces, those activities will become more productive and meaningful.

This really hit me between my eyes! I have almost no downtime, not time to stop and think through where I am in my life, what I want from life and to really connect with those who matter to me. One of the reasons I started this blog was to create a place and some space to stop and reflect!

  • Select a home and place of employment no more than 30 minutes away from each other. Commuting time is dead time. Preserve your energy and money for more rewarding life experiences.

Another thing to work on, currently I spend at least 90 minutes a day commuting to and from my place of work!

  • Spend at least an hour a week in a natural setting, away from crowds of people, traffic, and buildings. Three to four hours of nature time each week is even better. There is nothing more basic, more simple, than the natural world.

For me this is an extension of the “making a time and place to think” principle.

  • Do whatever you need to do to connect with a sense of spirit in your life, whether it be prayer, religious services, journal writing, meditation, or spiritually-related reading. Simplicity leads to spirituality; spirituality leads to simplicity. Cultivate a practice of silence and solitude, even for 15 to 30 minutes a day. Your spirituality will evolve naturally.

This is another area of my life that has taken a beating this year!

  • Practice saying no. Say no to those things that don’t bring you inner peace and fulfillment, whether it be more material things, greater career responsibility, or added social activities. Be vigilant with your time and energy; they are limited resources. If you say yes to one thing (like a job promotion), recognize that you are saying no to something else (perhaps more time with family). Live consciously and deliberately.

Now this is a challenge, my companies management likes to coin the phase “customer orientated”, which in the organisation’s culture actually means “never say no” and “do as much as you can” and “all projects are a number 1 priority”. However, I need to consciously choose to live differently!

Its clear that to live a life which is fulfilled and has meaning requires us to be intentional. To make time to think and reflect on those things which really matter. How about you guys? How intentional are you being in creating a life full of meaning? How would you rate yourself?

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