THERAPY SERVICESTRAINING SCHOOL
LOCATIONS
TOOTINGCLAPHAMMARYLEBONE
CALL 020 8673 4545BOOK AN APPOINTMENT
Product has been added to your basket.
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • THE AWARENESS CENTRE
      • About The Awareness Centre
      • The Team
      • Centre News
      • Media
      • Collaborative Partners & External Agencies
    • OUR PRACTICES
      • TAC Clapham
      • TAC Tooting
      • TAC Marylebone
      • How to Find Us
    • THE DIRECTOR
      • Michaela McCarthy
  • THERAPY SERVICES
    • NHS THERAPY SERVICES
      • NHS Lambeth
      • NHS Wandsworth
      • NHS Sutton
      • Our NHS Therapists
      • NHS Multilingual Counselling
    • PRIVATE THERAPY SERVICES
      • Online Counselling & Telephone Therapy
      • Low Cost Counselling, Psychotherapy & Counselling Psychology
      • Counselling
      • Psychotherapy
      • Psychology
      • Our Low Cost Therapists
      • Our Private Therapists
      • Private Healthcare Providers
    • SPECIALIST THERAPY SERVICES
      • Addiction Counselling
      • Anger Management Therapy
      • Bereavement Counselling
      • Child & Adolescent Counselling
      • Couples Counselling
      • Eating Disorders Therapy
      • Family Therapy
      • LGBTQ+ Counselling
      • Multilingual Counselling
      • Sex & Relationship Therapy
      • Trauma Counselling & Psychotherapy
    • FURTHER INFORMATION
      • Types of Issues
        • Abuse
        • Addiction
        • ADHD
        • Anger
        • Anxiety Disorders
        • Asperger’s Syndrome
        • Attachment Disorder
        • Bereavement and Loss
        • Body Dysmorphic Disorder
        • Bullying
        • Cancer
        • Carer Support
        • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
        • Communication
        • Dementia
        • Depression
        • Disability
        • Dissociation
        • Eating Disorders
        • Family and Relationships
        • Gender & Identity
        • Guilt and Shame
        • Hearing Voices
        • HIV/AIDS
        • Illness
        • Infertility
        • Isolation & Loneliness
        • Learning Difficulties
        • Life Transitions
        • Low Self-Esteem
        • Mental Health
        • Paranoia
        • Passive Aggressive Behaviour
        • Personality Disorders
        • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
        • Pregnancy & Childbirth
        • Psychosis
        • Rape
        • Redundancy
        • Schizophrenia
        • Self-Harm
        • Sex and Relationships
        • Sexuality
        • Spirituality
        • Stress
        • Suicidal Thoughts
        • Tourette’s Syndrome
        • Trauma (Child & Adult)
        • Trichotillomania
        • Workplace Issues
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Resources
      • Approaches to Therapy
      • Client Testimonials
      • Book an Appointment
  • FEES
  • TAC TRAINING SCHOOL
    • Meet the Faculty
    • Foundation Certificate in Counselling
    • Diploma in Integrative Counselling
    • Diploma in Clinical Supervision
    • Diploma in Working with Couples
    • Diploma in Executive Coaching
    • Corporate Mental Health Workshops
    • Testimonials for the Foundation Certificate
    • Testimonials for the Diplomas
  • PRIVATE PRACTICE
    • Private Practice
    • Hire A Room
    • Wimpole Street Practice
    • Join TAC Directory
    • Therapist Testimonials
  • BLOG
  • WORK AT TAC
  • COUNSELLING PLACEMENT
    • Counselling Placement
    • Counselling Placement Testimonials
    • Placement Training Testimonials
  • CONTACT
    • Appointment Request
    • Contact Us
How Simple Living Can Improve Your Mental Health

How Simple Living Can Improve Your Mental Health

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Confucius

The modern world can be an overwhelming place and, if we aren’t careful, we can find ourselves consumed with having the latest tech, fashion, and trends. We can accidentally find ourselves with an overcomplicated, and overwhelming, life which can lead to higher levels of stress and anxiety.

Minimalism

The minimalist lifestyle has always been around in communities such as Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns but has gained more mainstream popularity in recent years. Modern minimalism is a practice of awareness and intention regarding your belongings, time, and energy. It is a practice in prioritising what is important to you and focusing your mental and physical resources in those areas.

