How to Live a Simple Life: The Surprising Truth About Finding Peace
I hear it all the time from friends, and I’ve certainly felt it myself: “I just want to live a simple life.” It’s a common desire. We dream of less stress, less chaos, and more peace. But we usually think the answer is somewhere out there a smaller house, a different job, maybe a quiet cabin in the woods. But what if the real answer to how to live a simple life and be happy isn’t about changing your address, but about changing what’s happening between your ears?
Let me tell you about the time I introduced my boat trailer to a telephone pole. Yes, really. I made a simple mistake and immediately, my inner world became incredibly complicated. A voice in my head my inner drill sergeant started yelling:
“How could you forget you’re pulling a trailer? What kind of idiot are you?”. At that moment, my life wasn’t simple. Instead, it was a storm of self-criticism. But on the short drive home, I managed to find a different voice, a simpler one:
“Hey Billy, stuff happens. Nobody got hurt. The trailer can be fixed. Let it go.”.
That experience taught me the real simple life meaning: A complicated mind will create a complicated life, no matter how minimalist your home is. If you want to know how to live simply, you have to start by decluttering your mind.
The First Step to a Simpler Life: Stop Believing These Complicated Lies
Before we can start living a simple life, we have to fire the bad consultants in our heads who sell us complicated, damaging myths. To serve that purpose, here are five pieces of mental clutter we need to toss out right now:
- Myth #1: Negative Emotions are Complicated Problems. The truth is, feelings like anger, fear, and sadness are simple signals, not system errors that need complex fixing. In other words, they are just information.
- Myth #2: You Must Feel Good All the Time. Trying to maintain constant happiness is exhausting.
Living a simple life means accepting the full range of human emotions without judgment. Life is simple when you stop fighting reality. - Myth #3: You Can’t Be Happy During Hard Times. Joy and grief can coexist. Furthermore,
simple happiness is often found in small moments of peace, even when life feels challenging. - Myth #4: Perfectionism Leads to Excellence. Perfectionism complicates everything. It’s a recipe for anxiety and procrastination that makes you perform worse, not better.
- Myth #5: Stress Must Be Eliminated. A stress-free life is an un-lived life. Therefore, the goal isn’t to eliminate all stress, but to simplify our relationship with it.
How to Live a More Simple Life: A Toolbox for Your Mind
So, what is a simple life? It’s one where you have the tools to manage your inner world with grace. The first section of my book,
Your Happier Life Toolbox is all about building this mental toolkit. To that end, here’s a quick look at the essentials for achieving a simpler life:
1. Find Joy in the Ordinary (Chapter 1) This first step is about shifting your perspective. Our brains are wired to scan for threats, complicating our days with worry. Tools like practicing daily gratitude simplifies our focus. Think of it like wiping a dirty windshield; suddenly, you can see the good that was there all along, creating simple happiness from what you already have.
2. Become the CEO of Your Own Mind (Chapter 2) Next, let’s address the inner chaos. Our minds often feel like overexcited puppies running in circles. Wondering how to live a simplistic life? Use tools like practicing mindfulness meditation and using deep breathing to relax to calm the chaos and return to the simple clarity of the present moment.
3. Build Unshakeable Inner Strength (Chapter 3) This is where you learn to be simple with yourself. Instead of complicated self-criticism (like I did with the boat trailer), you practice practicing self-compassion. In short, you learn to treat yourself with the same kindness you’d offer a friend. Life is that simple.
4. Find Your “Something Bigger” (Chapter 4) Finally, you can simplify your life’s direction. When you know your core purpose, your “why,” it simplifies everything else. Consequently, decisions become clearer, and you stop getting tangled up in things that don’t truly matter.
It’s a Simple Life of Practice, Not Perfection
Look, I’m not a guru dispensing wisdom from a mountaintop. I’m a regular guy from Jersey who’s spent decades stumbling his way through this stuff. My journey toward living a simple life is as clumsy as my moves on the dance floor.
The goal isn’t perfection; it’s peace. These tools won’t stop life from throwing you curveballs, but they will simplify your experience of them. They help you find calm in the storm and laughter in your mistakes. The answer to how to live a simple happy life isn’t a destination. In fact, it’s available right now even with a damaged boat trailer and a bruised ego.
It’s in the next breath you take and the next thought you choose.
Keep Building,
Billy