9 Pillars of a Simple Life

What values speak through your lifestyle?

Many people fail to recognize what they want or never meet those expectations. When you are aware of the qualities guiding you to a fulfilling life, you get to consciously shape your experience.

You can train your mind to become more adept at recognizing possibilities for personal and professional growth. However, many of us still live by default. We mindlessly get carried away by our thoughts, compulsive habits formed in childhood.

Everyone has the power to make small changes in their behaviour, surroundings, and relationships that can set us on the course for a joyful life.

Here are mindset shifts that led me on a happier path:

#1. I have embraced action.

My core value: Responsibility.

You only have control over three things in your life - the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take.

How you use these three things determines everything you experience. If you don't like what you get, change your responses. Transform your negative thoughts into positive ones. Change what you daydream about. Alter your habits. Change what you read. Make new friends. Change the way you talk.

Instead of counterproductive lamenting about the mischief of life, incorporate changes or accept the current situation.

Complaining means you have a reference point for something better you would prefer, but you are unwilling to take the risk of creating.

Either accept that you are making the choice to stay where you are, take responsibility for your decision, and stop complaining…or…take the risk of creating your life exactly the way you want it.

Complaining is a complete waste of one's energy. Those who complain the most accomplish the least.

~ Robert Tew

#2. I refuse to focus on the negativity.

My core value: Focus on the solution.

You cannot control all the circumstances in your life, but you can control how you respond to them.

Everything is neutral except for the meaning we choose to give it. It takes practice to mindfully pick your best thoughts, to look at the bright side. Still, it is doable and works every time.

For example, when the lockdown began, I returned to my parents' house. After a while, it became uncomfortable, no longer living on my own. However, I knew I could not spiral down the victim narrative. I focused on things I get to be grateful for, time with my family, lessons I get to work through, privileges I still get to exercise.

Train your brain to concentrate on soothing thoughts. Consistency is the key. People who can get themselves up after traumas are the ones who define themselves not by what had happened to them, but by what they can make out of it.

It's a wonderful thing to be optimistic. It keeps you healthy and it keeps you resilient.

~ Daniel Kahneman

#3. I work on my subconscious beliefs.

My core value: Independence.

You are a product of beliefs rummaging through your head.

They have been installed in you since childhood. There is no point fighting them, complaining how unfair you might have been treated as a child.

Become aware of those mental limitations. Own them. Stop and observe your habitual responses. Make a selection. Throw destructive and disempowering beliefs away, plant new seeds, and nurture them. Listen to 8 hours of powerful affirmations during the night, when the subconscious is most vulnerable. Those recordings changed my life.

I refuse to follow the beaten track just because society expects me to. I am in no way a rebel. I choose to align my beliefs with desires and goals I know I can accomplish. Start believing you are lucky from the minute you wake up, and you will be.

All of us have our own inner fears, beliefs, opinions. These inner assumptions rule and govern our lives. A suggestion has no power in and of itself. Its power arises from the fact that you accept it mentally.

~ Joseph Murphy

#4. I marvel at little things.

My core value: Gratitude.

How you perceive your surrounding is the mirror of your mental state.

When you establish your happiness upon something big, eventually it is going to crush you. Whenever you put something on a pedestal, it becomes unattainable and fragile.

I am not saying you should change your dreams. I encourage you to alter your perception of them. Treat it as a regular. Gratitude is not just a popular hashtag on social media but a game-changer in receiving more from life.

How lucky are you to be sleeping in the comfort of your own bed?

How rewarding is it to look outside the window and admire nature in its purest form?

How blessed are you to be able to physically move without anyone's assistance?

How amazing is it to breathe on our own, with no machines attached?

How fabulous to be aware of your thoughts and getting to mock them, alter the beliefs which rule our behaviour?

Enjoy the little things. For one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

~ Robert Brault

#5. I no longer chase.

My core value: Faith.

Chasing means lack.

When you are hungry for more, you are implying that where you are, who you are, is not enough. Your whole energy is responsible for what you attract into the physical reality. Once you get used to the frequency of striving for more, there will always be the next illusionary top to reach. The quest is never-ending.

