Life can sometimes get too fast, too crowded, and, eventually, too overwhelming. Therefore, taking a breather occasionally and reconnecting with ourselves for a calmer and more fulfilling life is essential. Practicing simplicity daily might be difficult and even impractical. One could employ many steps in everyday activities to encourage more balance, happiness, and general well-being.
Here are simple methods that require little of our time but, when practiced regularly, can make a world of difference.
1. Journal
Journaling sounds like a cliché (and it probably is), but it works! One of the places where clutter in our lives feels heaviest is our minds. Our thought processes, feelings, tasks, and so much more are processed in our brains, and truthfully speaking, it can get overwhelming all too quickly.Â
One of the best and quickest ways to release most mental baggage is by writing thoughts down, both positive and negative. Begin and end your day by calming your thoughts and putting those that matter on paper.
2. Take Daily Walks
Being in tune with nature and your general surroundings is easily one of the best ways to incorporate fulfillment into your life. You can move your body, breathe fresh air, calm your mind, and meet people. Frequent walking in nature has a tremendous effect on overall well-being. also allows you to think and process your feelings better, eventually leading to a more straightforward way of life.
3. Declutter Your Home
Many studies have proven that a cluttered environment leads to a cluttered mind and chaotic emotional state. A clean and minimalist environment allows your mind to relax, leading to less anxiety and a better sense of calmness. This way, you can think better, make sound decisions, and feel more fulfilled as you go about daily life.
4. Reduce Your Social Media Consumption
In a world where everyone and everything is on social media, it gets very easy to be swept away by the current that is trends, gossip, news, and a whole host of things. While not all things about the interwebs are negative and unwelcome, spending a large chunk of your time drains you of your mental and even physical energy, and this could, in the long run, significantly reduce your sense of fulfillment in the life you live.
5. Practice Mindfulness
It is easy to get lost in the thoughts that we allow to reside in our minds. For this reason, we must stay mindful of our external and internal environments and the effects of the happenings around us as they impact how we perceive and approach life.
To practice mindfulness daily, learn to identify thoughts, feelings, experiences, people, and even places that trigger you. Identifying triggers allows us to acknowledge them, and triggers become easier to handle once acknowledged.
6. Make Gratitude a Daily Habit
You cannot achieve a sense of fulfillment without gratitude. A sense of fulfillment stems from acknowledging the good around us and being grateful for it. Practicing daily gratitude is easy.
Start by being grateful for a new day, your morning cup of coffee, a ray of sunshine, and then work your way up to the bigger things. Mundane as this may sound, it is one of the most effective ways to help you achieve that sense of fulfillment whenever you rest your head on your pillow after a long day.
7. Embrace and Appreciate the Chaos
When faced with difficult situations, our first instinct is to try our best to run from or escape them. While this may provide temporary relief, we almost always face harsher situations in the future.
One of the best ways to deal with heavy and difficult situations is to embrace and experience them fully. Ride that heartbreak to the very end, and grieve the loss of a loved one for as long as you need to. Allow yourself to feel every emotion to its fullest, and when it has done its time, it will leave you stronger, wiser, more grateful, and more fulfilled.
8. Set Realistic Goals
In a world of competition, it becomes easy to expect and demand excellence from ourselves at all times. While this might be an admirable quality, we can feel frustrated when we don’t achieve the goals we set to reach.
Allow yourself to take a breather occasionally, appreciate your progress, and encourage yourself when you do not achieve a set goal. Remember that you have come a long way and that progress is better than perfection.
9. Surround Yourself With Like-Minded People
According to the world-acclaimed motivational speaker Jim Rohn, we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Being around people who appreciate a simple and fulfilling life will encourage you to slow down, appreciate everything you have achieved, and feel more fulfilled. Surrounding yourself with people who tend toward unhealthy competition and comparison will lead to frustration and mental and emotional drainedness.
