The most important thing a human can have is freedom. Freedom to be yourself, freedom to think and act according to your values. Do not let the government or the world take your right to freedom. You need to feel free in order to evolve, to feel safe in your country.As a famous Romanian said, Ion Ratiu ” I will fight until my last drop of blood so that you can have the freedom to disagree with me”. This quote is a powerful one, the human needs to live in a democratic system in which its values are respected. I hope that people do not forget their past and the people that fought for their rights, they fought a battle so that we can be safe and free. It is your duty, whoever you or in whatever country you live to not forget your past, your country and your right to feel free and safe. Please continue to fight for yourself and for the people you care about. Be strong. You’ve got what it takes.
Society has made us think that we are not enough: you do not have a house, you do not have a husband/wife/serious relationship, a career or something else. The truth is that society wants to feed you an illusion of a perfect life so that it can force you to buy things.For example, they sell you the idea that your life cannot be complete without a house, and they will force on you a mortgage so that you can buy a house, and then you will get into debt so that you can live a life that you may not want. Maybe your idea of a happy life is to be free, not being in debt for a house because maybe you have not decide were you will settle, that for a moment you want to see places and explore the world.
The world is big and you might feel helpless in front of the life’s events, trust me, don’t panic. It takes a lot of courage to be as you are in this moment in time: broken, happy, conflicting as it may seem. Feel your emotions and make a plan. Don’t ever feel that you are behind in life, because you are on your own path. Nobody has experimented your life and what it took to get here, you are right were you are supposed to be. Keep going, you will succeed. Keep going, you are going places. You can do whatever you want. Believe in yourself.
What makes you happy? Do you really know what really means to be at peace with yourself and with where are you in life? One of the ways to achieve that, it may be to live a simple life, since often times clarity brings perspective in your life. Not being tied to your possessions, may bring you focus on what matters the most.
Day by day, we have to deal with our emotions and some times emotions may brings us to the edge. You start to fell empty, not knowing how to deal with negative emotions, then you start eating without noticing. Food may bring comfort, but will not fill in your void. A nutritionist once said that compulsive eating is about emotions: what are you feeling ? Depressed, tired, unloved? What is missing. Often times, we eat as a result of lack of affection in our life. So, sit down and start writing, analyze your thoughts and emotions.
Living a simple life means knowing your principles and values in life. You will not compare with someone else’ s standards and you will be content with what you have. Just take a look at Japanese people, they value simple things in life and love the craftsmanship and commitment that is put in creating something ( ikebana, tea, etc).
You cannot know yourself at once, but you can day by day, start to know yourself, what makes you happy, what is important for you and what is worth your time.
Minimalism is a concept that you may have from time to time, but you do not fully grasp it or align to its values. Minimalism, essentially is living with less, living with intention.
From what I have seen on YouTube videos, on styling channel, capsule wardrobes was a way that they presented minimalism . Simply putting, those girls they were styling gray, beige, white and black clothes since these colors were interchangeable and they will always match with each other, something that did not appeal to me at all. But minimalism in therms of wardrobe doesn’t have to be that way, it should be selecting the colors that suits you and the colors that you love. I recommend reading David Zyla’s book “Color your style” in order to find the colors that best suit or watch videos on YouTube related to personal color analysis, this way you will wear flattering clothes and you will not buy ruthlessly fast fashion or clothes that will only be in the land field.
Living your life doesn’t mean getting attached to things as Joshua Becker says in his book “ Living with less”m, it means living and spending more time with people in your life. He suggests having less things, as this way you are not own by the things you won, meaning that a bigger house requires bigger maintenance expenses that will lead you working overtime and feeling tired, you will not be able to enjoy things in life, you will only be controlled by them. Be careful not to buy things to appear wealthy in the eyes of other since others do not care. At the end, what matters in my opinion is how you feel, you want to be happy and free or you feel that you need that you must go in debt to buy a house just because others are settling down. For others, having a home even tough through debt may bring comfort, while for other may bring anxiety thinking about debt repayment. I have said it before, buy a house only when you are ready if this is is you in the last example, that way you will feel more at ease ( maybe after you find yourself in a promising field that it will provide you mental security that you are in the right path, bear in mind that this is only one way of thinking and you should always do what makes sense for you and your family).
Another internet blogger in the field of minimalism, Francine Jay suggests buying only what is necessary and also when buying keep the rule, one in, one out from your house- donate, sell or throw anything that is of no use or you really like it. She says that our things can be split into 3 categories: useful, beautiful and emotional. Think also about buying locally since it is more gentle to the environment and helps local economy.
One quote that I really liked is: “ success and excess are not the same thing “ (Joshua Becker). Becker says that being healthy for you in order to do the things you want , it matters is morethan working out for an exterior appearance in order to please others.
This year, I want to become more aware of the clutter I have in my life, I will try to donate everything that is not in line with the space. I suggest that you tune in with your emotions. Are you buying to fill in an emotional void or do you really need that? Buy only what is useful for you and meaningful, that way you will live a more balanced life and be gentle to the environment.
There goes without saying that no country in this world is better than another, but Japanese may come pretty close. The Japanese way of living is a very balanced way of living and all we can do is learn from them.
Contrary to Hector Garcia and Frances Morales’s book, the Ikigai Encyclopedia by Ken Mogi defines “ikigai” as being in harmony with the environment and those around yourself. He describes in this book, that in order to live a happy life, Japapnese people enjoy eating something sweet/enjoyable in the morning. You do not need to do something enjoyable for work but you can find something that you enjoy to do every day after work, you can pursue you passion after work hours. You can find meaning in every situation.
Another Japanese concept is Nagomi-this refers to balance, comfort and peace for the heart& mind, the equilibrium of multiple factor. In this other book- The way of Nagomi, Mogi suggests that in orders to find nagomi you need to forgive yourself your past mistakes and forgive others for the things they made against you.
You do not need to love something in order to find an ikigai, you only need to find small enjoyable things around yourself- you need to search for the activity you do without caring what others think of you. In order to remain yourself, as he suggests, you need to embrace change and leave the past behind.
I hope that in this new year you will learn to love yourself, to take one step at a time in the direction of your dreams. Believe in yourself.You are strong. YOU CAN 🙂
We all want happiness in our life, but, most of the time, we don’t appreciate the things we already have before wishing we had something else.
The first step is to be grateful for what you have even if you have little and also, be grateful for where you are right now. Your past self could not be believe what you went through and where are you know. Be calm and grateful. Even if you are feeling lost right now, it is a step in discovering who you are really are. As Jeff Gains, says in his book, Find who you really are, you don’t need to find your vocation, you need to try new things and be on the move. Eventually, something will take over, will call you just like when you fall in love. As Jay Shetty say Explore & Experiment in order to find out who you really are.
Be open to learn new things and be aware of the opportunities you came along. Pivot around the obstacles. There is a word I really like , it is called neuroplasticity – the ability of your organism to replace/reprogram your existing patterns /genes into new ones. This means that even though you may suck at something , for example at socializing with people, you may have anxiety, you can suppress that by putting yourself into new situations and go talk to people in social engagements.
In the book The power of Failure, dr. Tim Cantopher, say that a person is more happier if he has an objective. Those objectives should be clear and to be clear about what you want in life. He says that any disease related to stress should be seen as a indicator of a need to change. Also, he emphasizes that you need to pay attention to your relationships. In order to feel good, you need to also receive, not to be always that constantly gives.
Read, listen to everything around yourself, and also pay attention to your inner world while dealing with the world. You can do everything you want. Trust yourself. Trust yourself in any situation.
Notes from Ladybug 