Day 139/366 days Towards Self Mastery.
The more simplicity you have in your life the less time you need to spend supporting it with your precious time and money.
This simple truth occurred to me when I first experienced the debilitating effects of burnout. Having to reduce my daily working hours from 16 to 3 to be able to manage my health was a big wake up call.
Since then simplicity is my friend, my health has improved and I continue to live with little clutter, surrounded by things that are practical or beautiful.
Start with your junk drawer. Is there a home that doesn't have that one drawer where all the bits that don't fit anywhere else ends up? Single shoe laces, spare buttons from the seam of a new shirt, a cigarette lighter that someone left behind, plastic ties that will come in handy one day, a deck of cards that are missing some. A proud moment was clearing out my junk drawer leaving only a small wooden box with the few remaining remnants.
Simplicity makes room in your mind for the thoughts that are important. The thoughts that support your growth. It could be your spiritual enquiry. In my case that's more a metaphysical or scientific enquiry into the way things are. It could be problem solving for your study or something that interests you. It could be your relationships that need some consideration.
There's a great need to slowing down and simplifying life, especially in our Western world that has become too busy and too complicated to grasp.
This time of forced isolation due to the COVID-19 virus gives us that valuable time to reassess our priorities, connect with our values, identify the issues that concern us and that we want to contribute to.
What are you discovering about your life in these quiet times?
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.
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