10. Go on a Trip
We set out to compile a practical everyday list of things that help to achieve fulfillment. While you may not take a trip every day, you could be deliberate about it daily. Put it on a vision board, set money aside for it occasionally, plan activities to undertake, and pick outfits for the trip when you can. Being intentional about it will keep you well-motivated. When you finally take the trip, you will accomplish an incredible sense of fulfillment.
11. Get Good Sleep
Rest. When your day ends, be deliberate about getting loads of rest, which comes from sleeping soundly. Allow yourself at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. You owe your body and mind the chance to rejuvenate so they can serve you better when you wake up the next day.
12. Find a Hobby
Nothing better stills the mind and regulates our emotions, like engaging in an activity to have fun and feel good. Find a hobby that engages your child-like senses and allows you to bring out the true essence of who you are. Get crafty, play an instrument, knit, bake, dance, engage in a sport, etc. Encourage yourself to give back to yourself by participating in an activity to make yourself happy.
13. A Task at a Time
We can all agree that there is much more to get done on some days than on others. Trying to get everything done all at once can be overwhelming, especially when time is limited. To avoid the sense of discouragement, list all your tasks and break them down.
Be sure to start with the most urgent and work your way to the ones that do not require immediate attention. This way, by the end of the day, you shall have completed most (if not all) of what you wanted to do and feel fulfilled.
14. Reward Yourself
Nothing quite beats the feeling of being rewarded after accomplishing something you had set your mind to, even when the reward comes from yourself. While it may not be easy to give yourself rewards daily, you could pick a day every week, two weeks, or month to treat yourself to something that makes you feel good about yourself.
A lovely book, a bottle of perfume, a good meal, or anything that makes you feel good will help you appreciate your progress and feel more fulfilled.
15. Practice Decisiveness
Make it a daily habit to try as best you can to make decisions without overthinking them. Thinking too long and hard about choices could easily cause decision fatigue, ultimately unsettling your mind. Find joy and fulfillment in being content with the decisions you make.
16. Embrace Vulnerability
Often, people believe that being strong means avoiding weakness and asking for help, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Being in tune with what you are experiencing and sharing it with a loved one or a professional allows you to create more mental and emotional balance, leading to a much more fulfilling life.
17. Stay on Top of Your Finances
One of the best things you can gift yourself is financial awareness and wellness when trying to achieve fulfillment. It does not mean that you must strive hard to make copious amounts of money daily, but that you should carefully manage what you have. This way, you will hold yourself accountable and feel more fulfilled.
18. Grow Your Mind With Reading
Reading a book may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it does a lot to educate and entertain. Reading allows you to gain knowledge and to engage your mind healthily. It encourages beneficial imagination and also works to calm an anxious mind.
19. Practice Kindness
If you want to live a simpler and more fulfilling life, try practicing kindness to the people around you. A simple smile to a stranger, helping an elderly lady cross the road, and similar acts contribute largely to how you perceive life. You will achieve more happiness and fulfillment by the end of the day.
20. Take Care of Your Physical Health
Daily moving your body is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. If you are not enthusiastic about working out in a gym, try other activities such as dancing as you do your chores, walking around your neighborhood, etc. Make healthy eating choices, take long baths, and be deliberate about being kind to your body overall.
21. Show up for People
Being present for others can be daunting, especially when going through difficulties in our lives. However, showing up for a loved one when they need you is essential. Giving a listening ear, a long hug, helping a struggling parent with their laundry or dishes, visiting a sick relative, and teaching a child to ride a bike are simple examples of acts that you can do for others. Seeing them happy will make you feel more fulfilled.
22. Listen More
When conversing with people, take the time to listen more than you speak. Allow yourself to soak in what is said and enjoy learning from them.
23. Learn To Say No
Setting and maintaining boundaries is no easy task, and many people struggle with it when relating to loved ones, friends, co-workers, and even neighbors. However, it is one of the best ways to protect your psychological and emotional health. Allow yourself to say no, even when you find it hard. You owe it to yourself to listen to your body and mind and recognize when your limits are being stretched.
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