We live in a world of excess. Too much stuff, but also too much noise, physical efforts, too many thoughts.

What are the bare essentials you need to feel well?

Write them down. Anything goes. Take five minutes and jot down everything that comes to your mind.

At the end, see if you want to keep everything you put down. If not: cross out what you can do without.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, you can come back to this list and bring one essential back into your life.

If you feel like it, take another five minutes today and spend them on one of your essentials. In whatever shape or form this may be.

Your bare essentials are important not because you should be modest or suffer or give things up. They are pointers as to what you need to experience the richness of life. You can resort to your essentials when something feels overwhelming or you feel off course.

– Simplicity is key

PS: When I did my bare essentials list, I used only one or two words per item. The only adjective that came up was good. Not super, the best, state-of-the-art, brilliant,  or another superlative. How about yours? What’s good for you? Maybe good is really good enough.