Becoming an Essentialist

Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to talk about the concept of essentialism. So Ian Thomas once said, "Every day the world will drag you by the hand, yelling this is what's important, and this is important, and this is important and you need to worry about this and this and this and this. And each day, it's up to you to yank back your hand, put it on your heart and say, no, this is what's important." This quote sums up for me. What the essence of essentialism is all about.

Author Greg McKeown defines essentialism as being able to deliberately distinguish the vital few important things in life from the trivial many, then eliminating the non-essentials so that the things that really matter have a clear, smooth passage in life. He notes also, and I totally believe in this, if you don't prioritize your life, somebody else probably will. So in daily life, we really tend to fill our moments up, don't we? With commitments and meetings and messages and scrolling and website and phone calls. And all of this busy-ness can turn into a bit of an addiction, a bit of an autopilot way of living, where we just keep going through the motions, one day after another. And the faster we go, the more we do, the less we tend to pause and reconnect with what really matters deep down in our hearts.

And then it's just all too easy to lose our way. So there really is an enormous amount of value in giving ourselves a few moments each day to become still inside and listen to that deeper place within us that lays beneath the stress, beneath the worries, the cravings, the distractions, and the busy-ness, that place that holds wisdom. Well, it might take a little bit of effort at first to make time to pause, but when we do, we reconnect to our heart, to our wisdom, to who we truly are. And then we can check in with ourselves and ask questions like, am I living in alignment with my values? Am I making time for the things that really matter? Am I being the person that I want to be? So when the world feels like it's dragging you by the hand and you're getting pulled around by all the distraction, pulled away from what really matters, just remembering to keep catching yourself, coming home to that quiet place inside that knows what matters most. And see what happens when you let that wisdom guide your actions, prioritizing and making time for what matters most.

And giving yourself permission to say no, to let go, to relinquish some of the stuff that isn't essential. And then notice what changes and if your life starts to fill with more meaning, ease and fulfillment. So that's the invitation for today and for this week, to see what it's like to practice this kind of essentialism. As always thank you for your practice. And now let's settle in for today's meditation.