5 Things to Declutter from Your Life to Boost Happiness

Editor's note: This is a guest post by Krista O'Reilly-Davi-Digui of A Life In Progress.

We have two lives: the one we learn with and the life we live after that. -Bernard Malamud

My 40's have undoubtedly been the hardest and best years of my life so far. I have grieved, walked through pain, moved kids to college, learned to rest. I've learned to love myself in earnest and show up through fear, I've healed and done hard things, put down deeper roots.

It has been a season of learning to let go of what no longer serves.

While I am a slow and simple advocate, it is neither the pursuit of simplicity nor absence of stuff alone that determines my happiness. My happiness is rooted instead in a sense of freedom, of living on purpose, and in inner calm.

Happiness grows its tenacious roots inside of me.

I joyfully decluttered these 5 things to boost happiness:

1. Needing you to like me

Care about what others think and you will always be their prisoner. —Lao Tzu

One of the greatest obstacles to my freedom—and happiness—is caring much what others think of me. I stopped saying yes out of obligation, trying to be a good girl or please others at the expense of my mental health or family. I packed up my efforts at trying to keep up perfectly and made more space to laugh, create, and simply breathe.

I appreciate the wise advice of Brené Brown who suggests we take a 1 x 1 inch square of paper and make a list of people whose opinions matter to us—those people who love and accept us with all our quirks and imperfections. “If you need more paper, you need to edit,” she encourages. Interestingly, I don't need you to like me as much now because I've decided to like myself.

The more I have come to like and appreciate myself—to see my strengths and weaknesses with neither shame nor ego, my happiness grows. As I offer myself more compassion and learn to move through perfectionism, fear, and comparison, I am also more able to pour out compassion for others and show up with courage to serve.

Read the full article here!

Krista O'Reilly-Davi-Digui works as a writer, Holistic Embodiment Coach + Joyful Living Educator. She helps brave, weary, curious women move beyond grief, stress, and struggle and remember how to feel safe, at home and joyful in their body and life. Krista and her family gratefully live on Treaty 6 Territory near the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. Connect with her at alifeinprogress.ca and learn to feel more empowered with this free workshop.