DELAYED GRATITUDE..

Our world today is filled with materialistic attractions. People today live paycheck to paycheck to fulfill their lust for such materialistic demands. They are not needs. This is true because such materialistic distractions are outcome of capitalism. These things are advertised in such a way that they grab sudden attention. People are made to believe that they absolutely need it. Thus these luxuries become needs rather than being just demands.

There have been studies that prove keeping cash away every month can result in good wealth accumulation. While this is true but the sad reality is that people spend this money on such luxuries. This results into stagnation and they do not move up the financial ladder. People believe that they could have better lives if they would get a pay hike. But this does not solve the problem. Once this spending habit gets embedded in our life style, with a pay raise we just increase our spending, thus remaining financially stagnant as earlier. The money is just a tool. It becomes powerful only if we give it the power.

The method or may I call it the practise of delayed gratitude is a habit when incorporated can do wonders in our life. This in the most simple way means postponing the wants for a later period so that we can concentrate on securing the future first. It does not mean that we should give up our wants. This practise in turn tells us to have conscious purchases. To give our purchase some time so that we can categorise it properly as a need or a want.

The categorisation is crucial. When a thing is a need and we can afford it we should do it right away. But once the thing falls under the second category we should give it time. We should ask ourselves whether our lives would be better when we incorporate that thing? Whether we have any alternative for that thing which is cheaper but can do the task equally well? Such questions will give us time to think about our purchase decision. And as seen, most of the times people avoid buying that thing. Thus hard earned money or soul kept savings is saved.

Some individuals may argue that we have one life and we should live it to the fullest. YES, we should. But having material possessions does not always make one happy. Happiness is a choice and we should only allow those things into our lives which can compliment our joy of living. Being financially deprived leaches away happiness and no one wants that. That is the reason we see people working soo hard to secure a living. But then these people give away their hard earned money is search of happiness in material things. They come out depressed.

We should have a balance of everything. We should delay possessions but not happiness. In the race to obtain more materialistic things people forget to live and end up having a half life. A life of regret at the end is what they get. Thus practising delayed gratitude can do wonders. Incorporate it as a habit and see dramatic changes in your life and personal finances..

IMPROVISING..

Improvise simply means to act in the flow. ACT being the center of this thought. We achieve the greater success in life not by avoiding the hurdles but by struggling through them and improvising at each and every point. Yes it is important to have a plan but we all know life is uncertain. It rarely goes according to our thoughts. Things often fall in the right places. In such a scenario, improvising becomes crucial. But there are limits to it too. Those limits can only be known with experience.

Our life becomes meaningful only when we fix an aim. This gives direction to our efforts. Without aim we can only flow with life. In such case improvising becomes impossible. Life is uncertain and it is never a one door/ direction phenomenon. It is filled with opportunities of growth and success. These opportunities are disguised and hence a mind which can improvise each scenario can recognise it and act on it. Without such a mindset we will struggle and make the journey hard.

Allow me to use a famous line from the movie series named harry porter. It goes as "There are always two choices, one is easy and the other is right" . Improvising in a situation never means to leave the morality and gulp the chance available. Life has a bad habit of testing peoples characters. The ones who truly shine are the ones who have chosen the right. Such wisdom to choose the right comes from experience.

In every situation the first thing that needs to be done is analysing the situation with a calm mind. This will let us screen out the opportunities. After this, an impartial analysis should be done. This will make us avoid getting into traps and doing the thing that is right. Finally the most important thing is to act. Without this final step we cannot move ahead. Thus improvising is easy to hear but in reality it involves many crucial elements. When we look back on our lives we can easily make out the linkages. These linkages are based on our decisions which are related to our skills of improvising. Practising slow living can really help with this. As per every skill, improvising can also improve with practise and experience. Thus keep living and keep improvising.. 

ME TIME..

All days are not the same. Our energy varies from day to day. The days we accomplish the most are the days when our energies are high. Then there are the sluggish days when we do not feel like doing anything and as a result we accomplish less on those days.

It is normal to have sluggish days in between days filled with hard work. These days are a welcome change to break the monotonous lifestyle which comprises of filling the hours with work to get more out of the 24 hours we have. It becomes an issue only when these days last longer than 24 hours.

