Michelle Hughes, a woman at the age of 34, found herself that she is suffering from a form of incurable cancer and has a maximum of 3 to 5 years to live. When she got the news, she was just at home with a newborn. Could you empathize with her? How devastating such news is to someone who is not even hit 40? She had two choices: drown in misery and wait to die, or live to her full potential and be happy. She chose the second option and started to spread the message. “Just live”.
Can we just live? It sounds simple, but it is difficult to apply. Hughes said that she never felt like she lived this way before and is now enjoying life to the maximum and doesn’t mind whether it will be cut short. In her Instagram account, she describes, “Incurable cancer has redefined me and shaped me into the person I am today, a runner. Someone who travels halfway around the world to run a half-marathon.” Despite her health situation, she did not see this as a barrier to her dreams. What about us? Can we just live? It sounds simple and straightforward, but can we apply it to our lives?
How many of our days and how much of our time are filled with the misery that we create in our heads? Here are some ways to “Just live”
“My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened.”
– Michel de Montaigne
Enjoy the moment
This is a very cliché phrase, but how many of us can be fully present at the moment and not dive into a deep, dark pool of anxiety or more ideal times? To what extent can we “just live”. To be able to achieve this, we need to practice mindfulness meditation and clear our minds of worry and catastrophic scenarios. There, the story gets more complicated.
Mindfulness meditation: Training your brain to be fully present in the moment. The idea is to approach nonjudgmental to the universe. It is not only effective to fix mental health, but also to gain the skill to concentrate in the world of too much. Click here to read more about mindfulness meditation.
Adopt a Worry-free mindset: Worrying or thinking about negative scenarios poisons our minds and the moment. Of course, there are times that we worry, and that is normal, but what about chronic worry? If you are someone who constantly worries about something, acknowledge that this can be worked on for a healthier mindset. If you search the internet, there are much advice to work toward a worry-free mindset. A well-proven method is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
Simplicity
Life is very demanding, and we are natural beings with desires and expectations. Less is more, so it is possible to expect less and be satisfied with what we have.
Change your mindset: Materialism has become increasingly emphasized in our daily lives. Thanks to fast fashion and social media, we started to become like consumer machines. We buy many things. More than we need, more than we can manage. This influences our happiness negatively and tends to overload our minds and the house. Besides, it creates an illusion of happiness. We become happy for a while, and then we target buying something else. Thus, we base our happiness on possessions.
Practice minimalism: Declutter, simplify and enjoy more from doing less. In this way, you would enjoy your life more and have more spare time to spend on your hobby’s. Being minimal would help you to feel free and mentally better because you would drown less in items and feel more roomy. There would be more room to “just live”.
Power of affirmations: A practical way to rewire your brain is through affirmations. It could be a sentence, thought, and needs to be repeated constantly. In this way, your brain would accept it as a fact and change the behavioral pattern. Affirmations are something like “Life is giving beauties each and single day.”, “I live with prosperity.” Try to be thankful every day, and you will receive it back.
Stop consuming junk food
Eat the food that nourishes your body, not your ego. Your gut health is important not only for physical wellbeing but also for mental wellbeing. Stop sugar and alcohol; they are slowly poisoning your body. Drink lots of water, and prefer eating organic. Every time you choose a food, ask yourself this question. Is this food supporting my body?
Keep your gut healthy. Your gut absorbs nutrients, and it is the foundation of your body. Sugar, gluten and alcohol consumption contaminate your gut. Another factor that harms your body is antibiotic consumption. Here is an informative list for a healthy gut.
Focus on the positive
Why do you spend your time criticizing your boss? Will he change? You are just poisoning your time and mind with negativity. Life is full of challenges, and accept that people tend to hurt each other. They might do it intentionally or unintentionally. It is ok; you are going to survive. The more you complain, the more it is a barrier to “just live”.
You are not the only one who is suffering from this. Everyone has struggles in life, but they somehow find ways to manage them. There is no one on the planet without struggle. A gratitude journal is an effective tool to focus on the positive.
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
– Oscar Wilde
Do something every day that you like
The concept of flow was brought to the world by Mihaly Csikzentmihaly, a leading figure in psychology. It means pure focus, being immersed in the activity. This state of mind not only boosts happiness, but also a healthy reaction to gather concentration. The more we do something we like, the more our brain will be encouraged to learn to concentrate. We will simply exist and “just live”.
Make a list of activities that you like to do for the purpose of being happy. The more you engage in activities that give you energy, the more you will enjoy life. The opposite is also the case. The more you reduce the activities that give you stress, the more you will pave the way to happiness. Here is a list of activities that would give you energy.
Live for yourself
Possessions, fame, status, etc. Stop feeling good about concepts and societal values. Start living for yourself. What about trying to get others approval? Sometimes we can get addicted to pleasing people, whether we want to do it or not.
Start living for yourself. Do things not to get others’ approval, but to make you happy. The process is more important than the outcome. Spend time with people with whom you can truly be yourself. Try to just live as yourself.
Life is simple, but we are making it complicated.
– Confucius
Conclusion
Life is not that complicated, but our minds make the situation very complicated with interpretation, anticipation, expectation and catastrophizing. It creates a huge barrier to us to simply live. The more we gain awareness of this, the more we will eliminate the barriers to a more simple and straightforward life.
Awesome blog. Really Cool.