Because let’s face it: You are addicted to thinking.
The hallmark of an addiction is that you cannot stop it. And you can’t stop thinking. However?
Give it a try. Just think nothing for a minute. You can’t.
I know because I’m an old junkie. I was also addicted to thinking. And just like you – and the average person – I had 60,000 thoughts a day. Those thoughts drove me crazy!
I bet you spend all day thinking too. Until you fall asleep exhausted. Tired of all that thinking.
BECAUSE ALL THAT THINKING ENSURES THAT:
• You can never really relax (because your head never stands still). • You get physical complaints (because you store every tension in your body). • Your relationships run less naturally (because you analyze everything). • Your work suffers (unless you worry about your work, then your health suffers). • You lie exhausted on the couch in the evening (to do the same again tomorrow).
Does all that worrying solve our problems? Unfortunately not. It just creates additional problems. That’s why I always say: “Be careful of thinking. Before you know it, you’ll have a problem.”
How do I turn off my thoughts? This is what everyone is trying: We try to think smarter, think differently, think better. We think… about how we can stop… thinking. You can never do this!
You may wake up one day with an empty head. You get up and think, “Hey, how wonderful – no more thoughts for a while!” But I wouldn’t bet on it…
The only way to get out of your head… is to practice – in the right way. A little practice every day to let go of that addiction to thinking. The key is really up to you so do something about it.
YOU NEED TO KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO DO THAT
What works and what doesn’t work. What the steps are, in the correct order. With the RIGHT exercises I learned in a short time to turn off that eternal thinking. To let it go. Whenever I want.
And I can tell you – in one word – how that feels: LOVELY! It feels like a liberation. It feels like freedom.
It feels like you are on a beach with nothing but space around you. As if all worries have blown away.
Delicious! Pure peace of mind.
There are courses on the internet where you can learn how to stop overthinking. You can learn how to get out of your head when you want and where you want.
So that you can finally find inner peace. • So that you stop worrying. • So that you experience freedom. • So that you enjoy your life.
Isn’t that what you want? I hope this blog was valuable to you 🙂 Start now and look for methods that can help you.
I will give you my method and that is meditating more often and working on your breathing combined with sports.
What is a power nap? How long should a power nap be? What’s the ideal power nap time? Do you need to climb into a fancy nap pod to get the benefits of power naps?
We’re here to answer those questions in this blog article to power napping. We’ll talk about what power napping is, why it works, and how best to incorporate it into your life and routine.
What is power napping?
A power nap is a short period of sleep. It’s meant to supplement normal sleep and give sleepers a burst of alertness and energy.
You know how preschoolers lay down in the middle of the afternoon to give their minds and bodies a chance to recharge? The same approach works for adults, too, and research reveils we need it: 1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep.
How can power napping help?
We should all get 7-9 hours of sleep a night, say experts. But that’s sometimes difficult. Life gets in the way. We get hooked on a new show and don’t realize our bedtime passed three episodes ago. Work keeps us up late. Our children need us during the night. Anxiety wakes us up and makes it hard to fall back asleep.
When we get less sleep than we need, we build up a sleep deficit. Operating on less sleep impairs almost all aspects of body function. It worsens our reaction time, information processing, judgment, patience, and vision. Extended fatigue can also lead to stress, burnout, and moodiness.
Daytime naps can help us recover from sleep deprivation. They can reset our systems, replenish our energy levels, and improve our performance. A rested mind and body allow us to better engage in the activities that bring us meaning and with the people who bring us joy. Getting enough sleep, whether at night or during the day, helps us be more present in our lives.
Power napping works best if you already have a good sleep routine. If your body doesn’t fall asleep easily, you may want to work on improving that first. If not, taking naps during the day can make it even harder to fall asleep at night.
What are the benefits of power naps?
Quick answer: Return to the day more focused, present, and productive
Reaching for an espresso or a chocolate bar isn’t the only way to combat a mid-afternoon slump. Napping can actually be healthier than compensating for tiredness with coffee, according to the Behavioural Brain Research journal, since caffeine can decrease memory performance. You might get a burst of energy from a latte, but at the cost of lower-quality work.
Power napping and meditation both benefit the mind as well as the body. The benefits of taking a nap include reduced stress, lowered risk of heart attacks, and better concentration.
Healthy sleep is more about quality of rest than quantity of hours. A power nap, while short, can let our minds recharge and heal.
Setting up for a power nap
Many employers have recognized the benefits of power naps on work performance. Several companies offer opportunities to nap at work, including in dedicated spaces with sleek nap pods.
