Simple Self Improvement

Image;Tumisu from Pixabay Today's happiness tip is don't over-think everything. I have to admit I don't like to 'wing it' and have a tendency to over- think and over- plan. A degree of thinking ahead and planning is a good thing, I reckon, but over-thinking can drive you crazy and get in the way of happiness. Over-thinkers can be indecisive because they always feel they need to think some more before taking action. Their head is full of 'what if?' and 'What if I make the wrong decision?' They also tend to be very hard on themselves for making mistakes and keep thinking, 'I should have known better,' or 'I should have done better.' How can you handle over-thinking? Firstly, recognise that planning and being prepared is a helpful trait. Then accept the fact no one can be prepared for everything and that sometimes things won't turn out as you expected and planned, but that's okay because you will get throu...

                                                                                                                 Image: Gerd Altmann Today's happiness tip is limit your choices . I do like to have choices, but like plenty of other people, I find having too many choices is overwhelming. I actually find a limited number of choices when it comes to what to wear, picking what to have for tea and which activities to be involved in ma...

                                                                    Image:Marie Vonow Okay, so here I am at the final day of November and the end of my self imposed six month ban on unnecessary shopping. For further information check out my blog post http://simpleselfimprovement.blogspot.com/2019/05/six-month-shopping-ban-challenge.html  How did it go? What did I find out about my shopping habits? What are my goals for future purchases of non essential items? I actually found I made more non essential purchases as time went by because I had come to the conclusion that making such a purchase from time to time is okay. I think each person needs to make their own decisions about how many items they want in their home and how many '...

Sometimes the answer comes when you relax                   Image:Adapted from Pixabay Sometimes I get frustrated with myself for taking too long to make a decision. Perhaps there are times when I should be quicker in deciding how to handle a situation. However, I often find I make better decisions when I don’t force myself to make a quick decision. I like the following quote from William S. Burroughs (writer, artist, philosopher), ‘Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.’

A person's mind can be just as cluttered as a physical space             Image:Adapted from Pixabay The topic of clutter is frequently discussed in magazine articles and on the internet. When we hear the word ‘clutter’ we usually think of physical surplus items that have accumulated over the years. Emotional bits and pieces are another form of clutter which can weigh us down.    This emotional clutter can be in the form of decisions you haven’t made or tasks you keep putting off. This type of clutter holds you back as much as physical clutter and can drain your energy making you feel tired and overwhelmed. There are times when you know you aren’t in the right frame of mind to make certain important decisions and it is wise to leave them for a while. After a time you may find yourself able to deal with them. Sometimes these decisions are left for a long time because you continue to find you can’t face sorting them out. ...