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THE GOOD LIFE BLOG |
 Photo by Max Vakhtbovych from Pexels I'm passionate about living with intention, about living simply. I find that having a higher awareness around the way I want to live, has improved my life significantly. A simpler life equals a better life, the way I see it. Let me rule out one misconception right away: By simple I don't necessarily mean minimalistic. Yes, I'm definitly pro decluttering and getting rid of things you don't really need, but I don't mean that you have to strip down your home to a bare minimum to live a simple life. I'm definitly in favor of having things around you that bring you joy and also add to the quality of your life in different ways. This can be things like books, films, plants, board games, beautiful china, soft cushions... whatever brings joy to YOU. Having more things around you doesn't mean that your home needs to be a mess. There are beautiful ways you can organize your things so that each item has its own place and also gets the attention it deserves. You can do this either by displaying each item in a way that makes it stand out, or by keeping it stored away most of the time and just take it out on special occasions, which will give it a very special value. When I grew up, we had in my childhood home a beautiful blue glass bowl with gold details on it. This bowl only came out on special occasions, like Christmas or certain anniversaries. It became an item that all of us siblings really cherished (we are 6), and when our parents had died and we were dividing some things between us, this bowl was high up on everybody's "wish list", I think. Of course, only one of us could actually have it, and I was not that one, but it was OK. There were other cherished items, too, so we made sure that we all got one thing that we considered special, - one thing that we wanted to keep in remberance of our parents and of a happy childhood. We all had different memories and different favorites, so that was fine. On that note, I might also add that I myself have always been of the opinion that if anyone is going to envy me something, I'd rather not have it. No matter how dear a thing might be to me, it's definitly not worth falling out over!  Picture from ebay - only meant as illustration. The mentioned bowl didn't look exactly like this. This was just an example of how one beloved item can really get that extra attention and love that it probably deserves. Things are mostly made for either a practical purpose or for pleasure - and sometimes both - and I believe that the things you surround yourself with should have at least one of those meanings to you. If they don't, you should get rid of them. Don't keep anything just because you got it as a present or don't have the "heart" to dispose of it. Ask yourself: Do I need this? Do I like this thing? Does it give me a good feeling to look at it? If your answer to all these questions is NO, then you know what to do. You don't necessarily need to throw it in the garbage bin, - you can give it away or try to sell it. Some items may be of high value and can bring in some cash, which is always good. I'll come back to how you can simplify your surroundings in a future article, and I'll tell you especially about how you can successfully do it the French way. But living a simpler life isn't just about things. It's just as much - if not more - about simplifying your daily tasks. It's about getting more time to do the things you enjoy, and ditching what you don't really want to spend time on. Very often we end up saying yes to things that other people suggest, even if we'd rather do something else. Why? Well, sometimes it's simply out of politeness or because we're afraid of hurting someone's feelings. Other times it's because we feel obliged to. We also might feel that other people's needs are so much more important than our own, - which is of course total crap! The result is often that we feel completely overwhelmed and exhausted by all the things we feel that we "should" be doing. If you're a person who keeps letting other people dictate your agenda: Stop doing that! Start practicing the word NO a bit more often! And you don't even have to give any reason why you're saying no. It's your right to decide how you want to spend your own time. It's really nobody's business. If you'd rather spend an evening in your bathtub with a good book instead of going out with your colleagues, then you should do that.  Picture by cottonbro from Pexels.
I suggest that you start right now and think about how you can create a better life for yourself. What can you do right now to take that first step towards simplifying your life and getting rid of stress and overwhelm? One thing that can help you is to sign up for my FREE 5-day email course, which will really kick-start you in the right direction. Another option is to read some of my previous articles on the subject, like "Why being a people pleaser prevents you from living the good life that you could have" and other articles in the category Intentional Living (see menu of categories on the right). Whatever you decide: I'll definitly be writing a lot more about this in future articles, and I'm also working on an upcoming book - La Vie Adorable Blueprint - which I'll be giving away 50 FREE copies of when it's finished. If you want to be among the ones who get a FREE copy of the book sent in the mail, you can sign up for it here. I hope you enjoyed this article, and that you'll share it with someone you know who might enjoy it, too. À bientôt!
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 Even if you can't travel to France right now, you can Frenchify your life right where you are. I love to start my day with a touch of France! Here's how I Frenchified my breakfast today: I prepared a mini-baguette that I got from my local supermarket, and ate it with some cheese and a few grapes from a Le Creuset plate. I also made myself a café au lait, and then made sure I had a view to La Tour Eiffel (on my table). I also surrounded myself with a magazine about French interiors and some books about Provence, like Peter Mayle's book "A Year in Provence". This was all it took to get me in the right mood of joie de vivre that I love! The French do NOT eat croissants and sweet pastry for breakfast every day, but of course this is also a way to Frenchify your breakfast, but maybe only in the weekends. You can either make your own croissants by following this recipe, or maybe you can get some from your local baker or grocery store. (Please note that the recipe I've linked to is not an affiliate link, so I get no commission for sharing it with you. You're of course free to look up other recipes on the internet, which I'm sure you'll find plenty of.) Fresh croissants with some delicious jam - preferrably some jam from Bonne Maman.  Picture by Daria Shevstova from Pexels.  Picture by cottonbro from Pexels.
