Simply Rich Living: 5 Steps to Minimal Living ~ Part 3

Continuing with Step 3 of my Simply Rich Living series, I chose to write out and share five habits I practice ritually, because people in my life – including organizing clients – are always asking me how I’m able to live as minimalist on my beloved sailboat.

Step 1: De-clutter.

Step 2: Identify and Acknowledge what´s not working for you.

Step 3: Repeat. 

Step 4: Non-Do. 

Step 5: Meditate.

Step 3 is simple but not easy. It’s to Repeat Steps 1 and 2, indefinitely. I sense there’s this belief that De-cluttering (Step 1) is a major one-time event, where one hauls out of all her superflous junk, and then ta-da! you’re set for life. LOL. It doesn’t work like that. De-cluttering is a life practice. It’s like a good habit, only I think the word habit doesn’t completely encompass the practice, because it doesn’t involve adding on, but rather habitualizing release and letting-go in itself.

Over the last century we’ve mastered how to acquire. We’re constantly shopping – buying food, household items, clothes, gifts, that thing to fix the thing. Repeat. We repeat this over and over and over, which can be a fun and wonderful part of life. But somewhere along the way we lost some wisdom in how to do the opposite, to maintain a harmonious relationship with the flow of things in and out of our house and life. Step 3 of my Simply Rich Living is in essence to also do the opposite of acquiring, consciously. Because I do this, I maintain the mental and physical clarity to see what’s not working or what I don’t like in my life, and the space and willpower to fix it (Step 2). I hereby give yourself permission to just throw away the broken thingy! And repeat. It’s a more powerful and sacred act than it may get credit for.

Every time I clear clutter, and even living in a tiny home I acquire quite a bit of stuff, I give myself the gift of a little more time and energy to connect with my best self. So I invite you to play with viewing Step 1 and 2 as a practice to repeat, repeat, repeat. You can’t do it wrong, you can only learn from whatever happens. The more I execute these three powerful tools, the easier it is for me to make conscious, clear, deliberate choices in my day to day life – which leads to living the life I want.

About Sara Luisa Valverde

Supporting people in organizing, time-management, and simplifying has always come naturally for Sara. She´s had the opportunity to hone this skillset in her professional career, most recently while supporting three (incredibly busy) senior professors at Harvard Business School, and while working within a clinical research team at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Since June 2015, she has worked as an independent yoga teacher, specializing in un-learning habitual posture patterns that get in one´s way. Sara honors the act of organizing as both an internal and external process. Her approach is to keep it simple, so you have the mental and physical space for maintaining clarity and peace of mind. She loves that her services in professional organizing bring together two passions: internal and external de-cluttering. She thrives on living a minimalist lifestyle, living as a full-time liveaboard on her beloved sailboat.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.