Living a simple life

Living a simple life for people who wants to embrace more than what you already have. The real benefits of minimalism stretch much more deeper and wider than you think. Life is so much more than what you own.

1. Clarity of Mind
We didn't realise that the amount of physical things that we have are interlink with our mental health and physical health. Research has shown that when we clear out our closets, it has massive impact on our mental clarity and peace of mind.

I reflected that after I repack my entire wardrobe. I must say that it has impact the way I look at my clothings. I know exactly where are my dresses, tshirts, pants, shorts, skirts, belts, hats and undergarments are. It saves my time to think what clothes should I wear for today or the next day. Last time, I used to dig all my clothes, just to find 1 sweater. But now, there is no need for me to do that as I can see clearly where my things are.

2. Better Health
Too many of us are over committed in our lives. We are afraid to disappoint someone - that is a terrible reason to overload our schedules. It is okay to rest when we are tired or just let our body and mind to simply clear our mind just for half a day. That helps our body to rejuvenate and recover our energy faster. Regular exercise helps to boost our energy up and so does choosing the healthier choice of food.

3. More Freedom
Letting go of physical possession you own, desire to own, or work to own what you don't want it. Imagine the freedom you would experience if you could let go of the pressure and do what you want to do. You will have more time to travel, take a day off, to work for yourself or to find a job that you actually like.

4. Less Stress
Imagine you are living in your clutter-free home, feeling good, safe and relax. Ahhh... I can feel it already.

5. More Time
In a world where opportunities are coming at us faster than the speed of light. It is hard to say "no" for a couple of reasons. First fear of missing out and secondly fear of being bored. Try this for a week: clear all your evening time, work during the day but don't make any commitments in the evenings. Then with the extra time, prepare dinners for family, go for evening walks or read books.

Amazing opportunities will always be there. They will never run out. I promise you will find a way to fill up your extra time.

6. Self-Confidence
You may think you need to have the latest or greatest style of clothes or that brand of clothes, bags, shoes, car to make you feel good about yourself.

Imagine how freeing it would be to feel good about yourself without those things. This is an unexpected benefit of living with less. You start to feel good about yourself, not because of what you own but just because of who you are.

Recent I saw a beautiful jacket on Sale just for $29. I wanted to buy because it really makes me feel good about myself. Then, I thought about the practicality of having this jacket. I would have very few occasions to wear this jacket. It is not very practical, hence, in the end, I didn't buy. To me, seeing beautiful things don't mean that we need to own it. As long as we are able to appreciate it for that moment, it is good enough.

7. Greater Purpose
When you clear out unnecessary activities and items from your life, something unexpected happens. A clear sense of purpose returns. You feel motivated to do what you set out to do because your direction is clear and there is no confusion. When you only have few commitments, you can take them seriously.

8. Extra Money
When we learn to buy less and having less activities, there will be more cash on hand. Then when you find something you really want to do or have, you will have money to buy it.

9. Better Relationships
When you stop trying to impress people and begin to connect with them, just be yourself, your relationships will definitely improve. Great relationships are built on shared experiences and great memories.

10. Lifetime Memories
When you begin to move focus from possessions to memories, you not only have more space in your closet, you will have enough great memories to keep you smiling for a lifetime.

That is what great life is all about.

Transformation through exercise

A lot of my friends thought that I join Lose to Win is to lose weight. My key motivation is to have a healthy and balance lifestyle. I thought of putting some good tips which I learned along the way.

Mindset
Health is our first wealth. Without health, don't even need to talk about other things in life. Be clear and specific of what you want to get at the end of the day. ie for the current goal, I will eat 2 fruits per day and walk 10,000 steps per day. 90% of the time, I have achieved these 2 goals because they are easy to achieve and these two goals are what I really want to do, not by force or external pressure. Losing weight is hard when we are not focus, and didn't have a positive mindset that we will REALLY lose weight. Visualize the healthier self. This helps us to keep in mind that it is achievable.

Food Nutrients
Have you heard food as medicine? When we learned how to treat our body well, our body will live a long time. Learned more about each food properties. This can help us to cook better food and intake the good nutrients from the food. Find health nutritionist / health coach that can advise you on the varieties of food. Raw and Fresh vegetables and fruits are still the best because it has the most nutrients that our body needs. Cut down on meat if we are a meat lover ie Have it as one palm size. If we can take care of what we eat, we can reduce the chances of high risk in chronic diseases. Never have quick fix solutions on diet. It is expensive and not sustainable.

Exercise
By right, we "should" exercise everyday. However, due to our hectic lifestyle, it is almost impossible. However, I learned that I need blend in 3 times exercise into my lifestyle. Outdoor activities are great. I used to join California membership and the membership is expensive, not sustainable. Hence, I have allocated Tues bootcamp at Stadium Gate 2, Thurs Walk in the Park /Fri Kickboxing at J8 and Sunday Zumba class at Bishan Park. I noticed that my goal that I set was "to exercise 2 times a week and eat fruits weekly" but this goals were not set specific enough. Now, I have edited it to be more specific and it can be measured.

Sleep
To sleep before 11am, I still couldn't achieve this as I am still blogging away. I wanted to keep this points down before I forgot. I will continue to strive to achieve this. I remembered Jessy told me to make a point to sleep 15mins each time before the previous day. Ie 12am, shift it to 11.45pm and then 11.30pm. 11.15pm and finally 11pm. Make it a habit. Once it becomes a routine, our body will be able to rest well at 11pm. Having sufficient rest is important, it sets the energy right and we will feel good about ourselves the next morning.

All is possible when we set our heart, our mind and our consciousness alighted. Good luck!

Marie Kondo: "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up"

I am very inspired by Marie Kondo's ways of tidy up the room. After watching her google talk. Today, I woke up and start to organise my wardrobe. I took her advice to tidy up within a short period of time, put things in categories and only keep things that are useful, makes me happy and beautiful things that brings me joy.

Normally, I find tidy up the room is a chore, I will procrastinate until I can't take it anymore and I will do it. Surprisingly, for the first time, I don't have such feeling. In fact, I go through all my clothes, looking at each pieces one by one, deciding if it makes me happy or I need to let go.

After going through the processes, I notice that my dresses were used to all over the places, so are shirts and other items. Now, I categorize my clothing in terms of types: dresses, tshirts, blouses, shorts, pants, skirts, towels, belts, scarves, socks, hats and inner wear. Each of the categories have it's own space and I only keep those that I will wear. This arrangement will save me lots of time and effort, looking for the "right type" of clothing for the day.

I found out that I have 11 towels that I haven't use before. I gave all to mum and she is very happy. I am happy too because my wardrobe no longer clutter and it is a place where I can select my favourite clothing for the day. This is the type of strategic tidy up that I have been looking for.

I notice a lot of people are like me, always thinking that the piece of item will be use at later time. Honestly, once you didn't touch it for a year, most likely you won't use it anymore. So just let it go! I also realised at a lot of people do not know how to tidy up the space in a correct manner. This is a great skill to master.

Other people may feel, it is just tidy up the place. I personally feel it is more than that. It is therapeutic, it helps me to rethink, what kind of ideal space that I need that can help me to improve my thoughts, my creativity and makes me feel joyful and calm.
I really want to thank that I have found the right teacher to guide me how to be an effective and efficient life organiser.