 Picture by Yan from Pexels.
So you're in this situation where you've been bending backwards to create a new life for yourself. For example: Maybe you've done everything imaginable to start an online business. You've been working really hard to create content, post on social media, be consistent, and you've been positive like hell and really believed in yourself. You've created lots of opt-ins and free stuff to build your email-list and an audience that would eventually buy your great digital products or physical products or whatever it is that you're going for. But nothing happens. No response. No list. No audience. Which again means no business. You just want to say "F*** it all!" and quit. And I don't blame you. And now I'll be completely honest with you: All the things I've described above is my own experience exactly. I've spent years doing all those things, and for what? Nothing. Or at least so it seems. Not a single penny has landed in my bank account for years, except for the few dollars that I myself and my close family have spent on "buying" my own products just to see if things worked as they should with my web-store! For years I've had no real response from people who has read my blog or listened to my (few and not so consistent) video broadcasts. So I don't really know if anyone actually reads what I write or listens to what I'm trying to communicate, or is even remotely interested in what I offer. No wonder I find myself wanting to give up half of the time, don't you agree? So what keeps me going? Good question! I've been asking myself the same thing on a regular basis! The answer? It's not all about the money. It's about living a good life. And even if the money hasn't yet come pouring in quite the way I'd like it to, I'm still improving my life day by day. I'm working on myself every day, to learn more, become a better version of myself in every way, upgrade my personal standard, set boundaries, do the things that make me happy, take care of my health and wellbeing, connect with (and surround myself with) people that lift me up and support and love me, and I simply do everything possible to live with intention. I'm intentionally trying every day to make room for what is important and ditch what is not. So I keep going, no matter what. Because I believe in my mission. I live what I preach! Even if I still haven't earned the money I need to really get to the next level. Yet. But I know I'll get there. Just tag along and you'll see. Because the principles I teach are simple, and they do work - if you follow them. And here's my main message for today: The most important thing is not all the things you're DOING. It's your MINDSET. If you really want that independent life where you work with what you love, when you want and from where you want, and make a solid income from it, an income that will make you financially free, - or (business or not) if you want to create a life for yourself that is completely and unapologetically on your own terms, and to live with intention.... Work on your mindset first. Because here's the thing: No matter if I cannot yet show you incredible wealth and success as a result of my online business (because I'm not quite there yet), I'm here to tell you that what I've just (very honestly) shared with you, is not a proof of failure, either! Because I believe that my life is improving every day, and with great personal success. The reason I'm not able to "show you the money" quite yet, as a proof of my own professional success, - is because I have actually done a few things wrong in the past when it comes to my online presence, and the most important ones are: 1) I haven't been clear enough on what my message actually is 2) I haven't been clear enough on who my audience is 3) I haven't been consistent enough, not visible enough 4) I've been doubting myself a lot, like whether or not I have something to say that is important to other people... ... and I could probably go on, but I'll just stop there, because this isn't really an article about how to create an online business, and I don't really want to focus on my mistakes, but on what you should do to have personal success. (I might come back to things related to professional success in later articles, though, as I move along with my own business.) So if you've already done a lot to move in the direction of your dreams, but you haven't gotten any visible results yet: Hang in there! Here are 3 steps that can change your situation (and this goes for both personal and professional success): 1) Stop DOING so much! :) Instead: Focus on just a few things every day. Make them easy and doable. Don't set yourself up for failure. 2) Stop over-thinking and trying to figure out HOW you can best succeed. Do what feels right for you and makes you happy, and have an open mind to people around you. Someone might open an unexpeted door for you with incredible opportunities, or help you with something you've been wondering how to cope with. 3) Set a POSITIVE INTENTION for every day, and then GO WITH THE FLOW! This may seem too simple, but why make it complicated? That's what we very often tend to do, and I believe that might be the reason why you haven't seen any results so far in your struggles to create a new and better life for yourself. So I suggest you try to follow these 3 steps for the next couple of weeks and see where that leads you. And I'd love to hear from you about that, so feel free to send me a note! I've written a lot about mindset and how your thoughts create your reality in other articles on my blog, so why not take some time now to read more about that or listen to this episode of "What If....? If you liked this article and want to learn more about Intentional Living, check out my new course: Kick-start your new life in 5 days! I also hope you'll follow my blog and / or leave a comment below to let me know what you think of it. À bientôt! |
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