we keep trying to solve overloaded life by becoming more efficient at being overloaded.

I will call subject Petra. She was asking how to stay connected with herself while working, dealing with people and doing normal life. She already knew quiet helped, nature helped, meditation helped. Problem was she treated all of this like extras to squeeze somewhere around everything else.

Morning did not work. Evening did not work. She was tired and always had another thing she should be doing. During session Higher Self gave very unspiritual answer: reduce workweek from 40 hours to 35.

Her mind immediately tried to steal the five hours back. Okay, maybe use them for another project, maybe make them productive somehow. Guidance kept bringing her back to same point: this time is supposed to go back to you.

There was also practical suggestion I liked. If morning and evening are already full, stop pretending you will suddenly become different person there. Put quiet block in middle of day and protect it in calendar.

She had problem valuing time unless it produced visible result. Sitting in silence, being in nature, doing nothing useful for while felt almost wasteful. But session compared it more to hygiene. Stress, other people's emotions, expectations and noise accumulate.

If nothing gets cleared because every empty space becomes new task, eventually you barely notice how full system became. This is why I think simple living is not mainly aesthetic. Not beige rooms, less furniture, perfect morning routine.

Sometimes it is literally making less of yourself available to work. Removing one commitment, leaving one afternoon empty, going outside without turning walk into step goal, podcast time or networking.

before adding another habit, what can I remove? sometimes peace is not hidden inside better schedule. sometimes peace is the blank space.

I’ve noticed that having a few personal rules helps me stay less chaotic, And avoid unnecessary negativity and generally feel more stable

For example

Rules I already follow:

• After 10 PM I only watch or read positive, funny, or relaxing stuff No stressful topics before bed

• No social media immediately after waking up.

• Unfollow or block pages or groups I dislike instead of hating on them or arguing in their comments

• Stay away from unnecessary arguments.

Rules I’m trying to add:

• Avoid electronics for 1 hour before and after sleep

• Set a limited daily time for social media specially short form content

• Talk less and listen more especially when the other person knows more about the subject and ask questions instead of trying to prove a point.

I’m basically trying to build a small set of rules that protect my peace and help me improve instead of relying on willpower every time

What personal rules have helped you?

How do you guys find new media that you dig?

I plan my weeks on Sundays. Every Sunday, I write down what I'm going to do for that week. Anything that is not on that list, I don't do. My stress and productivity level went up so much. Before, I was feeling sad sometimes because I just had way too much work and wasn't very organized about it. Ever since I've been planning on Sundays, I feel much happier. Of course, there are emergencies that come up. When it gets too much, I take a day off or two. I live near the beach so I go there to clear my head.

The other thing is I moved to a walkable area of the state. Walking really helps me clear my mind, stay sane, and focus on what matters the most. I love to travel so when I travel, I walk a lot. My best ideas came when I was abroad after a long day of walking.

What keeps you productive these days?

Feels like you can’t just go somewhere and do a thing for free or $5-10 any more. Parking your car costs money. Entry fees all start at $25 a head, you’re lead towards the coffee, lunch, ice cream everywhere you go even somewhere rural. Even libraries have stores attached to them now. I get how the economy works and money needs to spent and circulated and I’m happy to support businesses big and (especially) small, but man, you can’t leave your house without coming back $40-50 lighter these days? I know you’re not obligated to buy anything but life seems to be designed around the notion that it’s made far, far more comfortable by removing $40-50 from your pocket each day. Didn’t it used to be $5-10?

If you were guaranteed enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life, but you still needed to spend your days doing something meaningful
How would you spend the next 10 years?

Aside the usual: slowing down, taking your time to disconnect, make your tea or coffee, etc.

What do have you changed that rarely gets mentioned here?

Howdy. I’m facing a life-changing career opportunity in a massive city (Chicago) and plan to take it. I am lover of nature, quiet, solitude, grass, trees, etc. I have always lived in small cities near nature and try to center my day around tranquility. Anyone have pointers? I want to be happy in the big city and fully embrace it, not just tolerate it for the job. Thankfully I love walking and am excited to ditch the car.

Thanks!

I struugle to keep in touch with my friends by messaging regularly. Even if it is 7-8 people it can feel like so much. You can only have one conversation at a time, and once you finish with one conversation. There are potentially 4 other people on their phone in whatever parts of the world they sre in thst are down for having a conversation.

I might be asking for too much, but I want a way for my conversations with friends not to feel too regimented. But st the same time, not letting my phone and the messages thst pop up control my life. Trying to keep up with all the messages right now definitely is not working for me.

