How to learn to live simply: 8 tips from Leo Babauta

The less we keep unnecessary things in our lives, the less stress we expose ourselves to.
As a result, our new life becomes easy and pleasant! Let's put things in order in our home and in our lives, let's start living simply! What is minimalism? This is when there is nothing superfluous in life. You live and possess only what is minimally necessary for you to live. The first thing that comes to mind is the lifestyle of hippies and gypsies. But this is far from true and is a misconception. The concept of minimalism includes the concept of prioritizing quality over quantity in every aspect of our lives .

Once you change your outlook and find your path in life, you will be rewarded: you will have more freedom, more money, more opportunities to meet people and much less stress .

It is known that Albert Einstein dressed as modestly as possible and simplified his lifestyle. He did not wear socks, braces, a belt, a tie, and very rarely had his hair cut. But this did not stop him from being a genius and enjoying life!

Watch your affections

Life will not be simple unless you let go of your attachments. If you are attached to old memorabilia, you will not be able to free your home from junk; if you are attached to constant activity and correspondence, you are at risk of information overload and fatigue.

Track your attachments and find out what you can’t get rid of, what you can’t let go of. Whether it's things, people or things, remember that if you don't let them go, you won't get freedom and life will always be too difficult.

Why it doesn't hurt to be sociable

When you develop your communication skills, you expand the possibilities in your life. Through people you can get to know this world in all its diversity. Also, when you learn something new and can share it with others, it reinforces the acquired knowledge and feelings in you. But let's go point by point:

• You develop self-confidence.

Every time you meet new people or maintain old connections, you have the opportunity to talk about yourself and your activities. You learn to conduct dialogue in different situations and with different people.

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• It's easier to achieve your goals.

You've probably heard about the law of "seven handshakes." The larger your circle of acquaintances, the easier it is to solve any issue and any problem. There will always be the “right” person in your environment who can help you.

• You get to know yourself again.

With every new acquaintance, you have the opportunity to get to know yourself again and again. By telling other people about yourself, you tell the person about who you are at the current moment in time. You talk about your latest achievements and plans.

• Satisfy the need for recognition.

I am sure that in any communication you want to be understood. After all, you are the whole universe. With your values ​​and ideals, with your goals and achievements. And I want to share all this with the world. And the world is the people who surround you. Only by communicating with other people can you be recognized.

Fight the habit of getting distracted

We are used to being constantly distracted, interrupting our activities and feeling terribly busy. When talking with a person, we switch to messages in instant messengers. When we travel, we step out of reality to take more new photos and post them on social networks. We are distracted by phone notifications and empty conversations, and if there are none, by our thoughts, memories and fears. All this makes it difficult to concentrate on the present moment and enjoy it.

But it is important to understand that this is not a character trait or a feature of the brain, but just a bad habit that you can get rid of with effort.

Be honest

If you are “loaded” in vain, then think, what will this worry bring to you? Never mind! So why do you need it? Why waste time on this? Are you living such a boring life that you allow all sorts of “junk” to settle in your head?!

We are often afraid to admit to ourselves what we really want. Thinking about condemnations and mistakes, we place a huge burden of doubt in our heads and souls, which gives us no peace.

We are “loaded” with thoughts about how to do the right thing, what to say, how to respond.

The answer is simple: you need to speak and act honestly .

Being honest is always the right thing to do. Not being afraid to tell the truth (to yourself, first of all!) is the choice of strong and wise people.

Let go of unnecessary thoughts, be alone with yourself and answer the question: what exactly do I want? And act in the given direction. Don’t be afraid to change jobs, stand up for your rights, and protect yourself by fighting back against your abuser.

Many of us are tormented by feelings of guilt due to missed opportunities and mistakes made. But this is experience. And we can only feel gratitude for it, because it builds our personality.

Forgive yourself for all your misunderstandings. Forgive the people around you for the negative emotions they brought to you. All this is a long time ago, lessons have been learned, mistakes have been corrected. There are new opportunities and chances ahead, don’t lose them by digging through the “dirty laundry” of the past.

By clearing your thoughts, you will free up space for really important things that will delight you, because they are desired by you.

Take your life to full screen mode

Imagine that any task you do - work, answering email, washing dishes or reading - is expanded to full screen. There is only this task, you see nothing except it. If you expand every task to full screen, life will be much less stressful.

