Ten easy mind hacks I used to simplify my life
Like many people, it always seemed to me that the way to simplify my life was to clear out the clutter in my home and to remain true to the wisdom of William Morris,
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
And for many years, I made regular trips to charity shops with bags of no-longer-required household items and kept a commitment to keep my drawers organised and my shelves tidy.
But it wasn’t until I sorted out what was going on in my mind, that I was really able to shift my experience of life from overwhelming and complicated to calm and spacious.
In this post, I’d like to share ten principles that have made the most difference to me and whilst, (because I’m human) I can’t claim that I’m able to uphold them one hundred percent of the time, the truth is that I’ve seen huge shifts towards vastly improved mental and emotional health living this way.
Contents:
Keep in the present moment as much as you can
Cultivate a quiet mind
Limit overthinking
Trust yourself
Don’t fight or block emotions
Come to terms with the past and let it go
Spend time in nature
Spend consciously
Dive deep rather than multi-task
Take joy in the small things
The ten mind hacks I used
1. I stayed in the present moment as much as I could
It was mind-blowing when I began to realise how much of my attention was focused on the past, mulling over past hurts or regrets or getting caught up in anxious thoughts about the future. It was as if I was spending my whole life somewhere else rather than here, in this moment.
In this way, I was missing out on my life and not seeing all the amazing joy that was here right in front of me.
The easiest way I discovered to remain present was to pay attention to my senses and notice what I could hear, see and smell and whenever I got caught up in mind-drifts, this was the way to bring myself back to this moment, now.
2. I cultivated a quiet mind.
Having spent years thinking I had to analyse my thinking, I began to pay less attention to the contents of my mind. This didn’t happen after decades of mastering meditation or ten years in a remote retreat. It was the result of coming across a different understanding of where our experience of life comes from. I saw for myself that it’s our thoughts about situations rather than the events themselves that determine how life feels to us.
In a flash of insight, this changed my perception of my relationship with thought - I got less caught up in it and took my thinking less personally. It was as if I was distanced from thought bubbles that came and went of their own accord. And even whilst all the thought whirring was going on, underneath I sensed a quiet spaciousness that I could tap into whenever I wished.
Then, with no effort and without making any conscious decision, I realised I had started to prioritise spending time with a quiet mind hobby such as swimming in a lake, baking, knitting and going for long walks.
I had naturally prioritised those activities that supported and nourished my wellbeing.
3. I limited overthinking
I began to harness the power of insights. When I was trying to come up with the answer to any problem, I trusted the solution would come to me in it’s own time. I no longer needed to get caught up in mind-knots trying to think my way to a solution. This was in direct contrast to my previous habit of getting caught up in problems and trying to analyse my way out of them.
I found that a quiet mind is the easiest way for an insight to pop unannounced into my mind and that this so often happened when I was doing something completely unrelated to the problem – taking a shower, going for a walk, lazing in the garden.
I began to trust my intuition or gut.
I made more decisions that my body agreed with. When a decision evaded me, I became more comfortable living with the feeling of uncertainty, waiting patiently until a decision popped into my mind. I made peace with the idea that sometimes it really didn’t matter which decision I made, that either option would bring gifts and experiences, that there was no one “best” solution available to me.
4. I learned to trust myself more
The quieter your mind, the more you have access to the wisdom you already possess to deal with whatever life throws at you. When I saw this for myself it became clear that these answers only came to me at the moment when I needed them (not three weeks in advance). Then, when a decision or a prompting to do something arrived, I took action without mulling it over, and questioning if I was taking the right action or not.
5. I didn’t fight or block my emotions.
I began to sit with whatever I felt (and of course this didn’t mean that I had to act out on those emotions) but I acknowledged them and felt into where they took place in the body. I softly brought my attention there and waited until the feeling passed without trying to numb an emotion or blot it out in any way.
6. I came to terms with the past and let it go
I started to come to terms with my previous behaviour or decisions. I spent time writing out my thoughts, talking to friends but mainly peace came from an insight that I had always doing the best I could at the time and so past mistakes no longer seemed of relevance to me. I had made my peace with them and was able finally to let go of shame and guilt.
7. I spent time in nature.
I went for long walks, sat on park benches, walked along shore-lines. I took in the tranquility around me and resisted the temptation to mentally label what I saw. I took it all in without internal comment or judgement and allowed peace of mind to be mine.
8. I spent consciously
I asked myself before any purchase, if this was something I really needed or wanted. When it was a genuine need and the money was available, I went ahead and bought it. Anything within the “want” category, I made a conscious decision about it. Sometimes, this meant spending the money. at other times I decided not to buy, but the point was, that I had control over my money.
9. I learned to dive deep rather than multi-task
After a lifetime of believing that it was possible for me to multi-task, I started to give myself time to concentrate on one thing at a time. Surprisingly I began to notice that unwavering attention on one task had a number of advantages. Firstly, this did seem to be a far more productive way to manage my time, things got done more efficiently but secondly (and most significantly) my mind felt much quieter. My mood was calmer and I stopped experiencing a feeling of franticness which had previously characterised my multi-tasking attempts.
10. I took joy in the small things
If we’re constantly rushing or spending time mentally in another time zone, we miss the joy of what and where we are now. This isn’t necessarily about writing a gratitude journal, although do that if you find it helpful, but consciously acknowledging to ourselves the beauty of the little moments. When I was less interested in getting things done in the minimum amount of time, life literally slowed down. There was so much more time and space to enjoy the feeling of the water on my skin as I swam in the lake, the texture of my favourite chocolate, the sound of my daughter laughing. And it was these tiny moments of joy that created a life that was far richer and fulfilling.
So I hope through reading about these ten hacks that I’ve used, you’ve been able to see that simplifying our lives is an internal process and that whilst our external environment can help or hinder this, it’s what ‘s going on in our own minds that’s the most transformative key to a simple, rich and satisfying life.