Feeling Fabulous Friday: Getting Simple

I have found that the times in my life when I feel the most fabulous and have the most joy, are the times when my life is simple. In those days and moments, I am not rushed, busy, anxious or laiden with want. Instead, I feel content, relaxed, and focused. All of this results from a life of simpicity.

Simplicity is a spiritual discipline, one that I am trying to fully develop in my life. Richard Foster says in his book Celebration of Discipline:

 "The central point of the Discipline of simplicity is to seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of his kingdom first and then everything necessary wlll come in its proper order."

He goes on to say that the Discipline of simplicity is not just about living a less complicated life and letting go of material possessions, but it is also an inner spirit of trust, characterized by freedom from anxiety! Who couldn't use some liberation from anxiety??!!

Foster says that as we live in this world, "We are trapped in a maze of competing attachments. One moment we make a decision out of sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others will think of us. We have no unity or focus around which our lives are oriented...We should take exception to the modern psychosis that defines people by how much they produce or what they earn." He says that simplicity is all about balance and right priorities. In my opinion, simplicity is about surrender!

I crave simplicity. I want to let go of the chaos and receive the freedom and joy that comes from total surrender! I'm not completely there yet, but God is teaching me to loosen my grip.

John 10:10 NIV 

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

I know that I am not living life to the fullest right now. I need to simplify my life in order to experience joy on this journey.

On this Feeling Fabulous Friday, I am making it my goal to release my anxieties, surrender my control, put my trust in the Lord, and take practical steps toward simplifying my life.

Here is some good advice I found this week on the blog, Marc and Angel Hack Life. I don't necessarily agree with all of the things on the list, and it really wasn't written from a Christian perspective. However, I think it is a good list to ponder. I have emphasized the things on the list that I struggle with the most, so check it out and ask God to show you how you are wasting the life that He has given you.

50 Ways to Waste a Life

If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never get it.  If you don’t ask the right questions, you’ll always get the wrong answers.  If you don’t take a step forward, you’re always going to be in the same place.  Life is a journey full of choices.  Here are 50 wasteful choices to avoid.

1. Spend time regretting the past and feeling sorry for yourself.
2. Complain about problems and do nothing to solve them.
3. Follow the path of least resistance and quit when the going gets tough.
4. Ignore your passion and follow the money.
5. Setup your lifestyle so it’s dependant on your next paycheck.
6. Spend more than you earn and rack up lots of financial debt.
7. Try to control everything and then worry about the things you can’t control.
8. Focus on what you don’t want to happen.
9. Fear the things you don’t fully understand.
10. Let everyone else make decisions for you.  Don’t decide on anything, ever.
11. Let small issues snowball into big problems.
12. Be jealous of everyone else.
13. Hold onto anger.  Never forgive anyone.
14. Always be right.  Never let anyone be more right than you.
15. Seek external validation before you consider yourself good enough.
16. Make sure everything you do impresses someone else.
17. Lie to yourself and those around you and put up with others who lie to you.
18. Keep doing the same thing over and over again until the day you die.
19. Never finish what you start.
20. Stay in the same place forever.  Never travel.
21. Compare yourself unfavorably to those who you feel are more successful.
22. Belittle yourself and hang out with other people who belittle you.
23. Never learn anything new.
24. Never take responsibility for your own actions.  Blame everyone around you.
25. Don’t let anyone help you.
26. Be suspicious.  Trust no one.
27. Multitask, multitask, multitask!  Do everything at once.
28. Fill every waking moment of your life with commitments.
29. Don’t help others unless you have to.  Do only the things that benefit you directly.
30. Think about all the things you don’t have and frown.
31. Never exercise.  Only eat junk food and fried food.  Let your health rot.
32. Don’t say what you mean.  Don’t mean what you say.
33. Never tell anyone how you feel or what you’re thinking.
34. Never say, “I’m sorry.”  Never say, “I love you.”
35. Get involved in other people’s problems and make them your own.
36. Always put your own needs on the back burner.
37. Make others feel bad about themselves.
38. Watch TV for several hours every day.
39. Do lots of drugs.  Drink lots of alcohol.
40. Don’t play, just work.
41. Let your hobbies go.
42. Let your close relationships go.
43. Take everyone seriously and everything personally.
44. Remember the insults, forget the compliments.
45. Fail to plan.  Always wait until the last minute.
46. Let it all bottle up inside.
47. Always disregard other people’s opinions and suggestions.
48. Dream about your future goals and never take action to achieve them.
49. Fear change and resist it.
50. Work hard, do your best, and then condemn yourself for not achieving perfection.

If you’re guilty of some of the bullet points above, remember, no matter how long you have traveled in the wrong direction you always have the choice to turn around.