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In my organized opinion, living a simple life means less.

Owning less stuff. Scheduling less on the calendar. Having less debt.

When you have less to distract you, your life and space become more open to the opportunity to focus on what matters most to you.

In last 5 years, I’ve had the privilege of working with Certified Life Coach, Maripat Abbott. She is the founder of More Peace Life Coaching and shares a consistent message of living a life with more peace, clarity and simplicity. She regularly inspires me to maintain a peaceful stance even when unpredictable issues may be calling for my attention.

I know you will find her wisdom to be valuable nuggets to motivate you towards a more simplified day, week and life.

PEACE IN THE CITY

by Maripat Abbott

“We cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning, for what was great in the morning will be little at evening and what in the morning was true, at evening will have become a lie.”

—Carl Jung

Finding peace in my home had been evading me for years, yet I couldn’t understand why.  Finally, a radical downsizing provided clarity. I realized that what had brought me peace in my 30s and 40s only led to stress in my 50s.  As Jung might say, in the afternoon of life, I was still living as if it were morning.

If we want to experience peace, a helpful inquiry during all seasons of life is to ask: “Is this leading to, or detracting from, my inner peace right now?” As a life coach, my goal is to help clients identify their unique definition of peace— now, not 5 or 10 years ago.

Like the cobbler’s daughter going without shoes, though, I was not asking myself the same question, as it related to my environment. While I continually shifted things in my inner landscape (mindset, belief systems, meditation), my external landscape, the “things” I’d been living with, no longer reflected my core values. I’d been filling the same kinds of suburban homes for 25 years, with the same kinds of “upscale” clutter. Interestingly, I think my body knew before my intellect that this lifestyle was no longer a haven of peace for me.

This realization led to revisiting my core values. I turned to my Primary Assessment Tool, the “Wheel of Life” and focused on the “physical environment” portion. By reassessing current needs around my home, I discovered a deep hunger to downsize. And that’s exactly what I did.

So here, in the afternoon of my life, I’m experiencing a peaceful 10 out of 10 in my home.  I shed over 60% of my belongings and downsized to a Chicago hi-rise (or what I call my “home in the sky”).  I love falling asleep to the noises of city life, taking walks on The Magnificent Mile, and relying on my feet to carry me most anywhere.

A good question to ask yourself regularly is: “How can I feel more peaceful in this life area?” and then implement changes to get you there.

Maripat Abbott, Certified Life Coach

“Inner Peace is the New Success.”

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