You don’t need fancy equipment to have a good power nap, though. Preschoolers get by with a dark room and a yoga mat, after all. With that in mind, consider these aspects of your napping set-up to get the most out of a power nap:
Location. If you don’t have a dedicated napping space available, find somewhere you won’t be disturbed and that has low noise levels. Is there an office or conference room you can use? A parked car can be a good option. If you work from home, try retreating into your bedroom.
Timing. Set an alarm for 20 minutes and make sure you don’t have anything to do right after it goes off. While you should wake up refreshed, not groggy, it’s best to give yourself a few minutes to transition back into work.
Distractions. Power down your computer and put your phone on silent. If you can’t get away from noise, try noise-canceling headphones, earplugs, or sleep music. You’ll get the best rest in a dark environment, so pull down the shades or try an eye mask.
Comfort. You’ll have an easier time falling asleep if you can lie down or at least recline. Our body temperature naturally drops in sleep, so pull a blanket or jacket over yourself so you stay warm as you nap.
To prepare the mind to get the most out of a power nap, we should approach it the same way we do sleep at night:
Start with a relaxed, gentle focus
Take a few deep breaths and close your eyes
Let your mind slow and your body power down
If you use a guided meditation to help ease yourself into sleep, follow the instructions. If sleep music’s soothing baseline of sound allows you to relax and fall asleep, press play. And if you prefer to let your mind do its own thing, go for it.
As your thoughts fade and you drift off, let your mind and body rest.
Other aspects of power napping
Consistency. As strange as it sounds, napping is a skill — one that many of us have forgotten. It takes patience and perseverance to learn to power nap. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t fall asleep immediately or if your alarm goes off and you don’t feel like a new person. Like meditation, napping is something you get better at with practice. Try again tomorrow.
Managing expectations. Science tells us power napping has certain benefits, but how you experience them will be unique to your mind and body. Let yourself nap with an open mind as to how you’ll feel afterwards.
Find the right environment. Maybe your bed is too comfortable. Maybe your office chair isn’t comfortable enough. Modify your routine as needed: switch up the location, position, or time of day of your next power nap and try for different results.
During the years that I took my philosophy classes through internet, I first came into contact with the Stoics for the first time. The image I got of them then was of dusty philosophers who had taken all the emotions out of their lives. Simply put: I thought it was robots.
Years later I came across them again, but not in a philosophical context. I heard top entrepreneurs from America talking about how stoicism had changed their lives.
“Are they talking about that same boring philosophy I had my classes on?” I wondered.
It turned out to be the same philosophy. Because inspiring world leaders were so enthusiastic about Stoicism, I started to delve into it after all. Unexpectedly opened a new world.
We are now a few years further and I see it as the best and most practical philosophy for a good life. (My personal opinion in which you don’t have to agree).
How come I—and you probably have too—had such a different view of Stoicism?
The misconception people have about Stoicism comes from the meaning of the word in our language. We use it as a description for someone who appears indifferent. We don’t mean that someone is actually a Stoic.
It is not surprising that the word has acquired this meaning. Stoics can indeed seem indifferent. Only if you delve a little more into this philosophy, you will discover that nothing about the image is right.
Indifferent as Stoics may seem, they are precisely people who place enormous value on life. They just make life so important that they don’t want to be guided by their emotions. They have just as many emotions as anyone else, but have learned how to deal with them effectively.
I am now of the opinion that everyone should delve into Stoicism. It would make every life and the world a lot more beautiful. But before I dive into the top three reasons why you should start with stoicism. First very briefly what stoicism actually is.
What is Stoicism?
Stoicism is a way of life that offers the wisdom and strength to deal with the challenges of life.
Stoicism originated in the heyday of Greek antiquity, in which several philosophical movements and schools arose. Stoicism was one of those schools, but it had two main differences from the others:
Stoicism was specifically about the good life and what it should look like.
Stoicism focuses on practice and not on thinking. Stoicism is also called a practical philosophy.
This unique approach made Stoicism popular among all layers of society. The most famous Stoics we know today from ancient times come mainly from Roman times. The reason for this is that the texts from that time have been preserved.
The most famous texts are from the diaries of Marcus Aurelius: “Meditations”. His work is popular to this day. Aurelius was one of the best emperors the Roman Empire has known and was an outspoken Stoic. He owes his enormous success largely to this philosophy.
The most important lesson from Stoicism is that we must distinguish between two things in life: (1) the parts of life that we can influence and (2) that we cannot influence.
Furthermore, the Stoics used many exercises to achieve a powerful mindset. For example, consciously thinking about fears in order to overcome them.
That is stoicism in a nutshell. But why should you learn more about this philosophy? I have three main reasons for this.
1. Stoicism is the practical philosophy for the good life that has proven itself for thousands of years
In all the years at school and study I have learned a lot to be able to function successfully in society. An example of some lessons that I unfortunately missed:
How to deal with setbacks
How to deal with emotions
How to maintain self-control
How to make the most of your days
In summary: I was groomed to be a good citizen, but I was not taught anything about how to shape a good life. I think that’s the biggest flaw in our school system of the past century.
