I received a mail today from the prolific writer Leo Babauta from his Simplicity blog Zen Habits, called The Way of Less in which he discusses the essentials of a life.
He suggests one create a list of priorities of the things that matter most. And then slowly begin to pare down all the rest that doesn’t. This is to simplify life and to consciously create the best life possible.
Which is something I wrote about recently here. But I would like to distill my list further. Although in parts some of my list below is more of a wish list, some of it is already in place. My essentials are firm and clear – work, family and improvement.
With full credit to Leo Babauta:
What matters most: What are your essentials?
- Creating my meaningful lucrative work
- Being present with my family and friends
- Ongoing learning and experiences
- Good health (exercise, healthy eating, water)
- Good mind (meditation, rest
What essential material possessions do you want?
- a wooden, comfortable bed with soft, natural linen
- tech – a good quality laptop and phone – including music
- 2 beautiful, comfortable grown up sofas
- few, beautiful, natural fabric clothes
Projects & doing: How do you spend your time, juggling?
- My work – scheduled, automated, quality, spreading good
- Exercising
- Spending time with my faves
Digital essentials – How much time do you spend online?
- email and WhatsApp with all notifications turned off
- online learning
- social media
- Netflix!
I like to have a simple arrangement of priorities and goals in a structure I can follow and remember easily.