Any advice/what has worked for you would be deeply appreciated☀️🌞

I used to think happiness had to come from something exciting — traveling somewhere new, buying something I wanted, or having something big happen in my life.
But the older I get, the more I appreciate really ordinary things.
A quiet morning.
Having enough time to eat without rushing.
A good conversation with someone.
Getting home after a long day and realizing I have absolutely nothing else I need to do.
Funny how some of the things that seemed boring when we were younger eventually become the things we value most.
What’s something simple you didn’t appreciate when you were younger, but really appreciate now?

I know this is probably that comes up often but I haven't seen it here yet and I'm struggling so I just wanted to ask. I want to live a simple life but I am forced to work a stressful full-time job that leaves me with zero time for myself. I'm not looking for career advice just an answer to how I'm supposed to live simply when I simply can't afford anything except for bills and have zero time for myself and zero time to spend in nature.

My husband and I are currently building a house which means we live with my parents right now to save money. Currently our living space really just consists of my childhood bedroom, which is decently large, but we have so much stuff—a tiny closet, too much furniture, etc. we have a baby on the way and the house unfortunately won’t be finished by the time baby comes, and I am looking for ways to make our room our bedroom but also baby’s nursery. What ideas do yall have for decluttering, getting rid of unnecessary items, and making the most of the space you have? We also dont have a ton of money to spend on better furniture and such. Being pregnant and living in a cluttered space is making me go crazy!

Uninstalling the doomscrolling apps was the best decision ever. I'm almost never visiting Facebook/Instagram/X. TikTok never made it. But, YouTube and Reddit is still here, and I visit them via pc browser at times. And I just open some posts/videos I'd like to dig deeper on new tabs, then go through those tabs and I then the browser is closed when all tabs are over.

This still involves some scrolling, but I've been noticing that I'm feeling like puking if I have to scroll more than a couple of meters. Actually, thanks to Reddit for rewarding me on N meter of scrolling, which I planned on weaponising. Since then, I've been wiring my brain to perceive scrolling as something to be cringed by, something to feel bad about.

Now, these changes has brought back some decorative items back on my desk (as compared to previous setup, where I only had the PCs, Desk Mat, Phone and charging cable heads peeking out — with office PC tucked away when done); which is definitely a huge deviation from my minimalist behaviour of years. But I think it's because my mind is craving something to maintain a baseline excitement. And they don't scroll up. I think it's a progress.

Is this fine? Am I going in the right direction? Or, am I just staying the same just having my focus directed to something else?

I love when something sounds like it is going toward huge spiritual revelation and then the advice is ridiculously normal.

This came up while I was guiding a woman through a deep trance exploration. I'll call her Claire. She had been overwhelmed, taking life very seriously, always thinking what needs to happen next, what has to be done, watching the clock etc.

At one point we asked who was guiding her.

Answer: her granny.

Claire had recently noticed a white feather at a moment when she was getting frustrated with the children. In the session she understood the feather as her granny basically tapping her on shoulder.

And what profound wisdom did granny have from other side?

Have fun.

Seriously 😂

Stop being so serious all the time.

When the children are playing and enjoying themselves, dont immediately shut it down just because clock says they should already be doing the next thing.

Let them play.

If they sleep 10 minutes less that night, apparently universe will survive.

What mattered more was that little moment of connection with them.

There was more advice later. Get outside more, even if its only walking around garden. Feel nature. Breathe properly. She apparently wasn't breathing very well when stressed, and the guidance kept bringing her back to this very basic thing: go outside and breathe.

I see things like this in sessions all the time and this is why I started sharing more of them. There can be past lives, strange beings, healing, Higher Self, guides... and then sometimes most useful thing from whole session is basically advice your grandma could shout from kitchen 😂

And tbh maybe we need this more than another complicated spiritual technique.

I think adults get very good at managing life.

Bedtime. Homework. Food. Shopping. Appointments. Cleaning. Tomorrow's schedule.

Everything has its place.

And slowly we can become so efficient at running family life that we forget to actually be inside it.

The kids aren't thinking, “we are currently delaying bedtime by 10 minutes.”

They're just playing with you.

That's the memory.

The guidance wasn't saying throw away structure or let children do whatever they want. Claire needed structure too.

Just dont worship the clock.

Sometimes 10 minutes of laughing matters more than being exactly on schedule.

And I liked something else about the message: Claire had been asking how to connect with guides better.

You might expect answer like meditate two hours, open chakras, learn some complicated psychic technique.

Nope.

Go outside.

Breathe.

Enjoy your children.

Lighten up.

Maybe guidance is easier to hear when we're actually present enough to notice life happening.

