A guru’s advice on living a simple and better life: The rules and benefits

Living a simpler and better life

The life that we live is in constant need of development. For everything a man does in his life, he does it because he wants to make his life more comfortable. We go to work, have fun, do everything because we want to escape the painful realities of life. Your refusal to do anything or ignorance of what to do or not doing anything comes with its consequences; consequence that are burdened on us by the responsibilities that lies before us.

The world has so dedicated itself in making life more comfortable that it has succeeded in making the life even more complex. The quests for ever faster and more exciting have made people to be more burdens with the desire to keep themselves entertained.

The quest for new entertainments comes with its own pros and cons. People are now so easily bored that they resort to engaging in dangerous activities like trying new types of hard drugs, all in the name of entertaining themselves.

But for us to live a better life, we have to make our lives to be as simple as possible. Declustering your life and environment is one good way to live a healthier and happier life. And this is why we are going to be looking at things that you have to stop in your life to live a better life and things that you have to do to live a simpler life.

Things you should not do when you to live a simpler and better life

To be able to live a simple and better life, there are rules and these rules will help you attain that lifestyle that you have always desired. We are so involved in our regular lives that we are not aware of how our actions and life styles make our lives to be harder and more complicated.

Let us take a look at these rules:

Spend your money on things that really matters

One problem that we humans have is that we do not know where to spend our money and how to spend so that it stays memorable in our hearts. People spend impulsively and that is why they end up being in debt. If you want to spend, ensure that what you are spending for is something of value and will be of good use to you.

Spending your money on every new gadget or fashion trend gives you extra expenses and its use will only last a short time because there will always be newer products. I am not saying that you should not look good or stay updated but when you spend or buy something, be sure to know why you are spending that money.

Stop exaggerating stories about your life

Some people are so busy exaggerating stories about their life that they place themselves on a pedestal to high for them to come down from. Giving yourself a reputation that will be hard for you to maintain is one way of making your life a complex one.

To be able to live a simple life, you should try as much as you can to be real to both yourself and people around you. It is better to be known as a simple person than to give yourself the burden of making people to hold you at a very high esteem when you are not.

Living a simple life does not mean that you cannot be as important as those that live a more complex live.

Don’t be scared to desire a better life

Living a better life means that you will have to desire the best and go for it. Some people are so scared to go after the best because they do not believe that they deserve it or worthy of it. But getting a better life means that you will have to go after the best to live the life that you desire.

Stop making excuses and procrastinating

Many people live a mediocre life because they are so used to making excuses. The fact remains that you desire to live a better or simple life, yet you do not make out time to do what it takes to get this life. Making excuses or procrastinating is sign that you will ever get what you desire.

Rather than giving yourself reasons why you should not get a better life, you should give yourself reason why a better and simpler life is what you need to live a fulfilled life. When you make a decision to go for the best and live a simpler life, the next step is to overcome procrastination, start doing something about it now. Postponing it for later is like saying that you will never do it because later never ends.

Find better ways to deal with stress

When people are stressed and depressed, most of them go about dealing with it the wrong way. Some people resort to eating when they are stressed, not because the like food but because eating better helps them ease tension. The bad part of this is that by the time you are done, you would have succeeded in adding more calories than required to your body.

Rather than eating chocolates or other high caloric food, seek for healthier and more natural ways of easing stress.

Stop wondering how many people care about you

A simple life is all about making your life more accessible and open. Wondering who cares about you gets you stressed up. You don’t need people to care about you to feel good, be the first to care about yourself and the rest would follow.

Stop surrounding yourself with people that do not support you

For a better life, you have to surround yourself with people that really care about you and support you. Unsupportive people are not what you need in your life. Their negative energy will only drain your joy and creativity. No matter the steps you take in your life to be happy, they would always be there to talk you down by telling you to face reality.

The truth is that their reality is how they see things and it can be wrong. Get rid of people like this in your life and work towards your own reality for a better fulfilled and happier life.