If you don’t get it at school, you have roughly two other options where you can search for ‘the good life’:
Studying Philosophers and Their Works
Dive into the ‘self-help world’
Unfortunately, both options have major limitations, so you will not find the answer to a good life quickly. Life is a journey to discover and explore more and more.
If you have ever read the work of a philosopher, you will notice that it takes a study to understand it. The philosophical works deal with the important themes of life, but they offer no practical handles. It’s nice that a philosopher might have the answer, but if he can’t simply convey it, then this is of no use to you.
The self-help world, on the other hand, does offer concrete handles. Only you run into another problem there: what to believe about all those magical stories? You come across gurus who believe in golden mountains, but for which there is no evidence to support it.
Is there anything for ‘the good life’ that does not have these problems?
Yes, that’s where stoicism comes in. A philosophy that is completely devoted to the good life, is practically applicable and has proven itself for thousands of years (and nowadays even substantiated by science). A unique combination that you do not see in other philosophies or contemporary self-help.
For example, with contemporary self-help you can quickly ask yourself: does this person mainly want to earn money or actually help me further? And despite the good intentions of a ‘guru’, of course, this person also has to earn a living.
Stoicism does not suffer from this. The works of the Stoics are never intended for a hip course or for publication at all.
Take, for example, the work of Marcus Aurelius. He wrote all his texts to himself like a diary. It was never the idea that it would be read by you today. He certainly didn’t have to make any money with it. His sole purpose was to give advice to himself.
What makes Stoicism all the more suitable is that it has enormous similarities with the contemporary science of psychology. The exercises prescribed by the Stoics are reflected in what positive psychology prescribes. There is even direct research now showing that stoicism actually makes a big impact on your life.
Reason 2: Stoicism brings you an extremely powerful mindset
Imagine. You are the emperor of the whole world. You can literally do anything you want. Everything is arranged for you, every wish can come true. You can pursue any pleasure you want. The world is at your feet.
How long would you last to consistently make the right ones? How long can you put your human needs aside for the ‘great good’?
History shows that hardly anyone can last long. The books are full of examples of world leaders who sooner or later went wrong. The well-known saying is that success sooner or later goes to your head.
READ FURTHER
Yet there is an emperor of the past who did exactly that which seems impossible. Not for a short period, no, for 19 years. I mentioned his name before: Marcus Aurelius, one of the best and most respected emperors the Roman Empire has known.
Aurelius was trained from an early age to become emperor. He was literally primed to do the right thing and there was constant work on getting the right mindset. The philosophy he embraced before that was Stoicism.
The list of successful Stoics is now a lot longer. They all owe their success to their mindset, which they have acquired through the practice of Stoicism.
So when you start practicing Stoicism, you work towards an extremely powerful mindset. It ensures discipline and self-control. It prepares you for setbacks and helps you deal with them.
And if things go well for you and follow success after success, it helps you to remain humble and keep your feet on the ground.
Reason 3: Stoicism offers an alternative path to happiness in our consumer society
We live in a society in which the focus is on consumption. Success is measured by many in wealth and equipment.
I probably don’t have to explain to you that consuming does not make you permanently happy. Yes, you are overjoyed after buying your first car, but after a short time you are already in your head in your next car. Luck always seems to be in front of you.
Even though we know that things don’t make us happy, we still subconsciously believe in them. And if you lose that faith, there are plenty of ads that will convince you to give it another try.
Our entire society is focused on consumption, which is what makes our economy grow. Do we stop consuming? Then the economy will stop, which of course we won’t let happen.
Because our entire society is built on consumption, it is very difficult not to believe in it. You have to be very strong in your shoes if you don’t want to be caught by it.
Today there is a whole movement that opposes this: minimalism. It preaches that you must give up all your belongings. Everything that stands in the way of your happiness is what you buy.
“We have the solution!” say the minimalists. “Throw everything out the window!”
Or for the true admirers of minimalism: “throwing everything out the window? No, as a minimalist you don’t need a house and therefore you don’t need a window to throw out your stuff. If you want to be happy you have to live in nature!”
While minimalism offers a nice counterbalance to consuming, I think it brings new problems.
Minimalists are still working on ‘more’. They like to get more from less stuff. The less stuff the better. The focus is thus still on stuff (even if it is less) and maximizing the outcome (even if it is aimed at less and less).
Stoicism offers the solution for the shortcomings of minimalism. They look very similar from the outside. A Stoic and a minimalist both care little about stuff. Only where a minimalist focuses on stuff, a Stoic will not even be concerned with it. Having few things is a logical consequence for a Stoic and not a conscious choice.
