Simplify Your Lifestyle to Find Happiness

As you grow as a person, you find that your primal needs are at the forefront and when these are met, life is good and you are healthy. When you live a primal lifestyle, you are putting focus on your most basic needs and making sure that these are fulfilled before tackling less important issues. For example, you make sure that you are getting enough sleep before you worry about upgrading your cellphone. This helps to ensure that you are healthy and happy so that the less important things fall into place.

Simplify Attending to Your Basic Needs

If you look back at the hunter gatherers, they did not have gyms, complex meals or the need for fancy events and parties. Your most basic need is food and water and you can simplify how you fuel your body. Create simple meals with lean proteins, whole grains, low-fat dairy, fruits and vegetables. You can make healthy meals in under 30 minutes using whole and fresh foods. Having fancy meals from time to time is fine as a treat, but create a meal list that includes simple and tasty meals to fuel your body throughout the week.

You need regular exercise for optimal health and a positive mood. Instead of expensive gyms and equipment, get back to the basics with outdoor workouts and calisthenics. Spending time in nature has the added benefit of reducing the risk of depression and helping you to feel more tranquil and relaxed.

Desperation to Save Time

In today's world, adults do everything possible to save time and get multiple tasks done at the same time. This means constant use of technology, not taking the time to relax and sacrificing your physical and mental health. Start by reducing your reliance on technology. This is not easy because it is so intertwined into your daily life, but slowly reducing technology use will help you to find time to attend to your most basic needs. Start with something simple like turning off your cellphone when you are eating dinner and not taking your phone into your bedroom at night. Both actions will give you time away from work and other responsibilities to just relax.

Losing Sight of What a Good Lifestyle Truly Is

Take a minute to think about how you would define a good life. Write down your thoughts in a journal so that you can refer back to them later. For many people, a good life involves a wealth of nice material possessions, money and people to have a good time with. There is nothing wrong with wanting any of these because they can help you to enjoy your life. However, when you are thinking about a good lifestyle, it is important to focus on the things that make up your life, such as your health, eating well, exercising, being well-rested and having people in your life that you can trust.

Before you can truly build a great life, the basics need to be in place. For example, you can have a high-paying job that fulfills your financial wants, but if your health is poor, this can cause you to have to take time off work potentially putting that job in jeopardy. This is why your basic needs must be fully addressed before you can add other things to your life.

Take 30 days to start focusing on your most basic needs. Make small changes each day to redirect your focus and put your health, close relationships and general well-being at the forefront of your decisions and lifestyle. After 30 days, go back to your journal and read what you wrote about what defines a good life. Now, redefine it based on what you learned over the last 30 days to address your primal and basic needs. This will show you how you will be happier and healthier when your basic needs come before things that you simply want.

As you can see, meeting your most basic needs involves simply being in tune with yourself. This allows for greater personal growth and a healthier and happier life. Start with the basic need that you tend to neglect the most to get started. For many adults, this means focusing on getting more sleep each night since many people put off sleep in favor of things like work and trying to keep up with their social life and other responsibilities.

- Rosemary Kitchen

References

Pavlina, S. (2013). How to Meet Your Needs Without Being Needy. Retrieved on March 10, 2015 from http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2013/09/how-to-meet-your-needs-without-being-needy/