Living A Simple Meaningful Life. Part One.

Life is simple.

We are the ones who tend to insist on making it complicated.

The meaning of life is to be alive. It is so plain and obvious and so simple.

And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

In a competitive world with pre-requisites for our foretold lives, it’s normal to feel the need to do more regarding self-improvement. But merely being a better person does not mean being overly hard working on self, but it is the other way round.

We feel frustrated, stressed, and irritated, imagining how our lives have become hard to deal with. We even question whether it is possible to find time to do anything about this life and when it will feel happy again.

It wouldn’t be hard anymore if we knew how to deal with ourselves and our lives and take an opportunity to figure out how we can reconstruct our lives to be more beneficial to ourselves and the people around us. We can realize that this life can be easier only if we can understand how to simplify it.

And here are some pointers to look into lives with a different perspective to build and improve ourselves, foster suitable for all, and have a life with a more profound sense of meaning.

Build a self-improvement routine by incorporating the following in your daily routine.

Taking care of personal health

Healthy lifestyle is an essential thing in life. A healthy lifestyle equates to healthy living. It focuses on physical and mental well-being, increases energy levels, and makes people feel good about themselves. So, focus on,

Developing a good routine

Each day is a unique opportunity to learn and improve ourselves. To start the day with a good routine counts for the value of your time in your life, motivates you to stay organized, focused on yourself, and practice healthy habits. It increases growth and productivity in life.

Breath Consciously

Breathing is the sign of life, the act of living, and the function of exchanging gases. Post-Pandemic, it is high time to learn the value of each breath we take, each moment we live without any life-support. So please spare a moment to acknowledge and feel this beautiful gaseous exchange; it does not mean you need to be in a white dress, clean environment, and breath in free air. All it takes is a moment of consciousness to observe the so-called involuntary movements of our lungs, diaphragm, and airflow through the body. It is possible to do this when you are waiting for a bus, traveling, in a queue, or a moment before you sleep. Practice observing deep breathing and the process of respiration and see the magic of our body relaxing and regulating stress.

My more straightforward method of being conscious is observing the inhaled air by aligning it with a red color and exhaled air blue color. Just take a normal breath and exhale a little longer than the inhalation time. Repeat this process until you start feeling relaxed.

To Eat Mindfully

In the ticking hours of life, where time is money and money is life, we tend to forget to eat or at least rush through the process of eating, we behave as if it is the most time-consuming deed which fetches us nothing but some calories, but the reality has far gone faded in the absence of our mindfulness in eating.

Eating is the fundamental sign of life, the act of living. Our lives are hectic, but it doesn’t take much time to pick up a meal. It is okay even if you could not prepare it by yourself, just holding it in your hands, feeling the texture of it, either rough or smooth, oily or dry, smelling the fragrance of the flavors through already stimulated olfactory senses. Witness the colorful display of different textures of food and then eat with the complete presence of mind relishing every form of taste you experience and deliquesces of it. Utilizing all the senses to encounter the authentic way of eating, we sometimes do not even realize and recollect what we have eaten.

This mindful eating is like a ‘Mini Meditation that could act as a simple de-stressor. Especially for people like me, a happy tummy is a happy time that would help me stay comfortable and focused even on a stressful day and (not exaggerating) helps me fight depression.

A Good Night’s Sleep

The difficulties we face the next day of our improper and incomplete night’s sleep. Proper sleep of seven to eight hours each night is necessary for humans. It is equally important to take a nap or sleep or rest, the most required break for the physical body to function normally. Hence it is pivotal to improve the quality of your sleep by reducing your caffeine consumption late in the day, taking a melatonin supplement, or relaxing in a warm bath or shower before bedtime. And to make sure you have adequate rest before you start a new day.

Wake up Early

Since ancient times, it has always been advised to wake up early to improve your productivity and quality of life. When you wake up early, you will have time to dedicate to self-development, adding extra time during the day to soak up the morning tranquillity and absorb the early morning sunlight before the pollution sets in. It will help your brain switch into its active mode. Set up an alarm or make a wake-up buddy and make sure the mornings are fresh and clean.

