Becoming A Better Version of Myself

Everyone wants to improve in all aspects of life and simply life in general. I, myself, am very keen to developing my own way of living. I read a lot of self help books and blog articles hoping that I can use whatever I have read to improve my way of living. But within all the self improvement formulas and life upgrade tips, I have learned two key principles that I need to incorporate into my life. That is mindfulness and minimalism.

Why mindfulness? Because if we are aware of the present moment, we get to evaluate and reflect about everything that is currently in front of us. Any situation. Any emotional state. Being mindful means we are fully aware of what is happening in the present moment. Our movements, what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we think of and what we feel. All of those things are within our graps and we have the free will to act on them. Being mindful helps us to reflect on our day-to-day decisions. Once we are in a specific situation, being mindful gives us the capability to assess the scenario and how we are going to react to it.

Mindfulness also leads to self discipline. When we are mindful enough to put the situation in control! We are able to make better decisions for ourselves. We get to nudge ourselves to do the right thing. Just like when waking up early in the morning. Yes it is very hard. I know the feeling. But if we put 100% awareness in the specific situation,we get to recognize the fact that we are feeling sleepy and lazy and we will understand that it is just an initial feeling. Once we get to hit the shower or take a cup of coffee or a glass of water, we are good to go. Having that awareness and being able to fully recognize our current state helps us in making better decisions. Without mindfulness, we'll simply give in to the urge of getting back in bed and snoozing the alarm clock.

The other key to a better life is minimalism. I am not an extreme minimalist but I can say that I am a typical modern day minimalist. Someone who doesn't live like a monk but has few "quality" posessions, is living a simple lifestyle and doesn't have so many things going on in life. The third one seems like a negative idea but what I only meant about "not having so many things going on in life" is that in order to live a minimalist life, one should not engage into so many things that can lead to having experiences or activities of lesser quality. Have a few activitites and endeavors here and there but make sure that it is not taking too much of your time and energy to the point that you are no longer able to relax and have enough rest, leading to stress and fatigue, and in turn, causing a decline in the quality of life.