A Stoic is only concerned with things that he influences. Stuff is not included. Thus spoke the famous Stoic Epictetus:
“Never say you lost something, but that you gave it back.”
What Epictetus meant by that is that we have no influence on physical things outside of ourselves. It therefore makes no sense to see us as the owner of something, but as someone who borrows it. That way, we’re always thankful that we have it now, because we don’t take it for granted. If we eventually lose it, it’s easier to let go.
By practicing stoicism you learn to deal with all the things around you much better. You learn to be grateful for what you have, because it is not self-evident that you have it.
Are you losing something? No problem, you’ll be grateful you were allowed to borrow it until then. It was never your property.
It does not matter to a Stoic how many things he has. A Stoic thinks it is much more important how he looks at the stuff. Only in this way can you become truly happy and live a good life.
I think stoicism is the path to happiness in our consumer society. Don’t resist it like a minimalist.
“You can’t take away the consumer society, so why worry so much about it?”, a Stoic would say.
Stoicism teaches you to deal with your own impulses and needs, so that you do not just make purchases. And it teaches you not to get attached to your stuff. This way you can function perfectly in the consumer society.
And now? How do I start with that stoicism?
Good question! That is exactly what Stoicism is all about: action!
My advice is to at least read a book on Stoicism. There are a number of writers who have summed up Stoicism very nicely. My top three:
The obstacle is the way Ryan Holiday
A Guide to the Good Life by William b. Irvine
The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzgeber
Read one of these three and you can get started right away. The power of Stoicism lies not so much in gaining more knowledge about it, but mainly in continuing to repeat the knowledge and exercises.
You don’t have to learn it, you have to learn to live it.
Like sports, stoicism is not something you do intensively for a few times and then never again. It’s something you work on on a regular basis. For example, every morning I read a piece based on stoicism in my morning routine. In this way I get a little better every day and I continue to adjust myself where necessary. You can surely give it a try.
A nice habit that you can immediately add to your daily life. Read a short piece every morning and apply stoicism in your life. Good luck!
I never had a morning routine. I only did something in the morning.
If I already had a morning routine it would be something like this:
Waking up as late as possible to make it just in time for my first appointment/work. Just joking..
I can tell you: that was not a success.
During my search for the good life, I kept coming across the importance of an optimal morning routine. I couldn’t avoid it anymore, so I started taking it seriously. It wasn’t an easy road.
I tried dozens of habits during my morning. I kept the most successful.
And now? I never want to be without a morning routine again.
In fact. My morning has become the most important moment of my day. Something my younger self would never believe.
In this article I am not going to tell you what a morning routine should look like. There is no gold standard in that.
No, I want to make it clear to you here why you should have a morning routine. And don’t be afraid. You don’t get a long list of reasons. I share the three most important reasons I know. Maybe you will have more.
1. A morning routine is essential for your productivity
Do you want to get more out of your days? Then start with your morning routine.
You are not distracted in the morning. You have not consumed any energy yet. And you can do exactly what helps make your day a success.
That ties in with perhaps the most important tip I know for productivity:
Decide each day what your most important task is for that day. Start each day with that task. Repeat that. So you have a productive day every day.
To do that, you need a morning routine.
If you leave every morning to chance, there is little chance that you will do the right thing. Then ‘ what feels best ‘ takes over from ‘ what’s best ‘.
A quote from behavioral expert Nir Eyal sums this up perfectly:
The antidote to impulsiveness is forethought.
Freely said: the antidote to impulsiveness is to think in advance what you are doing.
If you still have to decide what to do in the moment, then you are too late. You must have thought this through beforehand.
A morning routine is completely thought out in advance. You don’t leave your morning to chance like this. You do the right thing every morning. You set the tone for the rest of the day.
You can also plan the rest of your day during your morning routine. That way you have a clear picture every day of the most important tasks that day.
My morning routine has become my anchor for my productivity . Even if I have a really bad day, another morning routine awaits the next day. That’s way I can immediately recover.
And there are a number of reasons why a morning routine contributes to your productivity:
Your willpower is still at its maximum in the morning. The best time to do your most important tasks.
The morning is the best time for meditation. One of the most important exercises for productivity.
You have a moment for reflection. This way you can think ‘why’ you do everything. And you can clarify what your goals are for that day.
2. Successful people have a morning routine
Ask anyone on the street about their morning routine and you’ll likely get an answer like:
What kind of routine?
Ask a successful person about her morning routine and you’ll likely get a comprehensive story.
Just look it up. The entire internet is full of morning routines of successful people.
Could it be a coincidence that they deal with their morning so consciously and not the rest of the world?
3. With your morning routine you have the most influence on the quality of your life
Yes, you read that correctly.
A morning routine has the most influence on the quality of your life.
Just look at it this way:
Your life is a sum of what your days look like. If you have good days, you have a good quality life.
The secret of a good life is to make sure you have good days. And you simply have to repeat that.
And what influences the quality of your days the most?
Right. A morning routine!
Why isn’t that another time of the day? That’s because your morning is the only best time of the day to organize yourself completely.
In the morning you have no input from outside yet. You wake up with yourself. You’re not at work yet. Nothing is expected of you yet. It’s the only time of the day where you don’t have to take anything into account yet.
And think about it. Everyone secretly has a morning routine. Everyone does the same thing almost every morning. The only question is:
Have you consciously chosen your morning routine, or do you leave your mornings to chance?
Start your successful morning routine
Enough reasons to start tomorrow with your own morning routine.
But how do you start?
Easy.
Yes it is simple, but you also have to start simple. As small as possible. It’s not about setting up the most successful morning routine as quickly as possible. Your goal should be to have a morning routine that you can sustain.
It takes time to make your activities a habit. but keep pushing.
My morning now consists of maybe twenty different habits that I perform in an hour and a half. It took me several years to achieve that.
You can probably do that faster. Especially if you keep it simple.
The most important thing is that you stick with it. And as I always say: the secret is in the 1%. Make sure your morning tomorrow is 1% better than the day before.
Can you delay aging? The answer is yes. These are 4 proven anti-aging techniques.
Slowing down aging – is it possible?
I know what you’re thinking: an article about anti-aging, Danny has passed 35! long time ago.
And yes – I have to admit – my stage of life definitely has to do with this new interest. But it’s more than that.
Aging is the cause of a lot of misery . And in recent years it has received more and more attention. There is a cautious optimism among a group of anti-aging scientists.
Why? Not only do there appear to be very practical ways to slow down aging – there may also be ways to reverse aging in the future .
You read it right.
Admittedly, there is still a lot of uncertainty. The positive results have been demonstrated in mice – and mice are not humans. In addition, this kind of technology is unlikely to be widely available until the 1940s or 1950s.
But that also means that many of us will have the opportunity to experience this revolution – if we live long enough, of course.
Which brings us to the question, “How can we slow down aging?”
Serious anti-aging is a three-stage rocket:
Slowing down aging – we can start with this today.
Pause aging – this may be possible within 10-20 years.
Reversing aging – this is still in the future for a while, but perhaps within a few decades.
The more researchers learn about how aging works, the more we also learn how to slow it down. Applying these kinds of insights can in itself possibly stick to your life for years – provided you are not hit by a self-driving truck in the meantime, of course.
Slowing down aging is a big topic. In this article, I want to take you through four scientifically proven (and natural) ways to slow down aging.
No exotic supplements or extreme measures, but things you can start with today. Moreover, they are habits that can directly increase your health, energy and overall quality of life.
Let’s see!
1. Get your body out of the comfort zone
If one common thread emerges from the anti-aging studies, it is this: too much physical comfort causes accelerated aging .
When your body is constantly too comfortable, it becomes ‘lazy’. When challenged a little it makes itself stronger (emphasis on a little – prolonged pressure on the system is actually harmful).
Your body cleans itself up (autophagy), renews itself more effectively and prepares for future misery – keeping it young longer as a by-product.
So you want to regularly get your body out of that comfort zone, so that it has to work a little harder. Then the trick is to do that in a relatively comfortable way , so that life still remains fun.
So you want to sit and hang out less, eat less, eat less often and not always live in room temperature.
How can you do that?
Intermittent fasting – by regularly not eating anything for a longer period of time, you set all kinds of desirable processes in motion. Fasting is an important and effective way to slow down aging. If slowing down aging is important to you, start here (combined with the next tip). Also listen: Lose weight & get healthier – discover 20 benefits of intermittent fasting (podcast)
Sports and exercise – by physically challenging your body you slow down aging and possibly extend your life considerably. You also feel a lot happier if you exercise regularly. Sports and exercise should definitely be part of an effective anti-aging routine.
Exposing yourself to the cold – there’s something behind the cold shower hype that really works. You may be able to slow down aging by regularly getting out in the cold. Incidentally, ice baths are not necessary. As soon as you get a little cold it starts to have an effect. Turn down the heat and challenge yourself not to put on a coat when you’re feeling a little chilly. Your body will eventually get used to it!
Exposing yourself to heat – there’s no definitive evidence yet on the life-prolonging effects of saunas, but there’s some evidence. It could very well be that a regular sauna visit slows down aging.
Eat less protein – a high-protein diet may be nutritious and effective for building muscle, but it’s not a recipe for longevity. A diet low in proteins ensures that your body ages less quickly.
By taking your body out of its comfort zone, you will age less quickly. All right, let’s move on.
2. Opt for a plant-based diet
Plant-based means you get most of your calories from unprocessed, plant-based foods . It is not necessarily the same as a plant-based diet, because sometimes it still contains a small amount of animal products.
Basically it’s very simple: avoid processed products to slow down aging .
Build your diet from unprocessed vegetables, leafy vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains. For example, use an 80/20 rule: 80% healthy, 20% possibly slightly less healthy.
The traditional Mediterranean diet has been the most researched and scores well for anti-aging. This diet is largely plant-based, with the occasional fish, a red wine here and there and no refined sugars .
It is not the same as our modern associations with Mediterranean food: pasta, wine, white bread, olive oil, meat, fish and cheese.
More vegetables, less mess – that’s how you add years to your life.
3. Prevent Accelerated Aging
There are factors that simply make us age faster. By avoiding these things we can gain a lot of ground:
Do not smoke
Drinking little or no alcohol
Eating little or no refined sugar
Avoiding unprotected sun exposure
Avoiding Excessive Stress
Working on good, stable, regular and sufficient sleep
Avoid being overweight
Avoid processed and red meat
Of course you already knew that these factors are not good for you . People who do all these things tend to look older. The factors don’t just reduce your health – they statistically have a direct negative impact on your longevity.
4. Reduce your chance of premature death
Most people die from a handful of diseases linked to aging – such as:
Cancer
Heart and vascular disease
Dementia
However, your biological aging does not equate to your calendar age.
If you’ve been smoking, drinking excessively, sleeping badly, sunbathing, feeling stressed, and constantly eating processed meats , your body is biologically older than the body of a peer who largely avoids these things.
The stronger that biological aging, the greater your chance of dying from a disease linked to aging. Yet it is never too late to adjust your lifestyle and repair (some of) the damage.
What can you do to reduce your risk of premature death?
For the most part, it comes down to following the aforementioned lifestyle advice. Make your body stronger, eat healthy, exercise more and avoid negative influences.
Protect yourself from the sun.
Reduce your exposure to (potentially) harmful chemicals, pollutants and pollution.
Take your health seriously . It is wise to have your health checked regularly, for example by the doctor. You can also pay for various preventive examinations yourself.
Participate in population studies when you receive an invitation. It may be exciting and uncomfortable, but timely diagnosis can significantly extend your life.
Increase insight into your health. For example, by wearing a smartwatch. These can tell you a lot about the state of your body in the long run.
Stay informed about innovations in preventive medicine and technological breakthroughs around anti-aging. In the coming years, many new tools will come on the market to gain more insight into your health and to make adjustments where necessary.
By being actively involved in your health, you can potentially add decades to your life. Who knows, maybe you’ll get old enough this way to be able to use real anti-aging therapies!
With more self-love, you don’t just make your own life more fun. You also build a foundation to pass on more love. Here are 7 ways to develop more self-love.
1. Accept yourself fully
It’s hard to have the self-love to accept yourself completely as you are. Including the properties you’d rather not know about.
But still, it’s important. It’s important because it helps you to truly love yourself. Including your ‘dark sides’. One way to do that is to make it explicit for yourself.
For example:
“Although I [insert your trait here], I fully accept myself and love myself.”
Fill in your problem, and say the phrase out loud a few times.
So:
“Although sometimes I get angry and angry easily, I fully accept myself and love myself.”
“Although I currently find myself lazy and worthless, I fully accept myself and love myself.”
“Although I am dissatisfied with my life right now, I fully accept myself and love myself.”
Another exercise you can perform – popularized by Kamal Ravikant – is the following:
Constantly repeat these words within yourself: I love myself.
While brushing your teeth.
While vacuuming.
During feeding the chickens.
While driving.
While waiting for your turn.
During the se.. or no. Better not during sex – that’s weird.
Bit crazy – but it works. Because your subconscious is quite naïve, and many things that you present it with are true. After a while, you really start to believe it. And from then on, it’s simply your new truth.
2. Dare to be yourself
Listen to what you want, not what your environment requires of you. And discover that the greatest pressure from the outside actually comes from within.
It’s your beliefs, ingrained patterns, and fixed thinking habits that most keep you from being completely yourself.
If you have little self-love, you are used to conforming to the world around you. You discount yourself so that others can be satisfied.
For example, if you grew up with the idea that you’d better do “normal,” then you might be holding yourself back when you actually want to let yourself go. Out of shame, and for example because you do not want to disappoint others.
Stay close to yourself. Notice what you feel, what your intuition tells you. And try to follow it more and more. Regardless of what others think.
