Simple living is a part of spiritual life or Sadhana. It leads to peace of mind and
happiness.
What is Simple Living?
In the spiritual context, simple living means living with the least needs. I will describe its various aspects and examples in the form of a bulleted list below:
3.
Nor borrowing money. Not using the credit card
4.
Having an attitude of dispassion.
5.
Having few personal needs and possessions.
Why should we inculcate simple living?
Simple living primarily gives peace of mind. Contentment
leads to joy and happiness. Other benefits are:
1.
Simple living results in more savings, investing
and financial security.
2.
Peace of Mind.
3.
No worries about paying EMIs and Credit Cards.
4.
Loan sharks will not chase you.
5.
You will have more time for exercise, yoga and
meditation.
6.
Good health.
7.
Long Life.
How to Start Simple Living?
Honestly
it is not easy to figure out how to inculcate the habit of simple living. I am
saying this out of my own experience. Even though my earnings were decent I used
to struggle to meet both ends meet. As soon as the cash came in it got spent instantaneously.
Almost the entire month I would struggle without liquidity. This hurt me a lot.
I was upset and decided to analyze and find out where things were going wrong.
On
analysis I found out that I was wasting my resources on the following:
2.
Many unplanned pilgrimages.
3.
Many holidays.
4.
Eating out/-ordering food online.
5.
Unnecessary shopping – especially on clothes and
accessories.
6.
Car loan EMI.
7.
Credit card dues – even though I had started
using the card on the premise that I would only be spending what I would have
spent with the debit card I realized that gradually the spend doubled and
staked claims on the next month’s income too.
After a lot of debate in the family we have agreed as
follows:
1.
Holidays: We will restrict them to only two a
year – one in the summer and one in the winter.
2.
Pilgrimages: Will go only twice a year – one in
March and the other in September.
3.
General Travel: Try to avoid as much as
possible.
4.
Credit card Spend: Closely watch and control the
spending. Money should already be in the bank account equal to the credit card
dues.
5.
Car loan EMI: Can’t do anything about it as the
long-term commitment is already made. Luckily it ended recently and I have
decided not to buy a new car anytime in the next five years.
6.
Eating out we decided we would do that only when
our son is back on vacations. We will order junk food online only when we are
too tired to cook.
After applying these rules of simple living, believe me, I
see that I am left with a lot of cash to save and invest, have no worries, feel
contented and happy. You too can do this. Once we develop the habit it feels
quite easy and rewarding.
Image Credit: The credit for basic image used in this post goes to "The Core Basics Com".
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