When you fully concentrate on any task, it turns out much better, and you experience pleasure while doing it.

For example, try washing the dishes without being distracted by the TV, conversations or thoughts in your head. Your movements will become precise and controlled, and you will really start to enjoy it.

Replace obsessive thoughts with positive ones

Whatever one may say, any situation, even the most unpleasant one, has its positive sides. Let's look at how you can turn obsessive thoughts into positive ones.

Increase pauses between tasks

Reduce the number of things on your list. Plan only half of what you think you can do. We constantly overload ourselves with tasks, forgetting about such simple things as cooking, putting ourselves in order, taking care of clothes.

We always don't have time because we try to do too much. Free up time to do everything slowly, with complete immersion in the task. Leave time between tasks to enjoy their successful completion.

Take time and pay attention to what is happening around you so that you can manage your life.

Will we be slaves to our things?

In addition, a huge amount of property binds us to a place . Remember the article “How much should you buy to be happy?”, where I described the fact that over the past 60 years there has been a trend in the world to almost double the area of ​​apartments and houses, and that we need a place to store household appliances , clothes and other things!

The fewer things we own, the more freely we can move. You think that benefits make your life more comfortable, but most likely they just limit and impoverish you and your life.

Figure out what you need and discard the rest.

We rarely know what we really want. All we need to do is see a photo of something cool to immediately want it and change our focus in life. Looking at others, we come up with unrealistic desires and suffer from the fact that they are not fulfilled. We want to take up an expensive hobby because we saw someone else doing it. We want a different hairstyle, a different phone, a different body and a different life.

Every time you have fleeting desires because of photos, videos or other people's stories, ask yourself if this is yours. Try to understand what inspired the desire to buy something or do something, and whether you really need it.

The more you brush aside unnecessary things, purchases and desires, the easier and better your life becomes.

The debate between the mind and the heart

Very often, many girls are faced with situations where the heart tells one thing, but common sense and experience say something else. Almost always, such a dispute between the mind and heart arises due to constant analysis and reflection on the situation. You try to take into account all the little things so as not to miss anything, but in the end you miss something very important. Sometimes it is worth listening to your heart and intuition, taking risks and, perhaps, finding the greatest happiness in life. You don’t need to listen to the advice of others and do what they think is right if you feel that you don’t want to. There is nothing worse than regretting something you didn't do. Follow your desires, be happy, and you will not notice how you will become the very ideal of simplicity that everyone is drawn to.

Practice doing nothing

We are so used to doing something all the time that doing nothing gives us real pain. Try to give up all activities: don’t read, don’t look at your smartphone, don’t eat. Just do absolutely nothing.

At first, there will be suggestions in your head about what you can do, some important and urgent matters. You will begin to get bored, maybe you will be drawn to sleep. Don't give up - just don't do anything.

It would seem such a simple practice, but you are unlikely to endure it for long. Get used to it gradually - it helps to cope with tension, internal haste and fussiness.

Follow these tips and see how your life changes. Most likely, you will find a lot of beauty in the world around you and in yourself.

PS Did you finish reading this article without interruption for other things?

A psychologist's recommendation on how to stop worrying and stressing yourself out.

Below, there will be techniques so that you can stop your internal mental stirring, the task of all techniques is to remove obsessive thoughts so that you can switch your attention (thoughts) to something else and relax.

A breathing technique that switches your body into relaxation mode.

Slow, conscious breathing will help you get out of stress mode and enter a relaxed state. Slow inhalations and exhalations. You should shift your attention from your head, from thoughts to your body. Start breathing and observing your breathing.

When you observe, the focus of attention shifts and thoughts begin to drift away. Each inhalation and exhalation you count:

• Inhale – 1
• Exhale – 2
• Inhale – 3
• Exhale – 4, etc.

Try to breathe deeply and with your stomach, feel every inhalation and exhalation, feel how your body moves in time with your breathing:

• Inhale - the stomach rises;
• Exhale - the stomach retracts;

When your attention is completely absorbed in the breathing process, thoughts will stop and the body will begin to relax. It is better to breathe while lying down, but you can also breathe while sitting.

Count your inhalations and exhalations to 12, and then start again from one.

When you breathe, thoughts may slip through again, you will immediately “see” them, feel them, but with an effort of will, you should focus on breathing again.

Breathe until you feel calm.