It is not about living with as little as possible, it is about discovering what is important.

There is no set way to practice minimalism; there is no set budget or numerical value by which to measure yourself. It is personal to you. The goal isn’t to achieve perfection or to get yourself into an obsessive or restrictive state. The goal is to increase your awareness regarding what brings value and joy into your life, about what is completely essential to your life, and to live in a way that feels authentic to you.

Mental Clarity

By simplifying your life and getting rid of unnecessary distractions, you’re giving yourself more time and mental space to discover and focus on the things that are most important to you. This will look different for each person, for example, what is most important to you might be your child’s happiness, or your job, or your friends, or your self-development.

Gaining clarity on what is most important to us and what our life purpose is, and then living in alignment with these has been shown to increase happiness levels.

Furthermore, researchers from the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute found that a physical reduction of clutter in the home can boost concentration and increases the ability to focus and process information effectively. Their research also showed that an uncluttered space led people to feel less irritable, more productive, and less distracted.

Relationships

Amitai Etzioli, in his essay on voluntary simplicity, argues that when we stop focusing on acquiring material possessions, we are more likely to focus on relationships. Similarly, spending excessive time on social media, video games, and so on can also mean that relationships suffer. If we reduce or remove such distractions, we automatically free up more time to spend with friends and family.

There are also arguments that minimalism also includes simplifying or editing your friendship group to promote the depth and quality of those relationships. It might be that you feel pulled in every direction by friends from different parts of your life that no longer serve you.

Simplifying your friendships might mean learning to say no to social invitations when you don’t want to attend, or no longer giving the mental energy to those who bring unnecessary drama into your life.

Financial

Very often, the disparity between what we buy and what we need leads to overconsumption. We live in a throw-away culture where we buy things for short-term use and very quickly buy a replacement or move on to something new.

Simplifying your life by no longer buying things that you don’t need, or investing in pieces that will last, means that you will spend, and owe, less money. The knock-on effect of this is that you will eventually gain more financial independence, leading to less stress and worry around finances.

Tips to get you started with simple living

Explore your reasons for wanting to live more simply

  • Aside from the reasons given above, what are your personal reasons? Do you want to spend more quality time with your family? Do you want to get yourself out of your overdraft or pay off your credit card? Are you too stressed out to sleep at night?
  • Once you have your reasons, write them down and then dig a layer deeper. Why do you want to spend more time with your family? Why do you want to get out of your overdraft? What do you want to sleep better at night?
  • You can keep repeating this process until you find your true motivations and a reason that is big enough to keep you motivated.
  • Knowing your reasons will help you to remember what is most important to you.

Discard duplicates

  • This is an easy first step; simply walk through your home with a box and fill it with unnecessary duplicates. If you have two sets of measuring cups, throw one in the box. If you have two copies of a certain book or DVD put one in the box. Keep the box for 30 days and keep adding to it, then donate the contents.
  • It might be easier to gradually go through your home to get rid of clutter. Start with the room that is bothering you the most.
  • The items that you keep should be things that you use regularly or things that bring significant value to your life.

Think before you buy

  • Before you buy something new, think about why you are buying it. Do you really need it or are you after that rush of excitement you get when you buy something new?
  • As Matt Haig said, “We cannot save ourselves from suffering by buying an iPhone. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t buy one, it just means we should know such things are not ends in themselves.”

Activities

  • What activities do you do that don’t serve you or bring you joy? Whether it’s scrolling on social media or agreeing to social engagements that you really don’t want to attend, it’s important to understand which of these you can stop doing and how you can replace them with things that do serve you and the lifestyle that you wish to have.

Finally, it is important to mention the hazards of the comparison trap. As mentioned, simplifying your life is completely personal to you. It can be easy to fall into comparing yourself to others who are also aiming for minimalism, however, it is important to remember that each person has a very different set of life circumstances including whether or not they have children, income, existing debts, mental health, and so on.

Someone else might be entirely happy giving up all of their worldly possessions and living in solitude, but if that isn’t for you then you by no means have to aim for that level of minimalism. Remember that minimalism and simple living is about discovering what is important to you and freeing up mental and financial space so that you can spend more time focusing on those things.

If you would like support with simplifying your life and achieving mental clarity call our Front of House team on 020 8673 4545 or email [email protected] . We have therapy sessions available seven days a week, by phone and online – and some of our therapists are also offering face-to-face sessions at our centres in Clapham and Tooting.