To accomplish the goals set in life we need to work hard. There is no other known way to do this. Goals are the big tasks that need our dedication to become true. A small bit of work dedicated towards that goal every single day will ultimately lead to that final destination. These small things that we accomplish everyday have a great impact on our lives and keeps us faithful to the goal. The higher is the bar set for the goal, the more work it needs to be put into it. Thus the days with monotonous routines are valuable and ultimately lead us to our destination.

On the other hand the sluggish days have their own benefits. People often loose themselves in the process to make their dreams come true. Dedication towards one's dream is important but not at the cost of one's true nature. The off days help us to connect to our true selves. This connection is important because it keeps us aware of who we really are and how far we have come. These days are also important because they help us analyse our way of working and make necessary adjustments if needed. Off and sluggish days are the days that are crucial to drive those other days we call as busy days. Adding to that is the fact that life is about living as well as working hard. The part where we live are actually confined to the days that are sluggish. Those little delights that we enjoy and fill us with happiness like reading a book, cuddling in bed, cooking etc are important and keeping a day for relishing them is no fault. 

Enjoying the day and at the same time being sorry to have lived that way does more harm. It is no crime to have me time. In fact it is a crime not having me time because you are intentionally harming yourself. Relish such days when you can breathe and live life to the fullest. As earlier said life is not in living from one point to another rather it's actually these small happy moments that make up one's life and are truly the memories that they would relish later. After reaching at a destination and looking back, the days of struggle keeps us humble but these days of joy give the feeling of a life lived and not lost to the struggles..

MINIMALISM..

Almost all of us are maximalist. The term maximalist is nothing but a term describing our capitalist and gatherer mindset. The gatherer mindset is embedded into our human system. But it has been pushed beyond the satisfaction line due to the growing capitalist ideology. Capitalist ideology is the outcome of growing demands which empowered the market to take steps to meet the demands. These demands are no longer restricted to basic needs of existence rather it has gone much beyond that. This extra things that are excess to our basic needs are nothing but cutter that have influence on our minds and robs away our peace of mind not to forget the financial burden it puts on our daily lives.

The mindset that counteracts to the above is termed as minimalism. These are just terms. They can be called with different names but the thing that is important is the ideology which has the impact on our mindset. The minimalist mindset is one that helps an individual to satisfy himself/herself with the bare minimum. This guides us to do away with the things that are not used in our day to day lives. This ideology does not limit itself only to things, rather it is very broad including our thoughts and time. The thoughts that are in no way going to enrich us are done away with. This decluttering of thoughts gives back to us our valuable time which could be instead used to enrich our soul with healthy thoughts. Similarly minimalist ideology also tells us to limit wastage of time by doing things that are not that important. To explain this we can sight the example of our mobile phone addiction. This simple device robs us 6 to 7 hours of our day on an average. We spend hours mindlessly scrolling the newsfeed or getting entertained. If we limit this wastage of time we would have time left to do things that would actually bring us closer to our loved ones.

Minimalism is simply a way of living simply. When incorporated into our lives it can result into wonders. More time to do things we love. Better family relations. More time available to pursue our passion that can enrich our souls and make us truly happy. And above all it can save us a lot of money. Minimalist living helps us focus only on what's important in our lives. This helps us do away with the societal pressure to impress. It helps us to overcome the fear of other people's judgement of ourselves which actually neither happens nor should it matter to us in anyway. Thus we start avoiding the blind race for the new. The new fashion, the new gadget etc are all things that are not our needs rather our demands which are taught to us by the society. Minimalism is the filter that keeps all these unwanted stuff out of our lives for good.

A life free from clutter is a life full of happiness. Once you let the unwanted out, your vision becomes clear enough to focus only on the essentials. This clutter free living attracts opportunities, happiness into relationships and financial security for the years to come. The time and effort saved can be productively used in many ways that helps an individual to grow and flourish. Minimalist principle can vary as per ones needs. This versatility is what that makes it so popular. There are innumerable references and guides that can help one understand minimalism better and help to adopt it into ones life. The results are so attractive that once you start experiencing them, you long to take those further. This is a life that's fulfilling on its own. Give minimalism a try and I am sure you will never wanna leave it..