To have an Exercise Routine

The importance of routine physical exercise goes without saying. A better self of us starts with a healthy body as it is the means to attain the physical forms and tasks.

To-do list

Setting a to-do list and starting the day with these lists of work to be done has helped me stay focused and finish the task in time without forgetting or delaying. The days I have not set the to-do list have turned out to be chaotic, cumbersome, and unproductive. In my experience, a to-do list helps me plan my day, allot a certain amount of time to a particular task, and handle it hassle-free.

Cultivate a New Habit

Starting a new habit is equally vital for personal growth. Good habits are to be taught from childhood but start at any age until it is yielding to improve oneself. Reading a book, waking up early, exercising, and meditating are good habits with no age barrier.

To quit a bad habit

As discussed on several platforms, continuing on a bad habit would deteriorate our quality of performance. So personal advice is to work on eliminating the practice of these despite the difficulty of unfollowing. Bad habits sometimes can also include oversleeping, binging, drinking, smoking, or even procrastinating. If found difficult to withdraw yourself from them, find comfort in reaching out to helpers and healthcare consultants.

Reduce screen time

No doubt our lives revolve around gadgets, screens, and apps but detaching ourselves from these tempting attractions would take a long way in improving ourselves. These not only affect our health by affecting our eyes and nerves but also kill our productive time. This time could be better utilized on self-improvement activities or in cultivating a new habit, a new course, making a new friend, and discovering our neighbors and surroundings.

Social media has become a means of communication but more competitive and has increased the incidence of ADHD and addictions in kids and adults.

Here is what you can do, disable the auto start-up options in the chat program and launch them when you want to chat and have the time for it. You can even track your screen-time time by several apps and screen locks.

Try a Digital Detox

It is very much appreciated if we can unplug for even a tiny amount of time, which will benefit our well-being. When you are with actually have nothing to do, instead of logging into social media, try to step away from your phone for at least a few hours. Instead, try walking and talking to family members, most importantly connecting with your thoughts.

Declutter your life to have some clarity of thoughts. When you feel messy, packed, and unorganized, it is always better to declutter and focus on creating your own mental and physical space. It would indeed influence the thought process and improve the quality of ideas. It will eventually help us to get through the hardships and make better out of our lives.

Greeting

Although it sounds crazy to wish and greet everyone who passes your path daily, that communicates a lot about the individual and his effort to acknowledge every passer-by. It will help us know people around us, and in doing so, you will notice yourself feeling more present and connected to those around you, even if you don’t have a close relationship with them.

Get into Action

The best way to improve yourself is by action. Rather than living in imaginary thoughts, it’s always better to live the world of action, live your thoughts, take action, and try doing what you always have thought of doing. It will surely help us return to our inner self, reconnect internally to our thoughts, act according to our deep-seated wishes, and work towards our dreams.

Clean up

Let it be even a small line of dirt or dust; it’s always better to keep your place of work and home clean. Try to spend some time alone cleaning your own space. How you feel about your home can influence whether your time there is stimulating or stressful. So try to clear your desk, clean your mirror or arrange your kitchen, do it mindfully and keep it accessible and clean. Reward yourself by taking some time to enjoy your refreshed space — do a face mask in your newly clean bathroom, for example.

Get out of your Comfort Zone

To grow and improve is to step out of our Comfort zones. No matter how convenient we feel, being in our comforts would take us nowhere; try to venture into the world outside, but comfy beds drag us back to stagnate life with no progress. It is in our hands whether to start and step out. To identify our comfort zones and instead of saying no to going out and meeting people, having a new experience is the first step to coming out of the comforts of home.

Although the above involve physical involvement, there are much more critical and influenceable ways to tackle our cognitive behavior to improve ourselves and change our lifestyle. The more kindness and compassion you can foster for yourself, the more equipped we will be to treat those around us the same way. And doing good for others can give our life a more profound sense of meaning.

Are you someone who likes to grow?

Do you constantly seek self-improvement?

Read here for Part Two!