However, once you allow yourself to be enough, have enough, you are no longer chasing, but manifesting your dreams from the place of satisfaction, harmony, while still appreciating the next destination.

I have learnt to be at peace with where I am, even if I realize it is not my final goal. I keep faith that, for now, there are still lessons I need to work with. After completing the purpose, my next season will present itself organically.

Chasing the external to achieve joy is a death-trap for personal-development.

~ Bryant McGill

#6. I quit worrying.

My core value: Harmony.

When you stress over what you cannot control, you are literally poisoning your own body and spirit.

There is no point in musing over the actions of others or what happened in the past. However, I am deeply convinced that many circumstances fall into our jurisdiction. We can influence our dominant thoughts. We get to exercise our subconscious into processing and conjuring constructive patterns. It takes effort, discipline, tantrums, disappointments, and even doubts.

Altogether, it boils down to the practice of mindfulness. We learn to manage our energy effectively to collaborate with the surrounding. With mindfulness comes peace and thoughtful reactions to external factors. In the present moment, nobody can throw you off. Your mind becomes immune to the sabotaging thoughts of your automatic behaviours.

Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.

~ Erma Bombeck

#7. I have ceased any judgment.

My core value: Acceptance.

Whenever I feel the urge to criticize, I acknowledge the temptation but do not give in to it.

Coming to terms with this destructive habit of the mind helps to release it. We judge because we have practised it for so long. We judge because we feel inferior, and criticizing tricks us into believing we are better than that.

However, judgment is another form of negative energy you cultivate, only to destroy your inner peace eventually. It isolates you from people, as you close yourself to get to know the truth about them the moment judgment enters the scene.

Criticism seems to be enjoying a prime spot in our culture, yet it only breeds more chaos and pain. Where judgment is born, no love or gratitude can thrive. And those elevated emotions are the powerhouses of prosperity, abundance, and harmony.

When you judge others, you do not define them, you define yourself.

~ Earl Nightingale

#8. I no longer run away from my feelings.

My core value: Credibility.

Emotions are exquisite. They constitute our guiding system.

Denying yourself reactions, whether jealousy or ecstasy, cause blockages of your energy flow. By stifling them, you only magnify accumulated energy. When you refuse to recognize unwanted emotions, they are bound to come back stronger and cause havoc in your mind and body coherence.

Whenever any emotion comes up, sit with it, honour it, so you can live through it and let go. The technique of letting go healed my life. Feelings such as shame, anger, doubt are natural components of our nature, and we should not be embarrassed for having human reactions. When you make room for your authenticity, you get to feel comfortable with others as well.

Letting go involves being aware of a feeling, letting it come up, staying with it, and letting it run its course without wanting to make it different or do anything about it.

~ David R. Hawkins, Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender

#9. I have made myself a top priority.

My core value: Happiness.

Your focus is your leverage in creating an exciting and fulfilling lifestyle.

I no longer distract myself with the achievements of others. No gossiping. No checking up on Instagram every few minutes. I get to focus solely on my endeavours, and because of that, I apply a flexible approach and recognize opportunities once they come along.

What you bring your attention to gets magnified. When you are constantly preoccupied with how others are performing, you are abandoning yourself, your standards, and your purpose. If something does not align with my values, I abashedly refuse to participate and no longer feel guilty about it. This practice has raised my self-worth, self-confidence, and self-love. Those components are crucial in allowing miracles to enter your path.

Having low opinion of yourself is not modesty. It is a self-destruction.

~ Bobbe Sommer

Change requires mindfulness.

To alter your core beliefs, you need to become aware of what is already limiting you. Write down the most important values, whether it comes to people, work environment, household. Evaluate in which areas you lack them. What can you do differently? What changes can you exercise today?

Shifting your mindset does take practice, self-discipline, and presence. You cannot rush through life, unconscious of your reactions, and expect any improvement in people, environment, and new opportunities to come your way. Nothing will grow unless you do.

When we put the effort into our internal transformation, the outward reality will follow the suit. We tend to paint life as more demanding than it is. When, in fact, all the tools necessary to cope with any unfavourable circumstances lie in your perception of it.

You are the change you seek.