3. Let go of your ego
Your ego is that rattling voice in your head. The side of you who can be offended, disappointed, scared, and constantly worrying and thinking.
Developing self-love is not the same as becoming arrogant. In that case, you feed your ego – then it gets bigger and bigger. And the bigger your ego, the more complicated your life becomes.
Try to make your ego smaller to get closer to yourself.
Meditate regularly, and discover how you and your thoughts are two separate things.
Recognize how the thoughts you have determine what kind of feelings you experience.
Experience how new thoughts allow you to feel new feelings.
Feel grateful for the moment, for your life, and for the good things in your life. Gratitude humbles you. And humility shrinks your ego.
4. Take care of yourself – you’re worth it
A lack of self-love is the cause behind many health problems. If you don’t find yourself valuable, you’re less likely to take good care of your body.
If you genuinely love yourself, then you take care of yourself with love. Then you feed your body with healthy food. Then you don’t put any rubbish in your body. Then you ensure rest, exercise and good daily care.
Start by taking better care of yourself. Think “my body deserves better than this,” and trade that bag of chips for a piece of fruit. Think better about yourself so that you take better care of yourself.
5. Be less yourself
We are often more cruel to ourselves than we are to others. That makes sense, but it’s also tragic. Since we see others now and then, but have to live with ourselves 24 hours a day.
If someone else makes a mistake, you quickly ignore it. Can happen.
If you make a mistake yourself, things will be different. Especially if you have little self-love. Then you keep reminding yourself of your mistake, you keep whipping yourself. You feel worthless, inferior, and maybe even feel shame.
That is not the way to a more enjoyable life. Try to treat yourself with love. Put your own behavior into perspective just as you put your friends’ behavior into perspective. Nothing to do about it can happen, tomorrow another day.
6. Live with attention
Life isn’t always fun, and that’s fine. Accept that your life has ups and downs, and quietly ride the tides. Do everything with attention and live in the moment as much as possible.
Don’t believe everything you think. Observe thoughts that come and go, and inspect the feelings that evoke those thoughts.
The more you can live in the moment, the easier it becomes to recognize and let go of self-critical thoughts.
7. Guard your boundaries
You need to educate your environment to treat you the way you want. You do that by setting boundaries and maintaining them when they are exceeded.
People with self-love guard their boundaries because they believe they are worthy of being treated well. And so are you.
Do you also crave a simple life? By simplifying your life step by step, you can avoid a lot of stress and crowds. Nice and simple living and at the same time adding more meaning.
Simple LIFE doesn’t happen by itself
No stress, no hassle – and yet a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
Simple life – I’m a huge fan of it. In fact – simple living has been one of my main areas of development over the past year. Every month I take steps to make my life easier, and with each step I feel a little lighter, freer and happier.
Simple life sounds romantic and sometimes too good to be true . It is anything but self-evident in our society – where it seems impossible to live simply and peacefully. Because of the pressure to do everything at once, but also because of the endless stream of distractions.
But it is possible, and it is worth it.
A simple life does not come about by itself – you have to choose it consciously. If you don’t clean your house regularly, it will become a mess. And so it is with simple living. If you don’t consciously work on it, your life will automatically become complicated and probably overwhelming.
Below you will find 12 simple living tips that will help you make your life more fun, more valuable and easier.
10 simple LIFE [living] tips:
Experience less stress and more satisfaction by making your life easier step by step.
A simple life is not about living with as little as possible – that’s poverty. A simple life is about removing and adding meaning .
Wipe your figurative board clean, then decide what responsibilities you would put on it again . Often we make commitments and promises that we don’t want in our lives at all. By starting with a clean slate, you can consciously choose the things that suit you.
Free your life from distractions step by step . We often use distraction to “flee” from the overwhelming feeling that life can give us. When you live with fewer distractions, you feel calmer, your work becomes higher quality, and the world becomes simpler. So go, throw that phone into airplane mode and achieve something meaningful .
Realize that there is always more to do than you can do . Once you can accept this — and tolerate the feeling of inevitable chaos — you make everything easier.
You don’t have to do everything that sounds fun . The fuller you make your life, the less space is left for air, simplicity and . Cramming harder is not going to make your life easier, but fuller.
The most important things in life don’t happen automatically . In fact – the unimportant things always seem to happen first. If you want to achieve your goals, make your dreams come true and shape your ideal life , you have to consciously make time and space for this. The fewer unnecessary things you do, the easier it becomes to make time for the things that really matter.
It is difficult – and probably impossible – to simply ‘buy’ your life . Yes, investing in good products can help (a decent bike can help you live without a car, and a flat laptop can help you work anywhere in the world), but don’t stare at it. Try to detach yourself from the consumption cycle – it is among other things that cycle that makes your life so complicated.
