How To Achieve Total Wellness Through Simplicity

How To Achieve Total Wellness Through Simplicity

Sometimes it takes a catastrophic experience to make us realize what is important in life. Life is actually not so complicated if we see it with a different pair of eyes.

I was raised in simplicity. Our home was just the usual table, chairs and some necessities. There were no clutter and fancy things. But I changed.
Soon the house of simple became a house full of things to sell when it was time to move. The $15 Pooh bear was worth $1 in our moving sale, the $20 table lamp was on the curb to be picked up by a passerby or the garbage man. Some big items and random things were sent to Goodwill.

When I did the calculations, those knick knacks were worth thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours shopping and hunting. Most were worth close to nothing at the moving sale.

Did I learn after the move? Not really…

After moving to Florida, instead of accumulating knick knacks, I started accumulating real estate since the crowds were doing so. News of so-and-so just made $35,000 flipping a house without money down and another was making a ‘killer deal’ in Arizona. With a little coaching from a guru, I did my due diligence and went for the ‘killer deal’ as well.

2008 came…

I was sitting with a few hundred hungry men and women in Pittsburgh listening to a millionaire, who once was homeless and had $2.03 to her name. She said, “The majority is always wrong. Go the opposite direction… (Paraphrased)”.

Here is a millionaire, living a simple lifestyle, traded her big mansion for a cookie cutter home and discovered her destiny. She was on a quest to help set free those who were in debt and to live a life of freedom.

Something changed inside of me…
I was on a quest to simplify my life to achieve total wellness since that day.

Here are 5 tips to help simplify your life:
1.    Know who you are and your purpose in life. Once I discovered my purpose in life, things do not appeal to me any longer. I started journaling and discovering myself. I went deep into my inner core and faced myself. It is not pretty sometimes but if we want to know who we are and our purpose, we have to go to the secret places and deal with our feelings, insecurities and desires. I know God has a plan for me and I set out to discover and let him take control while I did the work.
2.    Write it down and set a budget. I’m sure you have heard that “B” word all the time in financial advisor books or websites. I used to hate that word when my husband mentioned it. It felt restrictive and overwhelming. But, I am a recovered shopaholic and know the freedom of setting a budget and tracking all expenditures. I keep a list of things to buy even for the grocery shopping. No more seven different breakfast items in my pantry and four different frozen breakfast items.
3.    Have your spouse and children on the same quest. Sometimes your spouse or children may not agree with your new way of living. I believe in living by example. If we show up with a great attitude and live the life we set out to live and do the things we said we are going to do…these are more powerful than words. Nothing is more fulfilling than having your family members agreeing with your quest to simplify your lifestyle and home.
4.    See the needs of others. We live in a blessed nation. Despite the news about the economy, we have plenty compared to some of our brothers and sisters across the globe. With a heart of gratitude and eyes that see beyond ourselves and giving to charitable organizations, we may gain different outlooks on our things. In my travels, I’ve seen and experienced lavish lifestyle and also seen the impoverished. With careful planning and giving, we can see the fruits of our giving and may be motivated to help the needy instead of buying stuff that don’t add value to us.
5.    Surround yourself with like-minded people. Keeping up with the Joneses will not bring fulfillment. This phrase never existed until the 70s. But that does not mean our grandparents or parents were any different when it came to wanting to be accepted by their peers or keeping up with their peers. If our peers are not supporting our new lifestyle, we need to hang-out with a different group. Read motivational books that can keep you on track with your chosen lifestyle.

The word ‘simplicity’ is defined as the quality or condition of being easy to understand or do…unpretentiousness and naturalness (Dictionary.com).
It encompasses our mind, body and soul, which is our whole being. I discovered once we took control of our spending and set boundaries with our money, it set me free to look deep into myself and take proper actions to improve my total being, thus total wellness.

As I am still learning the art of simplicity, I am selling my home, putting a lot of great ‘stuff’ on eBay for sale and cleaning up every room including the garage. My house is less cluttered and creativity flows.

The Chinese believes in Feng Shui….which to me means an uncluttered life and not too much ‘stuff’ which may bring obstructions to the flow of energies in our home.

Can you envision an uncluttered lifestyle….simplicity may not be for everyone. It does not mean not having stuff you like and enjoy. It means instead of having five, settle for one. That is my way of achieving total wellness, freedom and increasing creativity in my work and maintaining stronger mind, body and soul. To top it up, I am a user of Young Living Essential Oils and a Ningxia Red drinker. I believe in investing into my skills and journeying through life with a mentor in health, life and business.

I wish you well…Please leave your comment below. We love to hear from you.

Claudia Looi is a copywriter, travel, web content writer and manages blogs for several businesses. She has lived and worked in Kuala Lumpur, Auckland and New York in the travel industry for over 12 years and has had the luxury of traveling to almost 30 countries. Currently, her works include writing for tour operators, hotels, real estate, wellness and immigration consulting companies. When not working, you will find her reading or planning her next family trip with her husband and two teens. You can find her at Travel Writing Pro. Feel free to download her free report on How to Live Out of Your Suitcase for  a WEEK!