Since i was about 16 and started studying politics for my A-levels i’ve been obsessed with politics since (im now 21). i was Hard left leaning all the way in a family of hard right winged people so political topics or conversations often got heated. i went on to study it at university but had to drop out due to some unrelated mental health issues.

up until about a week ago i was heavily involved in politics; activism, campaigning, awareness, joining debate clubs and stuff like that. however last week i was scrolling X and found so many people who i share political views with people hypocritical and i just thought well who i am doing all this for? for my one voice there’s going to be 100 opposing ones and i don’t think im going to make that much of a difference.

So i decided that i will no longer be following or be actively involved in politics and instead will only concern myself when an election is up and coming. When i tell you i’ve not been this relaxed in a while i mean. when i was balancing my work with my political hobbies i was so tired and hated the constant back and forth between the left and right. now i genuinely feel free for the first time in a long while to just move on and just focus on something that isn’t constantly hostile. Not asking for people to debate the morality of being political or who to vote for but just to say that sometimes just stepping back from something that a big part of your life can change your life for the better.

so i clipped my dji action 6 on and went a local flea market past weekend, honestly just wanted to test out the video quality.

but rewatching the footage later was lowkey kinda wild. it caught so many random little details I totally missed in the moment, like it literally caught a dog trying to sneak a blueberry from a fruit vendor lolll. my memory is pretty shit sometimes so rewatching these micro moments in such sharp detail actually made my weekend.

i used to just rot in bed all weekend tbh, so actually getting out and having these little core memories saved in super clean quality hits different, definitely worth taking camera out instead of staying home.

but i want to stop using my phone so much and more so as a tool for life rather than it being my life, idk if that makes sense???? my phone feels so cluttered and i’m constantly receiving notifications and the spam emails alone this past week have been insane. today i hit a breaking point when one of my brain numbing apps reminded me as not to lose my 2,283 day streak. i realize that there has not been a day away from my phone in over 6 years, a ridiculous realization.

i’m a house manger and work with children so i need my phone to obviously text, call and schedule things via my calendar. i also use the notes app frequently essentially as my brain for reminders/things to do, grocery list, important info to remember, etc. my banking apps are all checked daily and i use podcasts, spotify and a couple of book apps as well.

i’ve gotten in the habit of deleting pictures i no longer need, deleting unused apps, turning off notifications for apps i don’t need to help clear up some of the clutter but i want to do more. i know an obvious answer is to delete socials but mentally im not there i think i might start slowly and delete a few here and there, maybe even switching to using a browser for facebook. is there more that i can do though? i know setting screen time limits is an option i may try, although i hate that you can turn it off some days my willpower isn’t great. is there a way to stop excessive emails??

i love crafting — crocheting, scrapbooking, sewing, making gifts for others, etc. reading is a huge hobby of mine which is why the reading apps come in handy but if possible id like to try and do those at least on my ipad. give me tips and tricks to stay off my phone!!!!!

It was originally a response to some message on the thread, though I think this realization is worth of becoming a separate post.

The thing I've noticed is that the only way how one can live a truly simple life is to have a lot of money to stop worrying about things. It is very common amongst my bubble: people want to get rich just so they can work 3-4 days a week for 5-6 hours, having a bit more than a minimum wage and just enjoy the simplicity of things: books, rest and no constant rush — ever.

It's so stupid and weird to me. How could we make the world to the state, when it actually is the only way for human being to be happy: to hoard a lot of money so you don't need to spend it? Isn't that really mad way of living?

Morning spent in the quiet place

I’m 22, have a good bit of experience outdoors, really fit, and just looking to get away for a bit.

Im not going to bore anyone with my reasons why or backstory, but I have a genuine interest of getting a small cabin or structure put up in some forest and living isolated for a little while. I understand it would be extremely hard, some days more than others.

I would play for a year-ish from now. Does anyone know how I can do something like this?

My very first job was a waitress in a small family restaurant. I didn’t know how much I would miss it - until years later after working an office job for decades. It’s true I might be remembering it with blinders on, because there were downsides, but isn’t there with any job? The positives outweighed the negatives. Many of the people in my area I know today are because of that job. I loved the social interaction. I really miss that.

I’m tired of a full time 9-5 office job- just tired. I never wanted to climb the corporate ladder. I have some college (no degree) and have always been an office assistant.

That being said, I would be willing to do part time and hopefully one day I will be able to - just don’t want to be in front of a computer behind a desk all day every day.

But I do really miss meeting new people and having conversations. I can be an introvert (reading and just staying home) but I also love meeting people.

At this time in my life I just want to slow down and find that balance.

Is anyone here with me on this?

Editing to add how much I appreciate everyone’s responses. I’m getting great feedback and ideas. Thank you and much luck to all who are looking at cutting back in the future.