woman thinking

 

By Debbie Lynn

 

Is your life is spinning out of control, chaotic and reeling in mess?

Then it is time to take charge and purge into simplification.  This isn’t hard or confusing; it is urgent. It is about making a commitment to create space in your life for inner peace—something everyone deserves.

1)  “No” is a complete sentence.

Don’t say “Yes” when you really mean “No.” Every time this is done (even with the best intentions), we add a layer of complexity to our life.

The worst thing we do is try to take it all on, over extend ourselves, and end up with a thousand things on our plate. It is the art of a juggling act (act being the key word).  The minute we agree to something that doesn’t align and throws our rhythm out of whack, we set up our day for failure. Holding up this act (this lie) about our time, our ability and our real truth makes life heavy and we end up omitting precious moments that we all need to simply breathe.

A hill becomes a mountain to climb and if it doesn’t get done—enter guilt. Guilt is the vampire of all things good and clear and simple. “I can do it all” is now circular and spiraling out of control all because we were afraid (for whatever reason) of saying no.

If you are worried about hurting someone’s feelings by saying an honest “No,” perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the relationship.

The simple truth is: We do not need to justify our feelings. Deep down we all know when “Yes” is a lie and it doesn’t feel right. Honor it. This is simplification, and simplification equates to freedom and peace. Holding a respective value on your time is not complicated—but lies (no matter how we color them) are. Period.

2) Remove the clutter—Purge it all.

The more “stuff” we have, them more we have to do to maintain it.

Ask yourself is it necessary or a burden? Clutter comes in many forms and when it interferes in life; it interferes with simplicity and a sure sign of complication is attachment. Check-in on what we deem is truly important (have to have) and what you cling to physically, mentally and spiritually. If it isn’t of use and service, get rid of it. The more things we leave behind us, the more room we have for what is really valuable—love, peace of mind, and clarity.

Too much of anything is simply too much. We do not need to overfeed the body, the mind or the soul. This is about having gratitude for what we have in the moment (which is usually for more than enough) and enough to sustain us fully.

3) Love is simplistic; humans are complicated

When I hear someone say, “Love is complicated,” I ache for him or her. This means they have put many limits and conditions on what they call love and it has spun a web of un-truths and pain, but it is what we do. Our monkey-minds create all kinds of unnecessary scenarios that are nothing short of illusions we build in our heads. But love is simple, honest and easy—anything beyond that is a falsity. This doesn’t mean there are not occasional problems or conflict, it means that the simplicity of love is relationship is built on trust, honor and sensibility—not fantasy. Ease up to the serenity of simplistic love, and the rest falls into place.

4) Simple silence

We are constantly bombarded with noise and that is layered and so very complex—urban noise, electronic noise, talking just to talk etc. and it is all so unhealthy. Our minds have enough to try to take in without all extras; it is a wonder any of us can think. To find solace in silence is the art of solitary confinement, and it is a gift, not a punishment.

In silence, the real work begins and ends. It is imperative for our sanity to be still and shut the outside world out and off for extended periods everyday. Getting near the sounds of nature wooing our senses is truly the best, but if we can’t escape, the next best thing is un-plugging. Pure. Clear and simple. Our soul longs for it.

5) Drama unadorned

Oh the over-sung, complicated and trite little nasties of “drama.” If you want life to ease, walk away from the dramatic. This includes family, friends and associates who claim this as their birthright—it isn’t. Being involved in energy sucking drama takes a toll on our inner peace. It mutes the color of our life turns it inside-out and makes the world desperate, cold and unmanageable.

There is a huge difference between listening with love and participating in the toxicity. Discernment is key. We can support our peers and loved ones by choosing the higher path which consists of calm and logical solutions. Quell the gossip, the jealously and the malicious—send love there instead. When we don’t want to get burned, don’t play with fire. Drama is a spark of complication that spreads quickly and if it isn’t put out at the first sign of the blaze, the damage can be detrimental to simplicity.

6) Change is good—flow

“What we resist, persists.” We all know this one well, so to lessen the sting of chaos and get back to a simple ease, we have to embrace change. Holding on to the past is why we suffer. When we suffer, we have pain and all of that pain makes life incredibly sad and complex. Breaking down change in small pieces helps the view and the less we bite off, the easier it is to chew and digest.

Get bigger than the problem, open our minds to possibility instead of pushing it down or away and just let life in. Plain. Unembellished. Ordinary. The epitome of simplicity is found in acceptance and letting acceptance run it’s course.

7) Excuses are difficult

We have to maintain them, caress them and carry them, and all at once, we are heavy in a system-of-down that needs to sorted and clarified. We create elaborate justification to our thinking and doing when the truth is: there wasn’t a need at all to reason things out so to keep our stuff close to our heart.

By releasing the premise that explanations are our duty, we instantly simplify life. We all tend to embellish when all we really had to do was send an uncomplicated answer and token gesture (such as a smile) to defuse an over-zealous intrusive inquiry, especially when it is personal. But most importantly, every time we make an excuse, we take a piece of our real truth down the rabbit hole.

Say what you mean, mean what you say. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Our minds will spin out of control if we let them and in the vortex of chaos, life can be over wrought with complication.

Don’t engage in what feels too messy.

To stop the madness: we must pause, breathe and gather it in. Let the thoughts settle, ease with an inhale and exhale simplicity laced with love.

 

Debbie LynnDebbie Lynn realized at a very young age that the outer reality was a far cry from her inner truth and meeting her inner wisdom head on always turned into a challenge. The wonderment, curiosity and hypocrisy of life led to exploration and a cumulative documentation (art and journaling) of what she lovingly calls “the purge”. It is her way of ridding any negative energy from the daily grind. She says, “In essence, it is a way to start fresh and cleanse the soul.” Debbie has had numerous articles published with elephant journal, The Edge Magazine and Simple Steps Real Life Magazine. Her daily posts can be found on Facebook.

 

Photo: quentindebriey/tumblr

Editor: Dana Gornall

 

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