Stop being a judge

Judging yourself or people around you gives your life come form of complexity. Judging yourself and thinking that you are imperfect is a sign that you have low self esteem. You have to realize that everyone is unique in their own way and you have your uniqueness, that which makes you thick.

It is not also right to judge someone when you don’t really get to know them. When you get close to someone, you might be surprised how different they from what you formally thought of them.

Stop trying to satisfy everyone

Popular actor and comedian Bill Cosby said “I don’t know the key to success but the key to failure is trying to please everyone”. Pleasing everyone is something that is very impossible. No matter how much you modify yourself to please people you will never succeed at it, even if you kill yourself for them.

The better option than pleasing everyone is to do that which is best for you and leave the rest because no matter how much you try, you cannot satisfy everyone’s needs and desires.

Stop worrying about what people think of you

Living a simpler life is means that you will have to stop worrying about what people think of you and do what you think is best for your life. Controlling people’s thought of you is something that you cannot achieve and it will be a form of added stress if you keep worrying yourself about what they think of you.

Since you cannot change their perception of you, it is better you mind your business and work on improving your life.

Stop over analyzing everything

There are people that cannot stop analyzing everything around them. They can’t stop their brain from thinking and worrying. Why don’t you let things slide by letting them be. This way you will be keeping your life stress free and your brain less busy.

Don’t be afraid to go after your dreams

To get the better life, why not try to go after those things that you admire and will really want for yourself. You have dreams and desires; don’t be afraid to go after them to achieve them. You want a simple and better life, then map out a plan on how you are going to achieve them, map out things about your life that you will decluster and go to work. Don’t keep it off till tomorrow or later, do it now.

Stop trying to be perfect

The mistake that many people make is that they add so much stress to their lives by trying to be perfect. What they fail to understand that humans are not without their imperfections. Perfection is something that cannot be achieved rather what one should strive for is excellence.

Excellence is an improvement of what was before. So to live a better and simple life, try not to go for perfection, rather try to work on yourself so that you can be better than who you were yesterday.

Why you should strive for a better and simpler life

We are now going to take a look at the advantages of striving for a better and simpler life. People are not aware of the kind of burden that they put on themselves with their daily decisions and characters. But as you have read through the rules, things you should not do, we will now encourage you more be letting you know why you should stick to those rules.

There are so many benefits that come with this decision and this is what we are going to be looking at in this article. The benefits of living a simpler and better life:

Your learn to accept yourself

As you work on improving your life to be better and simpler, you will learn to accept yourself for whom you really are. You will see those areas of your life that makes you unique. You will begin to see major changes and improvements in your life.

You have a better view of life

Living a simple life puts you in a better position to see how much people go to cluster their lives and pack it up with stress. A better life gives you the opportunity to see those areas of your life that are important and needs the most attention. It helps you to redirect your energy and focus to have a better life and live a simpler and fulfilled life.

You live a cluster free life

Most of the contributions to the stress we feel in our lives are as a result of how we cluster our lives and our environment. We are so busy giving ourselves added responsibility by the day that it becomes a full time job to maintain that lifestyle. You are then faced with maintaining a lifestyle and other added must do responsibilities like our jobs and paying the rent.

But when you take steps to live a simple life, you get to live a cluster-free life and give yourself room to breathe and live a better life.

You will increase in gratitude

When you achieve a good and simple life, you will wake up every morning being grateful for the kind of life you are living. You will also be grateful for making a decision to live a cluster free life.

Other positive side of showing gratitude is that it helps you to improve you general well being and health. A simple life provides you the clarity of what to be grateful for everyday.

Better health

The quest for a simpler and better life provides you the opportunity to live a healthier life. Less cluster means less stress and less stress mean better health. Because you have decided to live a better and simpler life, you get to watch what you eat, avoid whatever adds stress to your life, and take actions that will improve your general well being.

You will be also mindful of your surrounding and keep it clean and cluster free providing you the healthier environment that you need.

You will feel your presence

Many people live their life day by day without being able to give account of what they achieved. They can’t remember their past and do not have any plan for the future or what they want. But working towards a better and simpler life provides you the opportunity to be very conscious of yourself and your life. You will feel your presence and will be very aware of every steps you take and decisions you make.

