Design the Optimum Lifestyle
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Design the Optimum Lifestyle

Design the Optimum Lifestyle

More and more people these days are striving for a lifestyle that allows for peace, calm, joy and clarity. A key to succeeding with this is to be organized, rested and uncluttered — both internally and in their environment. Others will add that they want to be in a flow with something higher, something spiritual, or to be able to fulfill their purpose and their ability to give to others.

So what gets in the way of living that kind of lifestyle?

Here are some common obstacles I have witnessed in myself and others:

  • Not being realistic about time or scheduling too much in a day, which causes stress.
  • Not taking care of your well being — exercise, meditation, health care, sleep, healthy eating — which can lead to feeling disconnected from yourself, or not able to contribute in the way you really want to.
  • Not thinking through communications, both verbal and written, and ending up with misunderstandings, assumptions, resentments and inefficiency.
  • Having piles of papers and an ineffective organizational system, which causes anxiety and overwhelm.
  • Having too many belongings or clutter in your environment, which can lead to low self-esteem and wasted time.

Are you challenged with any of this? 

If the answer is yes, let’s look at what you can do about removing those obstacles. But first, what are your goals for your lifestyle? 

Here are some common goals of living a spiritual lifestyle: 

  1. To go through your life, connected to who you are, what you do, and the people you encounter. 
  2. To have your environment, belongings, the way you manage time, your finances, and every area of your life be a foundation and support for who you truly are.
  3. To accomplish more in less time.
  4. To feel rested and vibrant, no matter what is going on in your life.
  5. To be able to shift out of overwhelm and stress by following simple practices.
  6. To fulfill on your purpose in life and increase your ability to give to others.

Once you have set your goals, then you can go about making a strategy for how to accomplish those goals. I will outline some basic lifestyle practices to help you start to remove the obstacles of overwhelm, anxiety, inefficiency, clutter, and all of the emotional states and consequences that follow. 

There are many elements to designing your own program. The Spiritual Lifestyle Program that I describe below is a year-long program that comes with a curriculum, monthly modules, assignments, small group support, and a personal coach. For this article, I wanted to give you an overview of some of the basics of the program, as well as several practices that you could get started with right away.

Why do we call it a “Spiritual” Lifestyle Program? Having a peaceful, nurturing environment and way of living supports us to tap into the truer part of ourselves that is connected to something of a spiritual nature. As our external environment and activities of our life come more into alignment with our heart and consciousness, we are able to focus on what is most important to us. 

Main areas of a Spiritual Lifestyle Program:

  1. Balance. Enough time for sleep, exercise, meditation, career/purpose, relaxation/rejuvenation, and time with family and friends. 
  2. Organization. A system that allows information to flow with ease and knowing where everything is. This creates calm in your environment and within yourself.
  3. Managing Time. Living in the reality of 24 hours a day with clarity and foresight.
  4. Communication. Practicing love, care and respect.
  5. Environment. Creating our spaces (home, car, work) to be inviting and organized for ourselves and others lays a foundation for living in our purpose. 
  6. Purse, briefcase, backpack. Having what we need available to us in our daily bag provides a feeling of self-care and allows us to easily care for others.
  7. Health and wellbeing. Attending to food and nutrition, exercise, relaxation and sleep, and seeing regular health care practitioners, with clarity about what you need and without procrastination.
  8. Finances. Living within clarity around finances counteracts overwhelm and the constant worry that stems from our survival fear. 
  9. Meditation. There are many kinds of meditations. Key is scheduling time in your calendar, daily or weekly, even if it begins with 10 minutes at a time.

Getting Started

There are two components that I suggest starting with when designing a lifestyle for yourself.  

Create a morning program

Your morning program is a foundation for your day — for your body, mind, heart and consciousness. It helps you be open, calm and clear, and to meet the opportunities and challenges with care, thoughtfulness and strength.

Decide how much time you want to set aside for your morning program. I recommend putting it in your calendar and doing your morning program before you start work, check emails, the news, or make phone calls or texts.

Practices you may want to include in your morning program: 

  • Empty your mind. Sit with pen and paper. Write down information and let it go from your mind. Do this for at least 5 minutes.
  • Set an intention for your day, and write it down. If you have a relationship with prayer, you may want to say a prayer or be in a consciousness of prayerfulness.
  • Exercise is helpful to move energy or intensity. Also it is important for the health of your body.  
  • Meditation. You may want to sit quietly. If you want to release pent-up emotions, you can do a more active meditation. This is a time to get connected to yourself or tap into your spiritual connection. You may need to calm or to think about an area of your life. 
  • Reading spiritual books or listening to words of truth for inspiration and contemplation can provide a focus for your day.

Create an environment that supports you 

The following are some simple steps you can take to address areas like a closet, office, bedroom, or drawer. 

  1. First, sit in the area you want to focus on, with a pen and paper.
  2. Close your eyes and think about what you want the area to be like. What purpose do you need this area to fulfill to best support you? Write down the information that comes to you.
  3. Make a list of what you need in this area.
  4. Look around and notice everything that is not in alignment with your list. 
  5. Write down the changes you need to make. For example, what needs to be organized or items that need to be taken out of that area.
  6. Next, write a list of the things you wish you had in this area. 
  7. Prioritize your lists. Identify the next steps to take and put them in order of importance.
  8. Take out your calendar and identify dates and times for you to do the tasks you wrote down. 
  9. Don’t try to fix the existing organization or arrangement in that area. Clear out all of the items first. Then clean it to bring your love and care into it. Then begin the process of organizing and beautifying the area.

The next step:

The Spiritual Lifestyle Program is offered through Heart of the Matter Transformation. Our next program is beginning in May, and that program has five spaces available. For a 15% discount on tuition, use the following code: unwrap2020. For more information or to register, contact Sheryl Dvorin at 954-815-7555 or Sheryl@heartofthematterretreat.org.

If you want to begin a practice of meditation, the Heart of the Matter Meditation App is available on the App Store and Google Play. The download is free. Begin with the “Let’s Get Started” series. There are 10-, 30- and 45-minute meditations in a variety of categories. Visit www.Heartofthemattermeditation.com for more information.

Piper Makepeace will be a presenter at Unwrap the BEST You in April. It will be her second time at the annual women’s wellness symposium. For more information, visit unwrapthebestyou.com

Quote:

“My wife and I set up a plan and schedule to rid ourselves of the 20 year clutter that was in our garage. As we did that, we also created an environment that is now appealing, comfortable and calming. I used to feel depressed and overwhelmed when walking through the garage. Now I come home and find myself elated. As a result of transforming our garage, I feel an overall sense of peace, well-being and accomplishment throughout my day.”

— Ron Gurewitz, Retail insurance broker/business owner

 

Piper Makepeace spent 18 years in training with two spiritual masters to become certified to lead transformational seminars and meditation workshops around the world. Passionate about her work with people, Piper leads the 3-day Heart of the Matter Transformation Retreats, teaches meditation classes, and assists people through counseling and mediation.

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