Use your passion to simplify your life. Knowing what you want out of life and intending your success in achieving it is the best way to simplify your life. Follow your passion every day. By first identifying that which you are passionate about, you will be able to categorize the other items in your life as “pending elimination”. For many people, it is impractical to suggest that they wake up tomorrow and do only the things that they want to do and none of the things they do not. The reality is that many people have created certain systems in their lives that make the things they need (opposed to the things they want) in life their focus. When we think of need, we are really focusing in on a lack of something we want. The lack of something in your life that you truly desire evokes powerful feelings and emotions.
However, those emotions often steer us in the wrong direction. Many people end up creating a life system that entraps them in dependency. They perpetuate the existence of this system by becoming so dependent upon others in order to get the things they think they need that it becomes hard to break away from it. A sense of obligation to other drives them, instead of a true obligation to themselves. How do we make this trasition from our current situation to living our passion?
1. Identify the things you are passionate about. What are the activities you engage in that bring you pure joy?
2. Tip the scales. Create your daily experience and develop a new balance. The things you want to do and are in a state of joy when you engage them should outweigh those things that do not place you in a state of joy. Over time, continue to tip the scale in phases until you do only the things that bring you happiness everyday and you are living your dreams.
3. Express your gratitude by becoming an example for others. Live your passion, live a simplified life and teach others how to do so as well. Help others realize that their own happiness is what is most important and that it is always within their grasp.
Passion driven simplification means that you live your life according to what you want and without obligation or dependence to others. When you lead your life in this manner the complex systems of dependency and obligation that do not make you feel good will fall away and you will be left to walk in the happiness you have created for yourself every day.
Lyndsey Shaffer is the co- founder of the Onyx Six - Women of Color Business Network www.onyxsix.com. Onyx Six is a business development network committed to creating a supportive and influential community of minority women entrepreneurs and professionals. Contact Lyndsey Shaffer by visiting lyndseyshaffer.com.