The more stuff you buy – the more money you spend – the more you have to work to pay for it . If you can be happy and satisfied without these purchases, then you don’t have to work as hard . Or, you can use your leftover income to become freer and make your life easier. Don’t get sucked into other people’s drama . Yes, you can support people and be there for them. But remember that people benefit more when you are happy . No one benefits from more unhappy people.
Living with a healthy body is easier than being sick, unhealthy, exhausted and lifeless . It’s one of those areas of life that deserves the highest priority and rarely gets it. When you simplify your life, there is more room to work on your health. And when you increase your health, many other things become easier on their own. Moreover , healthy living is super simple .
More often feel satisfied with what you have – and not dissatisfied with what you don’t (yet) have . Enjoy the journey, don’t wait until you arrive at the destination to enjoy it. Because life is only the journey – that destination will never come. And your life already has a lot of beautiful aspects, and you can work to make it even more beautiful step by step. Do you find it difficult to be satisfied? Then write down every day what you are grateful for that day, and you will soon master it.
Simple living is not always easy. It does help you towards more satisfaction, more contentment, peace, happiness and quality of life. And it’s all well worth it. And you don’t have to do it all at once.
In fact, it is precisely taking small steps that makes simplification so much fun. So enjoy the process, and enjoy the progress you make. If there’s one thing that makes your life simple, it’s contentment.
Silence in your upstairs room ha ha. Anyway read further
Rattling thoughts. When you want to sleep, when you want to relax in the garden, when you take a shower. It drives you crazy. How do you stop the flow of thoughts? You will finally find peace in your head.
Thank you brain – leave me alone now
Yes, the Buddha knew how it worked. You become what you think. And often what we think is not exactly what we want to become . Fears, insecurities, worries, things you dread and bad memories.
Then you lie in bed – ready to fall asleep – after which your brain decides to remind you of that overwhelming project at work. Which you still have so much to do. After which the thoughts keep coming and you break out in a sweat . And falling asleep peacefully is off the job for now.
Or you decide to pick up the good habit and start your day with a meditation . Your brain opens the session by drawing up a kind of todo list. After which you become so restless that you get up to check your mail so that you feel useful again.
Thanks brain. Nice.
Fortunately, you can do a lot to quiet your mind . And it is much less difficult than it sometimes seems. Really – you don’t have to live like a monk to see results. Just wait and see.
1. Treat your brain like a little kid
Be kind to yourself. The more you judge yourself for “thinking too much,” the more negative thoughts you generate. As if it wasn’t busy enough in there already.
Think of your brain as an innocent child . It does what it does best: generate thoughts . And you can guide it to better deal with this talent. So that it generates fewer thoughts and above all better thoughts . Thoughts that nourish you , that support you in your personal development, that make you happy and happy.
Your brain isn’t bad. It’s actually very smart and creative. That’s why your head is so full! So don’t curse yourself. Accept yourself as you are – with your head full. You might not get to sleep right now, don’t worry.
With small positive steps, you can train your brain to better utilize its talents so that you both have a better time.
2. Think of yourself as a clear blue sky
Precisely. A clear blue sky with clouds floating past. You are the sky. Always blue, always in the same place, always present . The clouds are your thoughts. Sometimes there is not a cloud in the sky, sometimes there are so many that it thunders.
The sky is much bigger than the clouds. The clouds float in it, but they are not the blue sky . Just like you are not your thoughts .
When it’s overcast for days, you almost forget that the blue sky above still exists. Just like with an overloaded brain you almost forget that you are much bigger than the thoughts you see flying around.
But no matter how thick the clouds are – above the clouds there is still that blue sky. A place where the sun always shines. Where you can look down on all those clouds and see clearly that the sky and the clouds are two different things.
Is your head full? Then look for the blue sky. Find that place from where you can observe your thoughts . It’s like lying with your back in the grass and watching the clouds float by above you. Without judging them, without forming an opinion about them. You just let them be what they are.
Innocent thoughts generated by an innocent brain. No more. The clouds are not the blue sky, and your thoughts are not who you are.
3. Yes – meditate regularly
That place from which you can observe your own thoughts is easiest to reach from silence. You only need a few minutes a day to notice the effect. And even if it feels useless, you find out later that it was useful.
Very simple: sit or lie down and inhale and exhale deeply . Close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breathing. For example, say “in” and “out” in your head with each inhalation and exhalation. When you find yourself getting distracted, gently bring your attention back.
No more. That’s all.
Do that for a few minutes. And notice how slowly but surely you create more distance between you and your thoughts. Not only can you observe them better – fewer thoughts are also generated.
Delicious. What a rest! And with so little effort – by doing nothing. Meditation is beautiful stuff. Keep diving deep in yourself to know yourself better and better.