Simplified Living for a Simplified Life: A Process for Creating More

Recently I found myself a little overwhelmed in life. This isn’t the first time. Life became more chaotic than was necessary. The interesting thing about accumulation and consumption is that it is gradual. Like a ninja in the night, you aren’t aware he’s there until – boom! It stabs you from behind, knocking you down almost in one swift blow.

Ok, perhaps I am being a little melodramatic. The truth is I am not alone. Many people in society suffer with this overwhelm from the pressures system of society place on us. None of us are forced to live in such a way, we are not classified officially as slaves, so why do we allow it to consume us. It is like an unwritten law or expectation. It consumes our soul. It consumes the beauty of our existence.

Consumption is rampant within society. Humans are addictive beings and when something makes us feel good, we crave more and slowly, or sometimes quickly, our consumption increases. It is easy to look at the material possessions and products that we consume as the problem however it goes beyond this. We become consumed by anything that “uses up” our resources including our time.

Whatever consumes us and is non-conducive to the importance of our existence I consider unhealthy. What I am marvelled by is how easy it is to become consumed. I am fascinated also by how negligent humans have become as a race to effects of consumerism. Not only do we accept it as a normal part of existence we worship it.

If aliens were to visit I wonder how we would appear to them. Like slaves? I understand drug addiction because I have been a drug-addict. As I look at the other activities society is consumed by I am not sure that there is great difference. Sure the ultimate effects of such activities may differ, like smoking – perilous!

Here is a thought, if consumption takes the joy away from this existence of life, if it shortens our time, if it causes suffering in our lives is it any different from a drug that may kill us? Is a smoker any worse off than a person addicted to sugar or a man who watches 5 hours of TV a day for now noticeable gain? Something to ponder.

Let’s pause and do some quick calculations. The average person is said to watch 5 hours of TV per day. Over a year that equates to 1,820 hours or 75 days. That is about one-fifth of a year dedicated to something that may not give us any significant gain. It can have the reserve effects of progress. Over the course of a lifetime, let’s say that’s 70 years, that is a massive 14 years watching TV. Wow!

I suggest that if it feels good do it. If you can see the benefits continue. I do not suggest that TV is evil, it can be entertaining and relaxing at times, it’s consumptive qualities are. Here is the fact with consumption, it affects our brain and neural paths to make us think we enjoy it. Nicotine has this affect to make us think we enjoy smoking but really, what is the joy from inhaling poisonous, bad tasting smoke into our lungs?

If something consumes us we must ask ourselves why and what is the greater benefit of such activities or behaviours. It is essential that we look beyond any immediate or false pleasures we associate with such activities. In most part it is just our conditioned mind having been brainwashed for days, weeks or years that makes us think its pleasurable even though it isn’t. For others it may actually be pleasurable yet because we are naturally short sighted, not being able to see too far into the future, we fail to realise the long-term effects such activities might have.

Dig deep to finding the real reason such activities consume you. I do not know the meaning of life but I have an opinion. I read somewhere that the purpose of life is the purpose of life. Simple yet perhaps true! I believe life is living with deep happiness. This requires the removal of suffering and to experience this existence in a way that makes us feel good, as best we can.

True happiness therefore is not a result of an activity that brings momentary pleasure to help mask suffering we may be experiencing. Suffering is self-created, agree or not, all suffering stems from one’s mind and the mind is the only place that we have absolute control. And I suggest one route cause is due to the consumption obsession society that we live in.

There is not one way to live life. Actually, let me restate that, there is only one way and that is to follow the path on your unique journey in life. To do this I believe we need to simplify our lives. If we can find ways to simplify how we live I believe we can actually create more.

For me what life boils down to is to make the best use of the time I have. Not to “use up” my time on wasteful activities that bring me no greater level of happiness. Time effectiveness is the ability to extract true purpose out of each moment. Therefore, if an activity or behaviours that is consuming in nature does not bring with it greater purpose, as it relatives to the individual, it needs to be disposed of.

I was knocked down, blindingly so from the accumulation of all the things that have been consuming me and my time. For someone that considers himself very self-aware I beat myself up as to why I’ve let this happen again. Consumption is deceptive. The addictive nature of the things we do make us believe we want more. They have a lure that can be so attractive and without conscious thought we swallow the lure and let it take us for a ride. I don’t want to be the catch of the day!

Not so long ago I released myself from the grips of material possessions. We made a move to a new country and in doing so sold much of what we owned. We still have some furniture and belongings stored in a container with the purpose so that if we do return home we don’t have to go out and buy more stuff. Other than that however for now I live a very minimalistic life.

I have things that are more out of necessity than desire. It surprising how little one really does need to live the life they desire. I don’t suggest that nice luxuries are evil. Some things do bring one a level of deep contentment. I know what I need and it’s not that much. It has been a gradual process and with practice I have become less a consumer of material things. It is very liberating.

The area that I realise that I must work on now is the other tasks and activities that consume my time. It was an accumulation of all the tasks and activities that I shoved into my schedule that lead to me overwhelm and burnout. I wasn’t a wreck rather I was feeling more anxious. Moments became less enjoyable as I ambitiously tried to navigate my way through the clutter of tasks that I put on my plate.

I am aware that we don’t need to rely on a disaster to occur before we consume less. Change doesn’t require us to “hit rock bottom.” We can look at our purchases as easily as we can look at our daily lives and activities with logic and ask ourselves, what has meaning? What can I remove? If you don’t have this level of awareness it is likely because you are so consumed by everything that infiltrates your life that there is simply a lack of time to be aware.

The process of simplification actually creates space to become more aware. In developing one’s awareness, we become more clear on what is essential and important in our lives and what is not. Question yourself and don’t be afraid to challenge an existing belief. It is likely such a belief is false and created from such consumptive behaviour in the first place. Awareness allows room for us to ask and reflect on important questions.

Ask yourself this, at the end of my life will removing this procession or activity from my life really matter? If you still find it hard to let go or grasp the concept of what truly matters in life go search YouTube for ‘planets size comparison’ videos. It helps me put things into perspective to how truly small I am. It helps me better understand what is important and what is not.

I am a big dreamer and very ambitious person. I have goals and things I want to achieve but I don’t wish to live this experience with suffering or regret. In not knowing when it may all end I simply want to be happy. I have discovered over several years, and still discovering that a simplified life actually creates more. We have all heard the saying that “less is more.” I believe this has some truth.

To live more simply and create a simplified life we first have to become aware. Realise our consuming behaviours and activities and then start with one small step to change/remove some of them. There are many methods and simple ideas that I will share with you in an upcoming article to assist you. Be mindful that how I simplify my life may not be the best or only method for you. If they assist and offer some value, then great.

As I have said before life is complex but this doesn’t mean how we live life needs to be complicated. It is human tendency to complicate things. The condition of consumption creates complexity. Find way to simplify life and one will find an increases abundance of everything that is truly important.

If you are in search of assistance to bring back balance and simplify your life please feel free to reach out to me and schedule a consultation call. It’s a free half hour call and if it may provide some benefit and value.