The
keys to living an Elegant Simplicity lifestyle are as follows:
1.
Buy only what I absolutely love.
2.
Live in a smaller house or apartment.
3.
Limit commute time (live close to my work and drive off-commute hours.
4.
Working Less. (apply the 80/20 rule)
5.
Praying and meditating more. Prayer works.
6.
Enjoy artistic pursuits. Art leads to creative thinking in all
areas of our life.
7.
Say yes only to the people and activities I truly enjoy. Why
not do what we love?
In
reviewing these keys, we can set goals to live a lifestyle of Elegant
Simplicity.
Some
of the things I've implemented into my lifestyle are to get rid of something old
as much as possible whenever I acquire something new. Whether we donate
the old things away, trash them, or sell them, it also can help to simplify and
remove clutter periodically in order to create room for new things in our life.
This
is also true with people. Say, for example, you recently had a friend move away.
You may feel a void in your life from no longer spending time with your
friend. Well, we can join a new organization or go out of our way to
befriend someone new and create a new friend, and perhaps add other aspects of
personality to our life.
Valuing
our friendships is a key to a happy life.
If
we are not spending time doing a hobby or artistic pursuit, we can ask "how
can I be more creative?" and through either a musical instrument, writing,
drawing or painting, or any other type of creative hobby, we can increase our
natural creative talent and add more elegance to our life.
By
limiting our commute and working less, we allow our life to be less complicated
and less stressed. Stress is a primary cause in a large majority of health
issues (back strain, tumors, etc.), and eliminating or reducing stress will
always result in a more enjoyable lifestyle.
How
much do we pray? I make it a personal thing to try to pray any time I feel
as if I am making an important decision. Rather than asking God to help
make the thing work out the way I want, I try to just be grateful for what I
have, and just surrender the issue to God, asking for my ultimate higher self
good to occur in the situation. It is amazing how that little prayer
removes stress and makes decision-making easier.
How
much quiet time do we have? If we are always around noise, it makes it
hard to tap into our dreams and goals.
Other
things we can do to live a simpler life include saying no to things we don't
want to buy or doing events we really don't want to attend. If we surround
the no with positives (using the PNP approach),
most people will respond favorably and still keep us on their list to ask next
time.
The
last question I like to think of in living elegantly, yet simply, is to
ask: "what am I passionate about right now?" If we are
living to allow our passions to flow in abundance, then our life will be more
happy. So, perhaps asking this question on a regular basis this year can
help us increase our abundance and happiness.