You improve your relationships

Working towards having a better and simpler life helps you improve in your relationships. It provides you the required quality time to spend with your partner and children. You get the opportunity to really get to know them and what they want. You have a better opportunity to plan a better future for those that are special to you.

You will be more generous

Because you want to live a cluster free life, you will see yourself giving things that you no more need in your life. You will see yourself being more generous. You will have more time to share with people that needs your time and because you know how your expenses are, you will be better positioned to be charitable.

Your joy increases

There is so much joy that you can derive from living a simpler life. You will see yourself being more joyful and creative. You get to appreciate the rising and setting of the sun. You will be able to recognize the natural beauties of life. Your improved relationships and stress-free lives will nothing but joy and happiness to your life.

Finally on living a simpler and better life

When you decide to make major changes in your life, it must not be whole. The first step is to decide to start and the second is to take it gently. Start making small changes and with time you will be taking control of your life.

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Positive self esteem: how to develop it

What are the ways by which one can develop positive self esteem? Self esteem is a trait that is very important for every one if we are to achieve much in life. Many people try to achieve much in their life only to fail, not because they don’t have what it takes to achieve these things but because they lack the confidence to face their fears.

For every great achievements in life comes with it challenges and to overcome those challenges, one has got to be confident.

But if you are to work on yourself and develop a positive self esteem and self confidence, you can be able to overcome almost any obstacles that life throws in your way. Being able to develop the confidence to face any problem means that you have what it takes to pursue your dreams.

Do you think that they are differences between developing a positive self esteem and a positive self confidence? While they both seem to sound different and are used interchangeably in this article, I believe that they both boil down to the same thing.

Developing a positive self esteem

Do you have a negative mentality and perception towards self esteem and self confidence? Well you have to know that these can be corrected. There are actually things that you can do to correct situations like this in your life.

It would be wrong for a person to think that being less confident and is something that comes naturally to a person. It is also wrong to think that you need others to be able to improve yourself esteem.

If you desire a change in your life, then you have to take actions by yourself. You think that you a less of something you desire, then the mentality and perception can be worked on. All you have to do is change the way you think.

Despite what people are saying about you, you can improve who you really are by taking the necessary actions that is required of you. And of course without the help of anyone, this is very possible.

Now we are going to take a look at steps that you can use to develop a positive self esteem. They are not going to bring about an overhaul of your life but they are going to bring the necessary changes.

A single step cannot do the whole magic and all the steps written here are not the final solution but they can help you achieve a lot. It is not a must that you will follow all these steps to the later to see results. Select the ones that suit you and work on them. If does not work, go to the next. If one should work, go to the next and continue. It is all about self improvement and development of positive self esteem and self confidence.

Develop yourself: Sometimes what could bring about low self-esteem in a person is that they lack certain skills that are needed to compete with others. When you already know the cause of your low self-esteem, all you have to do is to educate yourself and improve on those areas that you find yourself lacking. The fact that you’ve taken steps to better yourself will improve your confidence and the way you see yourself.

Improve your dress sense: This is another secret of developing a positive self-esteem. It does not necessarily mean that you should spend a fortune on your wardrobe but at all times ensure that you are good looing and presentable.

Your ability to look good affects how good you feel about yourself. Dressing smartly affects your mood positively and improves you confidence and self-esteem.

Create a desired image of who you want to be: One reason why people are low in confidence is that they have a wrong image of themselves in their mind. But if you are to improve on your self-esteem  then you have to create a better mentality of who you desire to be.

Creating a better image of who you want to be will encourage you to start taking steps towards that direction. At a time, your body language will begin to adjust to who you desire to be and you will begin to seem more confident.

Have and build a positive mentality:  It is not a lot of people that are aware of the power of positive thinking. Many people are so used to thinking the way they like and thinking negatively that they don’t know how much it is affecting their lives.

