Less is More - The Art Of Positive Change

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I have always believed in a philosophy of LESS IS MORE.

The underlying message in LESS IS MORE is that we don’t need more to be happy, we possibly need LESS.

Before getting MORE, we first need to be happy with what we have

For the past few years all my goals centred around LESS IS MORE principles which has brought me so much peace, joy & happiness.

Because of this I am continuing with these valuable LESS IS MORE principles but this year but I am going into them in more detail.

The underlying message in LESS IS MORE is that we don’t need MORE to be happy, we possibly need LESS.

Here are some of the LESS IS MORE principles that create the umbrella for my 2024 annual goals,

DO LESS, BE MORE

Sometimes I find life is just one big long to do list.

This doesn’t bring me joy, it brings me anxiety!

I want to DO LESS and enjoy BEING & LIVING more!

WORK LESS, HAVE MORE TIME

I love working, I really love it. For 25 years I worked for large corporate companies which brought me much joy and a certain amount of wealth.

Working so many hours for other people no longer suits or interests me.

Also working so many hours even if I was working for myself doesn’t suit me either.

I want to work less and spend my precious time in other areas of my life that are important to me and that bring me immense joy.

LESS EARNING, MORE LEARNING

I struggled with writing this as who actually wants to earn less money?

Me – just for this year anyway!

Actually this will be my 3rd year in a row earning less money.

This reduction in earnings has resulted in abundance of another type. I have abundance in terms of time which brings me more joy than any amount of money ever could.

With this time, I plan to learn more this year.

Learn more about myself, learn more the world around me, learn more about what I want from my life, learn more about the work I love to do etc.

These learnings will in time allow me to earn more.

ACHIEVE LESS, ENJOY MORE

I was never a ladder clImber but I did love what I worked at and so any achievements I had were from the passion I had for my work and not necessarily ladder climbing of any sort.

In saying that I do have ambition – ambition to work towards and fulfill my dreams.

On this journey, ENJOYMENT is much more important to me than ACHIEVEMENT.

I do want to ACHIEVE but not at the expense of ENJOYMENT!

LESS SPEED, MORE PROGRESS

In my 20s, 30s and early 40s I lived life at a fast pace – always going, always doing, always striving, moving at the speed of light.

A few years ago this all changed and I started to slow down.

The fast paced life no longer suited me and I started to enjoy the peace & bliss of a slower lifestyle.

This slower lifestyle brings me more peace, tranquility and bliss than any fast paced life ever could!

Ironically I seem to be getting more done.

Dr Wayne Dyer’s quote comes to mind ‘Doing nothing yet getting it all done’!

LESS RESISTANCE, MORE ACCEPTANCE

Eckhart Tolle says ‘It may look like as if the situations in our life are creating the suffering but ultimately this is not so – it is our resistance to the situations that causes the suffering’.

I find this has deep wisdom to it and I want to practice less resistance and more acceptance.

This is not an easy practice but is one that brings much peace. Another quote from Eckhart Tolle helps us cultivate less resistance and more acceptance – ‘What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is’.

LESS RUSHING, MORE RELAXING

I really dislike rushing – rushing makes me feel under pressure and stressed.

Feeling under pressure and stressed is not enjoyable for me.

I love relaxing – relaxing makes me feel happy and peaceful.

Feeling happy and peaceful is immensely enjoyable for me.

LESS CONSUMING, MORE CREATING

For many years I spent much time consuming content – reading physical books, listening to audiobooks, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos, reading emails I was subscribed to and scrolling social media.

This amount of content consumption now makes my head hurt.

I still love consuming content in these ways, I just don’t love so much of it!

Consuming all of this content while working a full time job, trying to write & create content and start a business was a recipe for disaster that ended up in burnout.

Going forward I want to consume less and create more.

I want to write more, I want to have a deeper understanding of how to write, I want to develop more depth, meaning, openness and transparency in my writing.

BUY LESS, USE MORE

I have enough of everything.

In terms of material things I don’t need anymore, what I have is plenty.

I used to love shopping for all sorts of things – clothes, make up, fancy toiletries, stuff for our home, books, stationary, the list goes on and on.

The problem with this constant shopping is that I ended up with many things that I just dont use and eventually things that I no longer liked.

That’s it, my LESS IS MORE principles for 2024.

Ironically, with so much LESS comes so much MORE JOY, HAPPINESS, PEACE & CONTENTMENT.

What would your LESS IS MORE PRINCIPLES be?

Whatever your goals for 2024 are, I wish you success, love, peace, health and happiness.