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Even if you woke up this morning feeling stressed, anxious, or apathetic, you can choose to make today a simpler day.
A simpler day is not necessarily an easy day or a perfect day, but one where your heart feels more at peace and your life feels less scattered. Living a simpler life is a choice to strip away the non-essential to make room for what really matters. It’s a way to turn down the distractions and make space for meaning.
No matter who you are, a simpler day can be the perfect gift to yourself and to those around you. And best of all, choosing a simpler day is not some impressive feat reserved for a special few– it’s a path that anyone can take and learn to enjoy step by step. If you’re ready to have a taste of the simpler life today, choose a few items from the list below and get started.
1. Write down your 3 most important tasks.
Choose the 3 things that you most want or need to get done today and write them on an index card. Of course, you’ll do more than 3 things today, but if you start with what’s on your list and finish those first, then you’ll know that you made genuine progress on work that really matters.
2. Work on 1 thing at a time.
It’s tempting to jump around from one task to another. Maybe we’re bored or we’re trying to be efficient, but this juggling of tasks is part of what makes our days feel hurried and scattered. Instead, choose a single task to work on until you are finished. And then enjoy the satisfaction of completion.
3. Stay present and don’t reach for distraction.
Don’t fill the dead moments of your life with distraction or reach for your phone for a quick hit of dopamine. It may provide relief in the moment, but it’s rewiring your brain to be more easily distracted and less able to sit quietly and enjoy the simple pleasures around you.
4. Pay attention to the world around you.
At any given moment, in the most mundane activities of life, there are hundreds of things to notice. From the particular color of the sky to the feeling of hard pavement under your feet. The more you notice these simple details, the more you will come to appreciate them, and the richer your ordinary days can become.
5. Really listen to people and be curious.
Nothing can make your day simpler than recognizing that relationships are the most valuable investment of your time you can make. The people you know and come in contact with on a regular basis aren’t just props in the drama of your life, they are a person just like you with fears, pleasures, and dreams. Asking thoughtful questions to better know these people is a wonderful place to begin.
6. Put all your worries in a box.
Make the simple decision that today you will focus on today, and today only. Tomorrow’s concerns have tomorrow. This includes all of the “what if” scenarios that pop-up in our mind when we begin to imagine the worst. Other than basic planning ahead and wise preparation, you can greatly simplify your life by deciding to deal with every challenge only when it truly presents itself.
7. Decide that you have enough.
There is a certain pleasure in desiring something, and holding out hope that someday you might have it. But living in a place of constant longing for more comes at a cost. It causes us to overlook what we do have and miss the deeper joy of knowing that it’s already enough.
8. Be grateful for every experience.
Gratitude is a life-simplifying attitude like no other. Being grateful causes so many of your concerns and worries to fade away as appreciation takes its place. Gratitude is a simple joy– one that does not demand anything, but simply accepts today for what it is and appreciates any degree of kindness that was bestowed.
9. Look for ways to love others.
We complicate our lives needlessly by focusing constantly on our own needs and cravings. Of course, it’s natural to want the best for yourself, but an unhealthy obsession with this desire is not the answer. Simplify your life today by living it for the good of others. Watch how your complications fade away and your own joy increases.
Put these 9 habits into practice in small ways and notice how your days feel simpler. The pleasures that come from a simpler life are much different than the kinds of pleasures normally celebrated in advertisements, but in my experience, they are richer and more satisfying. Use your new found simplicity to focus and go deeper on the things that matter most in life, and the gift of simplicity will be one that keeps on giving.
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