With positive thinking and action, anyone can achieve anything they place their mind on. Anything is possible with the power of positive thinking and that includes developing positive self-esteem. A positive mental approach to who you are is one of the best ways to overcome low self-esteem.

Time to learn how to be optimistic: Being positive even in the face of negativity is something that requires strength and this strength is something you have to train yourself to have. Be optimistic means that you have to be vigilant to recognize negative thoughts when it springs its head.

Apart from dealing with negative thoughts you also have to deal with confessing negativity. You should be cautious of what you say and train yourself in the act of positive affirmation. Doing this is a very effective way of improving and developing a positive self-esteem.

How much do you know yourself: One of the reasons why people allow low confidence to dictate the outcome of their life is because they don’t know who they really are. Your inability to recognize those unique areas of your life denies you the ability to know how special you are.

What I am trying to say is that for you to improve in your self-esteem means that you will have to learn more about yourself. Knowing more about yourself grants you the opportunity to discover many unique areas of your life that you knew nothing about.

It was not until I decided to start a blog did I know how proficient I was at writing and touching the life of people positively. I have also had the opportunity to teach people and help them discover who they really are.

So how can one discover himself? Well they are lots of ways that you can use in discovering who you really are. First you can start by listening to that inner voice; this is the first step towards self-discovery. Other ways of self-discovery is going for therapy, starting a personal journal; you can start a personal blog where you can express how you truly feel inside. If don’t want to start a blog you can learn more about writing therapy and ways that it can be beneficial to you.

Start acting: Enough said about thoughts and words, it is time that you start acting or at least learning how to act positively. They are no gains in telling yourself every time that you can’t. It is time that you begin to believe in yourself and tell yourself that anything is possible and you go out there and practicing.

No matter how hard it is going to be at first stick to it, with time tough things tends to become easy and come naturally to you. Learn to act and discuss positively with people. Put energy to your relationship with people and with time you will see your confidence improving.

Being kind and generous: Yes, it is possible to improve on your self-esteem by being kind and generous. Generosity doesn’t have to be about money; sometimes what people really want from you is your time and attention. People want to know that they is someone out there that cares for them.

For those things that you have no use of or little need for, you can give them out to those that need them. Being generous and kind will make you feel good about yourself and thereby improves yourself esteem and confidence.

Preparation: Sometimes being less confident might not be constant for some people. It only arises is some situations and special cases. Some people are so good with their studies but when it comes to exams and test, they seem to lack the confidence in their ability to pass.

Preparation is one way one can use to overcome low confidence. Not being prepared for an expected challenge will definitely affect your level of confidence. But when you are well prepared for a challenge that is coming ahead, you will be more confident of success in the future.

Set a principle: Discovering what is important in your life enables you to set a principle about the life you want to live. When you set these principles, it is important that you stick to them. Being a principled person and sticking to your principles about life makes you a more confident person.

Learn to speak slowly: I know it doesn’t seem much or looks like it has the ability to make someone more confident but the truth is that it does. Speaking slowly has been known to be common among men in authority. If you think it doesn’t work, try talking more slowly, either to yourself or with someone. You will notice that you will become more confident.

Work on your posture: They have been a correlation between the posture of a person and how confident they are. People that are more confident tend to walk straight and upright with their chin up. Less confident people seem to be walking a little bit bent with their head bowed low.

To improve your positive self-esteem, you have to change the way you walk and stand. You have to ensure that you display a positive posture and stand upright. It is not only about making you seem more confident, but having a confident posture makes you more attractive.

Work on your competency: One is being able to do something, another is the matter of how competent are you on that thing. The only way that you can improve on yourself and become more competent is through practice. The practice must be regular and as often as you can. You can start by dedicating at least 30 minutes every day to work on your competence. With time you will be very good and never have to worry about your esteem and confidence towards that area.

Set smaller goals: Why people seem to procrastinate and have fear of failure is that they try to do everything at once. Rather than trying to do everything at once, why not break it down into smaller targets and goals and work towards achieving them one after the other. As you deal with each small goal and targets, you will notice that your confidence and esteem will begin to improve.