Especially for people who are stressed, experience tension in the body, are emotionally wound up, I wrote “Brief instructions for relieving tension in the body,” this is a cheat sheet that you can use in a moment of severe stress and calm down. To this instruction, I have added an audio meditation for deep relaxation - all this, completely FREE! Click here and take your peace of mind!

Technique "Stop the ticker"

The procedure for performing the exercise “Stopping the ticker”:

1. Imagine your inner mental space inside your skull.
2. And imagine your thoughts as an electronic ticker of some color.
3. Having seen your mental ticker, you will immediately understand that the information is repeated; as soon as your thought ends, it immediately appears again.
4. Step back and see inside your mental space, where is your ticker popping up from? And how many of these lines are there?
5. Now your task is to stop the ticker, and since it is electric, it means there is a power source somewhere. And the source of power is your emotions. See where the cord from the ticker goes?
6. Disconnect your ticker from the battery.

And now, your task is to discharge the battery with your experiences. Do the following exercise.

Discharging the battery with emotions.

You saw a cord that is attached to your ticker.

Mentally take the cord in your hands and start looking - where does it come from? Let your imagination imagine some kind of container in which your emotions are located... it could be any vessel filled with a boiling composition, this composition boils and gurgles, and produces a lot of energy. These are your emotions...

When you see your vessel with emotions, remove the lid so that steam comes out and the tension decreases. When you open the lid, consciously relax your body and take several deep and slow breaths in and out….

Now that your emotions have calmed down a bit, unplug the ticker cord from the vessel.

Do you feel better?

You can continue to breathe and then you will calm down completely.

If you feel a little better, but you feel tension, then continue the exercise.

Change the composition and quality of emotions.

Now, your emotions have a negative connotation:

• Fear;
• Anxiety;
• Helplessness;
• Anger;
• Indignation, etc.

See what color the composition is in the vessel? Most likely, it is dark...

For a moment, imagine a blue sky and a bright sun... see how a ray of warmth, light is reaching out to you, and right now, this ray is falling into your vessel with negative emotions...

A thin ray of sunlight begins to lighten the contents of the vessel... and now, the ray becomes larger and stronger, and the lightening occurs faster and faster...

Let the sunshine completely change your emotions...

You see how the composition in the vessel has become lighter, calmer, it no longer gurgles and does not try to get out... and your body relaxes, you breathe slowly and see how a ray of sunlight changes your internal state...

Focus on the ray of light... and when the contents of the vessel become completely calm and bright, then pour the contents over your body, let your body relax even more, feel the sun inside you, how it warms you, gives you a feeling of warmth, care and love...

Stay in this state as long as you need..

I offer you a few more recommendations from a psychologist on how to stop worrying and stressing yourself out.

I won't think about it!

1. Ask yourself: what am I thinking about right now? (voice the thoughts that are in your head out loud)
2. I want to think about this? (no, I don't want to think about it anymore)
3. You say to yourself: “I won’t think about it anymore.” and if this thought appears again, then you say to yourself: “I already thought of you, get out of here!” Don't think this simple trick won't work, it really does.
4. As soon as some clearing appears in your head, you begin to breathe slowly, with your stomach, deeply and slowly. Take 5-10 breaths in and out, observing your breathing.
5. If your thoughts come back while breathing, then tell her, I’ve already thought of you, get out of here.

What can stop you from becoming sociable?

Various settings can interfere with this issue:

• "I'm imposing."

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA: Pexels
This is a very common attitude when you may feel that your questions now will not be appropriate and you may interfere with another person. In this case, you need to remember that if you make contact at an inconvenient time for the other person, they will tell you about it. And also, you don’t need to think for another person. If it is important for you to enter into dialogue now, enter.

• “Who needs my opinion.”

Definitely, if your opinion was not asked, then there is no need to give advice or criticize someone or something. By doing so, you will violate the personal boundaries of another person. But if your opinion was asked, then you shouldn’t remain silent. This is a great opportunity to express yourself and share your vision of the situation. For someone, your opinion may be important.

• “I’d rather completely agree.”

This installation is very closely related to the previous one. In this attitude lies a great fear of being criticized. You may be afraid that your opinion may run counter to the opinions of others and may be ridiculed. And you can choose a position in which you agree with everyone. But this position will not make you a good conversationalist. A person with his own opinion is always interesting.