If the past two weeks have taught us nothing else, it’s that we must simplify our lives.
This means we need to simplify our thoughts, our actions, how we consume, and how we live. Simplification looks different to everyone. One person’s simple is yet another person’s “chaos”. What is most important to understand is that simplification is a continual process, and that it’s best that it happens gradually.
Getting rid of “stuff” means that you are letting go of anything that no longer suits you. In the physical that may mean all of those clothes that you haven’t worn in over a year. In the spiritual it may mean how you think about yourself and others. In the mental it may mean coming to terms with the realization that your day to day tasks no longer fit you. In the personal it may mean having to examine just who you are spending your time with. Make no mistake about it, simplification is work.
When I started out on the quest of simplifying my life, I had no idea what I was doing. In fact, there are still times where I don’t. This is because as our life evolves, we change our minds and opinions about things…or we should be anyway…and that leads to a being in a constant state of evaluation. At first it is uncomfortable to do, but eventually you become uncomfortable if you don’t do it, if you don’t evaluate and simplify.
It was easiest for me to begin with things in my physical space. The more space that I created by getting rid of physical things, the more I craved to do. This led to examine how I spent my money and then that turned into getting rid of my pricy satellite TV package completely. Never did I think that I could go without it, but as it turns out I can never go back!
We tend to overcomplicate things by letting our emotions or past experiences get in the way of our progress and allow them to become blockages. The blockage is a defense mechanism that our egos cling to for it’s perceived safety. The truth is there is nothing to fear when it comes to simplification. Less is truly more; more time, more money, more space, and more freedom. And THAT is usually what ego fears…freedom.
From a young age we are told that we are free, yet our social conditioning says otherwise; you need a hall pass to go to the bathroom. You have to pay taxes. You can’t do this or that until you are such and such age. While these rules usually make sense, our lower selves grip on to the need of rules to subconsciously self-create more reasons to keep us from being truly free. Such as thinking things like “I can’t have that life if I want to be accepted.” Or “I can’t let go of this debt because I don’t know what life is like without it.” We usually do this as humans because we don’t feel worthy of freedom or trust ourselves with it. This is why you see people tend to overcomplicate their simplification process, and I am not immune.
It’s fun for the ego to hide behind charts, major To Do lists, graphs, calendars, planner books, the “but first I have to” excuse, or to think that we need to purchase expensive and designer organization boxes and cubes. However, this isn’t simplifying. You don’t have to live the life of a minimalist to lead a simple life either; I’m living proof of that with my 5 fully stocked bookcases. Simplification simply means that you are choosing to let go of that which you no longer need, cannot control, or want to control any longer. For instance, things like what religion other people chose to follow. The weather or how you felt about your 8th grade teacher. We can complicate simplification by thinking that we need counselors or need to purchase expensive programs to follow. In some cases that truly is what you need to do to set yourself free, but real simplification knows the distinction between needed the outside help, or just choosing to believe that because there is comfort in familiarity, even if it’s making us miserable. For most things, we as humans can simply just “let it go.” Period.
In coming vlogs, If you are concerned that we are not protecting our environment enough, I can show you how to get your electric bill to $64 without sacrificing comfort. If you are concerned about your rate of consumption, I can show you how 3 bank accounts and one credit card used as a short term line of credit will change your finances for the better forever. If time & cleanliness is a concern for you, I can show how 20 minutes per day keeps your house spotless. I can show you how that you only have to do laundry 2-3 times per week. I can even show you how to keep a horse for less than $150 per month. I can show you how to keep only what and who you love in your immediate space. I can show you that you DO have the time for your passions or to start your own business because you can create it. I can show anyone these things that I have personally road tested, but first the choice to want to let go of excess has to be made. It begins with a choice and everything else begins to come together.
In living a simple life you get freedom for sure. But the one thing that I got that I wasn’t banking on was that I got total and unequivocal independence for myself and my family. In the simplification process you find yourself. You fully come to understand that you are not what and who you keep around you. In fact the more unused clutter and fake relationships you have, you find that you’re just insulating yourself from becoming who you really are. The hindsight of the simplification process shows you that. At that point there is no going back. The simplification process makes you vulnerable, a little lonely at times, and a tad weird to others. But what you gain of yourself more than makes up for any of that short-term ego distraction and eventually you don’t pay attention to any of that.
Change doesn’t start from the top down, it starts from the bottom up. I can’t take credit for that statement as I think Bernie Sanders said it first, but if you think in terms of numbers, there’s always more at the bottom than the top. So how does anyone attempt to change the entire world from the bottom? By starting with themselves. You can’t simplify your neighbor, or your sister, but you can simplify the way that you go about life and that provides the example for many others. We are not all here to live or look alike, but to create our own way of life as individuals, and aside from abiding by the major law of this planet which all boils down to not hurting anyone else, simplifying creates the space and freedom to really do what you want. You don’t have to wait for anyone – especially the Government – to help you or give you permission.
If you’re feeling stagnant, out of sorts, a little frustrated – or a lot, it’s time to let something go. Be it hate, a broken heart, or all of those size 6 suits you can’t fit into any longer, purge. Purge something right now. Create the space for something more beautiful and better suited for your current journey to come in. The Universe will never let you down, but your ego might.
Jenna Prosceno or “JPro” as she’s listed in the office’s systems, is a conscious evolutionist blogger who consistently looks for simple ways to do everything. She saves herself and her employer major bucks with this passion.
Jenna Prosceno 