Amy Launder
Amy Launder is a content writer for The Awareness Centre, writing and editing blog posts for our Talking Therapy blog. She enjoys writing and exploring ideas within the mental health and wellness fields that excite and intrigue her. Amy is also a qualified and practising psychotherapist, with an MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling from the University of Leeds.
Returning To Face-To-Face Therapy
Is There A Gaslighter In Your Life? Here’s How To Tell

Related Posts

Give yourself a spring clean!

Give Yourself a Spring Clean!

How To Prioritise Self-Care Without Feeling Selfish

How To Prioritise Self-Care Without Feeling Selfish

How To Live With Less Regret

How To Live With Less Regret

Is phone addiction a real thing?

Is Phone Addiction a Real Thing?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.

Subscribe to our newsletter



    Please add me to the list

    Categories

    • Abortion
    • Abuse
    • Acute Stress Disorder
    • Addiction
    • ADHD
    • Agoraphobia
    • Alcoholism
    • Anger Management
    • Anxiety
    • Ask Michaela
    • Attachment
    • Bereavement & Loss
    • Bipolar
    • Borderline Personality Disorder
    • Bullying
    • Children and Adolescents
    • Co-Dependency
    • Coaching
    • Coronavirus
    • Counselling
    • Counselling Placements
    • Couples
    • Dementia
    • Depression
    • Divorce
    • Domestic Violence
    • Dreams
    • Eating Disorders
    • Echoism
    • Ecopsychology
    • Empty Nest Syndrome
    • Family
    • Guilt
    • Health
    • Imposter Syndrome
    • Infertility
    • Insomnia
    • LGBTQ
    • Life Stories
    • Loneliness
    • Masochism
    • Meditation
    • Menopause
    • Mental Health
    • Mindfulness
    • Narcissism
    • News
    • OCD
    • Panic Attacks
    • Parenting
    • Personal Development
    • Personality Disorders
    • Porn
    • Postnatal Depression
    • Pregnancy
    • Psychology
    • Psychosexual
    • Psychotherapy
    • PTSD
    • Relationships
    • Sadness
    • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
    • Self Esteem
    • Self-Care
    • Self-Harm
    • Sex
    • Sexual Harassment
    • Sleep
    • Social Anxiety Disorder
    • Stress
    • Suicide
    • The Awareness Centre
    • Therapy
    • Training School
    • Trauma
    • Uncategorized
    • Workplace Issues

    TAC Brochure

    DOWNLOAD

    TAC has BACP Membership

    TAC Clapham

    41 Abbeville Road
    London SW4 9JX
    [email protected]
    020 8673 4545

    Available Services

    check_circle
    Low Cost Therapy
    check_circle
    Private Therapy

    Appointments

    Monday – Thursday:
    7.00am – 10.00pm

    Friday:
    7.00am – 9.00pm

    Saturday:
    9.00am – 5.30pm

    Sunday:
    10.00am – 2.00pm

    TAC Tooting

    74-80 Upper Tooting Road
    London SW17 7PB
    [email protected]
    020 8673 4545

    Available Services

    check_circle
    Private Therapy

    Appointments

    Monday – Thursday:
    7.00am – 10.00pm

    Friday:
    7.00am – 5.30pm

    Saturday:
    9.00am – 5.30pm

    TAC Marylebone

    85 Wimpole Street
    London W1G 9RJ
    [email protected]
    020 8079 0708

    Available Services

    check_circle
    Private Therapy

    Appointments

    Tuesday and Thursday:
    8.00am – 12.00pm

    Email
    Facebook
    Twitter
    LinkedIn
    YouTube
    Instagram
    Pinterest

    © 2023 The Awareness Centre Ltd.

    • OUR THERAPISTS
    • TYPES OF ISSUES
    • OUR LANGUAGES
    • FAQS
    • HOW TO FIND US

    The Awareness Centre Limited. A company registered in England and Wales, Number: 06194423. Registered Office: 74-80 Upper Tooting Road, London, England, SW17 7PB.  Trading as The Awareness Centre.

    This site uses cookies and data collection for personalised advertising. Your data may be shared with third parties for this purpose. Learn more about how we collect data and use cookies, and check that you consent. Manage PreferencesI Consent Learn more
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT