I'm off to Colorado for our Yoga and Gut Healing retreat! While I'm away, I have some fantastic guest posts lined up from the #YBCcommunity. On the docket today, a post from Melissa on minimalism. Leave her some love in the comments section below! xoCandace
Minimalism goes far beyond simply decluttering your home and getting rid of “stuff”. Although decluttering the excess from your life is an important part of minimalism, the change minimalism creates in your life goes much deeper. It shifts and changes your mindset, and even the very way you live.
Minimalism gives you the time, space and freedom to create an intentional life. One where you choose what you allow to take up both your time and your space. In doing so, minimalism gives you the opportunity to live a life filled with intention, meaning and purpose.
The following are 5 ways minimalism allows you to create a more intentional and meaningful life:
1. Minimalism helps you clarify what is most important to you.
The whole premise of minimalism is deciding what is most important and valuable to you, both tangible and intangible things. Then getting rid of anything not important or valuable to you. By doing so, minimalism helps you clarify your values, goals and what is truly important to you.
2. Minimalism involves carefully choosing what fills your time, space and life.
When you embrace minimalism, you become more intentional about what you allow to stay in your life. You choose to only allow the things and activities that add value and are important to you to stay.
3. Minimalism gives you more time and energy to be present in your life.
When your home is full of clutter and excess “stuff”, you spend a lot of time and energy managing that “stuff”. This includes shopping for it, organizing it, cleaning it up, maintaining it, etc.
Embracing minimalism removes the excess stuff from your life, so you spend less time managing the things you own. This gives you more time and energy to be present in your life and intentional with what fills up your time, space and energy.
The same idea applies to your schedule. If your schedule has you constantly running from one commitment to the next, it's difficult to be present and mindful.
You can apply minimalist ideas to your schedule and time as well. Which means only keeping the activities and commitments that add value to your life, are important to you and align with your goals. You become intentional with how you spend and fill your time, creating the opportunity to stay present and live mindfully.
4. Minimalism gives you more freedom to focus on the things, activities and people you care about most.
The time, space and energy you gain from intentionally choosing to own less and do less, gives you the freedom to focus on what is most important to you.
You are no longer spending your time managing excess and unneeded “stuff”. You also become more intentional about what you allow to fill your schedule. Getting rid of the excess and the distractions means you have the freedom to focus on the things, people and activities that are most important to you.
Embracing minimalism and becoming intentional with what fills your life, both tangible and intangible, means you get to decide what takes up the majority of your time, space and energy. Creating the freedom to use your time, space and energy in a way that is meaningful for you.
5. Minimalism helps you cultivate gratitude for everything that fills your life.
Minimalism teaches you to decide what is most important in your life, including both tangible and intangible things. Then, it empowers you to get rid of anything that is not important, or is distracting you from what is important. You are left with only things you value and add value in return, in your life. You begin to appreciate and feel more gratitude for everything left in your life. Because what is left is all important to you and adds value.
The more you remove the excess and the distractions, the more space you create to feel grateful for what you have. Minimalism and gratitude both shift our focus from what we lack, to what we do have. Minimalism helps you see and appreciate how little you actually need to have a full, complete and happy life.
In turn, gratitude helps us see what we have is enough. Gratitude teaches us to appreciate what we already have in our lives, both tangible and intangible. Stopping the cycle of always wanting to own and do more to make our lives feel full and complete.
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Embracing minimalism teaches you to live intentionally, being thoughtful and selective about what fills both your time and your space. Giving yourself the opportunity to create a meaningful life filled with the things, people, and activities you value most, instead of a life filled with clutter and stress.
Read more about the positive impact minimalism and simplifying can have on your life. And find easy ways to embrace minimalism at Simple Lionheart Life.
Bio:
Melissa is a tea drinking, yoga loving mama whose favourite place to be is at home. She writes about creating a simpler, more intentional life by decluttering and embracing minimalism. Minimalism has given her so much time, space and freedom. She can’t say enough good things about the changes it’s allowed her to make in her life! If you’re looking for easy, practical ways to simplify, declutter and embrace minimalism, find her at Simple Lionheart Life! You can also follow her minimalism journey on Instagram.