‘In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.’ ~Henry David Thoreau

By Leo Babauta.

The tendency of life in our society is to become more complicated: Internet, television, shopping, work, family commitments, possessions, eating, debt … these things pile on top of each other endlessly.

This is a rather bad formula, as our days have a limited capacity, and so do we as humans. We can only do so much, only handle so many tasks and possessions and social commitments, and filling ourselves to those limits means we stress our breaking points.

It takes a bit of conscious effort to simplify, but it’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever learned to do.

Simplify everything. That might sound hard, but with practice it’s actually fairly easy, and leads to a quiet, content, lovely life full of space, with only the things in it that matter to me: my family, my writing, with some reading and workouts thrown in.

So how do you simplify? As simply as possible.

Here are a few ways: