Less is Simply More

Is your life on overload? Are you enjoying the present, or are you too busy to know? Get in touch with the essence of you and discover your treasures chest of precious gems.

By clearing the exte
al distractions as well as all the noise in our heads we can establish the space to discover and focus on what really matters.

Purge your life of the non-essentials. Be fully awake to what is truly important.

1. Stop being materialistic. Stop buying things. Cherish quality and buy less. More things mean more responsibility, which equates to more time spent on maintenance and organizing. Supreme success is about modesty and kindness, says the “I Ching”, and not about possessions. When you attract people to you for who you are, rather than what you are, or what you represent, good fortune will find you.

2. Be free of task cramming adrenaline behavior. Learn to be bored and you may learn about your vulnerabilities. Stimulants, like to do lists, television, caffeine, nicotine, and adrenaline, keep us distracted. They push us to do the things we would prefer not to do, or they numb us. Quietness can be painful and profoundly revealing. It can help us focus on the big picture, but we have to stop rushing around to hear the whisper within.

3. Say no just because you feel like it. No gives you a sense of who you are, and it eliminates a lot of projects, commitments, and plans that are not important. Make a list of the promises that you have made to others, and to yourself, that are draining your energy. Take them back and work out alte
atives. Keeping your focus on expanding what you already have, offers more potential than starting something from scratch.

4. Dump toxic people from your experiences. We want our spouse, our friends, our kids, and our pets to add energy to our lives not suck it away. Keep ten valuable personal relationships and jettison the rest. Spend the extra time nurturing the friends you enjoy.

5. Delegate household chores. If you are part of a family, or a couple, you owe it to your partner or kids to delegate. This is how they learn to be part of a whole, and how you create some time for your own self-care. Care for yourself first and you’ll find you have more to give. Allow people the opportunity to honor your wishes by telling them what you want and need. Enlist a friend, or family member to help you, or hire a house cleaner, an errand person, a gardener, or a virtual assistant.

6. Make your appearance awesome. Throw out every piece of clothing that does not make you look and feel great now. Lighten your guilt load, empty your closets of “ I should fit into these” cloths. As a reward you can buy one new fabulous item for every ten you donate. You are making space for a new and better you. This works just as well in your garage, basement, attic or storage unit. Collect treasures in your heart and not of the earth, and you will be abundantly rich.

7. Live from your guiding principles, your values. Know yourself, by asking “what do I need to be my best, what really makes me come alive”? Choices based on these answers simplify your existence. The fit between your deep felt beliefs and your conduct is living in integrity. Integrity is a peaceful place.

8. Take responsibility for all of your choices. This consciousness implies that we have the ability to do things differently. Therefore if I have no “me” time it is by my own design, and not by any exte
al force that I cannot command. Life is simpler when I know that I have the key to my own peace.

9. Arrange to be touched at least once a day. This simple gesture, this need, centers our body, mind, and spirit back to its natural primal state of wholeness. Connectedness infuses us with benevolence. It transforms us to quieter more peaceful beings.

10. Establish partnerships. Partnerships at minimum triple our effectiveness. Lone rangers are neither as effective nor as efficient. Shared visions and tasks make room for creative space. Shared responsibilities and resources strengthen our resolve. Partner with the best to bring out your best. Engage in the wisdom of experts. Enjoy the simplicity of community.

Resourcesr
Thomas Leonard, The Portable Coachr
The I Ching, The Book of Changes.
Nathanel Branden, The Six Pillars of Self Esteemr
Steven Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly effective People.