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How your belief system affects your confidence

“If we believe in a lie, it can become truth if you look at the impact it can have on us.”

What you believe about yourself, about the world and others, can have a profound impact on your confidence level. Clearly, your belief system.

Recently I read a story about a man who dug a hole in his garden and came across something that looked like a World War II mine.

In the split second before he realized the danger he would face, he pushed the button above.

Having fear of triggering the bomb, he immediately wrapped a tape over his finger, so around the bomb, to keep the pressure on the button. Obviously, he called for help totally confused, and even took care to leave a message for his family if something happened to him.

The police, fire, and bomb disposal experts arrived home … 3 hours after the call.

Imagine the stress, fear, anguish awaiting rescue.

And you’ve probably guessed the rest of the story. Deminers were not dealing with a wealth of World War II, but a component of an old Citroën hydraulic system! 

Looking back on his ordeal, the man in question had said: “I ​​was absolutely terrified that I could explode into a thousand pieces at any time – I looked at the sky, thinking that my life was at an end.”

Think back to the quote in question:

“If we believe in a lie, it can become truth if you look at the impact it can have on us.”

And the truth is a lie could be hiding in your beliefs. Unfortunately, some of the beliefs that people have about themselves steal their trust.

Beliefs such as:

“Things always look bad for me”

“I’m not attractive enough ‘

“I cannot change”

“I’ll never be as good as …. ”

Perhaps it is time to question the truth about these beliefs, and expose them to light. Take them for what they really are, that is to say, lies.

It’s time to examine your beliefs. Which could have negative effects on you?
Who are the leaders of your beliefs about yourself?

Many factors come into play when it comes to beliefs. Here are the four that are most frequently involved:

– Your Education
– Your school years
– Media
– Yourself

These four factors have the potential to have a positive impact on us – and in the same way, they may have the potential to overwrite or erode our confidence.

We all know the potential impact the way our parents treated us.

The other day I read a story about a brilliant actor.

It was described how his father, who died when he was only 16 years old. He described him as someone intimidating and dry. He lamented, saying that his father was not there to admire his success, but shortly afterwards, he said: “I wonder if I could achieve what I have done so far if my father was still alive. Maybe I would not have the confidence. ”

It’s sad is not it?

And yet I think most of what parents (or stepparents) do for their children is motivated by good intentions.

There are exceptions of course, but basically no parent will get up in the morning saying ‘how am I going to sabotage the life of my child today? “.

The truth is that sometimes:

Good intentions + ignorance = negative effect.

Despite good intentions, baggage and negative beliefs that family members bring with them can be transferred automatically to you.

One day I came across an article about the actor Denzel Washington. He said that the main secret of his success was his confidence in him, and confessed that it was mostly his teachers who helped him in this direction.

He had remembered that one of them had said, “Denzel, with your intelligence, you can achieve anything you want in life.”

Then he said: “I ​​was only 10 years old! But I never forgot what he had said to me that day. You do not know the power that words can have when talking with children or youth. ”

How media can influence self-confidence

Hitler knew it. Churchill also.

Large firms spend millions on them. Very simply, if you want to change, shape and influence people’s minds, the use of media can become your most powerful weapons.

You see, the media do not just convey information. The media shapes our culture. They reinforce our stereotypes. They subtly influence our opinions on what is acceptable and what is not.

The media can awaken the conscience of a nation. They can also distort the truth and let people believe what is wrong at the same time.

The media can influence the beliefs you have about yourself. And these beliefs are not that they are.

“I have to be thin,” “I have to be famous,” “I have to have the latest fashionable shoes”, etc.

So far we have seen the factors that could erode or break your confidence. Your parents, your teachers, the media can play a role.

Now, you guessed it, the last factor is – yourself. I often wonder, “Who is the most important person you would talk to? “.

The answer?

Yourself.

The conversations you have with yourself, your interpersonal communication, can have a significant impact on how you feel. This can reinforce your negative beliefs, or help to replace them with more motivating and more positive beliefs.

Now I turn to you: among these four factors, which is the most virulent in your life that affects your belief system the most?

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