Listening to the inner voice

Take time to listen 

We are a very noisy generation but then many of us don’t even feel the noise because we have become immune to that. We have time to listen to everything and everyone but ourselves. We are so much driven by the external voices that we have no time to listen to our inner voice. We have media, television, runways, movies, and many other sources telling us how we should be living our lives and what choices we should be making.

I myself am guilty of letting the external voices influence my life in many areas. By no means am I trying to say that finally I have mastered the art of listening to my inner voice but yes I have at least started trying. In my attempt to listening to my inner voice I have come to realize that I have betrayed myself over and over again.

It might sound too cliché but life is really way too simple. I wish I could make it sound more convincing but this is one fact that every individual will have to understand on their own. The moment I started to try and listen to myself I came to understand that most of the complications of my life were created by me. I had been surrounding myself with complications all around especially in the form of stuffs. The moment I came to realize this, I started getting rid of stuffs that were unnecessarily occupying space in my life. I also came across the concept of ‘minimalism’. If you are not yet aware of ‘minimalism’, my suggestion is try and find out. It will help you simplify your complicated life.

If I start mentioning all the different areas of my life that minimalism has had an impact I will not be able to finish writing this post. However, my future posts will cover some areas. For this post I will start with one area where I have made a major change.

Disclaimer: This is a method that has worked for me and I have done my research well. So it may or may not work for you. If you are interested please do your research first.

This post is about my hair so I will be mentioning about the products for my hair. I remember as a child, I never bothered what products I used. I did not grow up with the luxury of parents taking care of me and so I grew up washing my hair sometimes just with water and other times with any product available. Trust me as a child I had a very health hair and scalp. But then I started growing up I started believing that my hair needed shampoo, conditioner, serum, mask and etc. Obviously, the brands did not reach out to me to give me this message but the message was clear to me. Well I would say the markets have done a commendable job and hats off to their smartness but I am choosing to not be fooled by their smartness anymore. I am a student of economics and I have been studying about the markets for quite some time now and to a great extend I do understand how the markets function. But since I was so busy listening to external voices I never took time to think about it seriously.

I remember the day I had this revelation regarding my hair, it was 9^th November 2016 and since then I have never shampooed my hair let alone conditioning. Again let me tell you that I have a lifestyle where I can afford to go with bad hair days and I don’t mind not looking my best every day. You may be in a profession where you have to look your absolute best every moment and in that case what worked for me will definitely not work for you. You will have to see for yourself what will work for you.

If you are wondering how do I wash my hair if I don’t  use shampoo, I use a ‘black soap’ free of chemicals (it’s some local soap) to wash my hair now and I wash my hair just twice a week. Initially my hair started acting weird because my hair craved for all the chemicals it was used to. Ultimately my hair started adjusting to the new chemical free process and my hair is getting back to its natural form. Above all my life has become so much simpler at least in this area and I save a lot of time.

The lesson I learned is that just like my hair had become so insensitive to all the harsh chemicals, we also become insensitive to all the toxic we surround ourselves with. We get so used to listening to the external voices that anytime we don’t hear those voices we feel like it’s abnormal because we start accepting external voices as our ‘ new normal’.

Now take some time to check when the last time you listened to your inner voice was. As you practice listening to your inner voice your life will never be the same. 

Love and Light,
Deborah

My Capsule Wardrobe

This week we had four days of holiday and I got some time to work on my closet. Winter is almost here and so I was changing my wardrobe into a winter wardrobe. In the past I have had to spend the whole day or two days to work on my closet but this time it did not take me more than 2 hours to be done with rearranging my wardrobe. I was amazed at how simple my life has become at least in one area and so I couldn't help but share my experience.

          

                    If you would like to know how this change happened please keep reading.

There has been so much buzz of the concept of capsule wardrobe recently and I really wanted to try it out myself. The concept of capsule wardrobe has been around for about more than four decades now and this concept was introduced by Susie Faux, founder of  "Wardrobe" (the boutique) in 1970s. Capsule wardrobe is defined as a collection of an individual's wardrobe essentials that don't go out of fashion. 

For me it was first sight love with the concept of capsule wardrobe.  I fell in love with the concept the very moment I came to know about it. 

How many of us ladies can relate to the wardrobe meltdowns, when you have closet full of clothes but nothing appropriate to wear. Sounds familiar? well I have been there so I hear you. 

I have passed that phase and since I have made up my mind to live a minimalist kind of lifestyle, the very first thing I started with was my wardrobe. Now I have about 30 to 40 pieces of clothes as a part of my capsule wardrobe and I don't face the wardrobe meltdown situations. I always have something to wear and it saves so much time. I can get ready within no time now. I love the feeling of owning less and being happy about it.

I am in no way saying that I have a perfect wardrobe and I am not 100% sure if I am in love with everything in my closet yet but it is a work in progress. As long as the progress is happening no matter how small, I am happy. I have learned that in life be it in any area, it's never about the finish line but the process. I am however very much in love with the journey I am on with building my capsule wardrobe.  Someday I definitely wish to own only those pieces that I absolutely love but for now I am proud of myself for coming this far. 

In the past my wardrobe was filled with cheap clothes and when I needed something to wear I would find nothing. I have learned to go for quality over quantity. I don't mean that now I only own expensive clothes but yes now when I go and buy clothes I make sure that I don't compromise with the quality.

I don't know what stage of life you are in and maybe you are thinking that you will not be able to afford to get rid of all your clothes and think over. I get that and have been there. Now, I know that if only I would have tried not to fit in but be myself I would have been able to do so long time back even when I was a student. It is so common that when we are very young we keep trying to fit in thinking that is what's "cool" but the truth is standing out is "cool". If I could advice my younger self , I would tell her how beautiful and perfectly imperfect she is and that she need not try and fit in but stand out being who she is. 

Stay Chic, Stay beautiful.

Being a minimalist

Minimalism is becoming a huge trend and there are many great testimonies from people who have made this lifestyle change. I am in love with the concept and have been trying to practice it myself.  I have started my journey of being a minimalist.  I am in love with this process of being a minimalist and so I am writing about it a bit. 

For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of minimalism, though there are many definitions, but the one I like the most is that 'it is all about simplifying your life'. By simplifying I mean decluttering the stuffs from your life that doesn't serve the purpose anymore. It is about being aware and mindful of the choices that you make in what you keep in your life and what you let go. Once the space starts getting cleared out, life becomes so much more simple. It is just an idea and a concept, so there is no guidelines as such to follow. You can just practice the parts of minimalism that you resonate to and  anything that doesn't make sense to you can be left out. There is no obligation as such to follow the rules. It is more about the mindset than the quantity of stuffs. 

It's not about getting rid of all the stuffs but letting go of things or people that weigh you down. Now that I am getting familiar with the concept of minimalism I am made aware of the fact that in certain areas of my life I have always been a minimalist but in other areas I was completely the opposite. 

Growing up I remember I always had very less friends. I am pretty protective when it comes to my inner circle and till date I can very easily count the number of people in my inner circle. I can be somehow defined as a nerd. I have to admit that I seem to enjoy the company of books more than the company of people many a times. To me it does not matter how many people I have in my life but who are the people I call my friends. I know everyone is not the same and everyone need not be the same but this is who I am. 

 I have never been a minimalist when it comes to stuffs though. I owned way too many stuffs and I wasn't even aware of it until recently when I started decluttering my stuffs. Since I started decluttering my stuffs, clothes specifically, I am in a much happier place and I love the feeling of owning less. I don't even get the urge to shop every now and then any more. 

I am not saying that everyone should practice minimalism. It may not work for everyone but it really works well for me. Since I started on this journey of being a minimalist  my life is so less complicated and manageable. 

If you think minimalism is something that interest you then keep visiting my blog because I will be writing more on this topic. If you would like to learn the art of decluttering I would recommend the book 'The life changing Magic of tidying up ', the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing by Marie Kondo. That book completely changed my life. 

You don't have to try and compare your journey to anyone else's . The most important thing about minimalism I think is just being more mindful about your choices in any area of your life. There should be no judgement or comparison of your journey with anyone else's. 

Keep it simple and live beautiful!