I thought I'd do a little twist on the old classic 'what's in my bag' by sharing tips on carrying light.

The first place to start with is your bag. Is it light and sturdy? If your bag is clunky with too many heavy zips and clasps you're going to have a hard time with your back. In my journey to minimising I have learnt that style sacrifices have to be made if you want to live lighter. However, I adore this bag and the rustic traveller look that it gives. The company say they originated to relieve Swedish school children from back problems. At first glance the thin straps on this bag didn't look convincing. This was until I had the opportunity to test out the bag from other people who already owned it.


A lot of bags simply should not be bags. To me an item is not worth my money if it does not sufficiently serve its purpose. Be strict with the bag you invest in. Before my minimalism days I would go through bag after bag. I can carry a laptop, a couple of books, a heavy steel water bottle, purse and other little bits and I do not feel the weight. I have worked out that the secret is in the design of the straps criss-crossing which distributes the weight. The bag opens the entire main compartment so I don't have to rummage around when looking for something. It's a very hard wearing water resistant material but at the same time really light. The logo actually acts as a reflector in the dark.

Remember what you need to carry is personal to you and your needs. As I am a commuter I now carry a lot more than I used to but have reduced down to the bare necessities. It’s also important not to go by weight of an item but rather by how much you will use it on your commute or to wherever you are going.

Kindle

I started with a book but I found that I was getting through books father than I had time to either buy a physical copy or get to my local library. I am now a converted e-reader. Don’t get me wrong, I will forever love the feel and smell of a book which is why I continue to buy personal development books and have restricted novels to either my kindle or the library. I also read while standing on the London underground.

If you're a Harry Potter fan you may have noticed my Marauder's map kindle case. You can get a similar kindle case here.

Book

I also have a personal development book on the go. You can find a list of all of my favourite books right here.

Headphones

I love listening to podcasts on the go. My current favourite is the Think Grow podcast by Ruben Chavez. I’ve been following Ruben for a few years on Instagram. I love his positivity and alternative thinking and his podcasts is just as thought provoking. I will also be writing a post on my favourite podcasts to listen to. To keep up to date with my blog subscribe to my mailing list, follow me on Instagram or on Bloglovin.

You can get 15% off Sudio headphones by using my code cmalia15.

Phone

I get so much done on my phone there’s no need for me to carry a laptop. I research for my novel and save my findings on the Evernote app which syncs with my laptop, I book train tickets, do my grocery shop, book appointments and reply to comments on my YouTube videos.

Purse

I have pared down on the things I carry in my purse. I’ll only have two cards (one extra just in case), a little bit of cash, zero receipts and I have digitalised all my loyalty cards in my apple wallet.

Water bottle

Carrying my water bottle on the side of my backpack really distributes the weight. I have to have water with me everywhere I go and keeping it in a stainless steel bottle keeps my water cold for the whole day.

Would you like to see a ‘what’s in my carry on’ for aeroplane travel? I’ve already done a video on this which you can find here but I’m thinking about making a fun printable checklist.

- Not pressure myself into getting tasks done straight away.

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Whatever it is you want proclaim that you already have it or are already living it. You could say 'I will heal from these limiting beliefs. I already feel like an entrepreneur/I already feel the abundance of a million dollars/I already know what it feels like to be published.'

'I commit to do everything that produces and satisfies that feeling of...being a published author/TV presenter/running a clothing company. I will write every single day as if I definitely will be published. I will sell and curate my business as if I am already trading.'

If you haven’t noticed, I have recently rejigged the categories on my blog and given myself the tag line of ‘personal development to live powerfully’. I have also started my Live Powerfully series on YouTube where I will be creating a series of videos on living your true and happy self. You can subscribe to my channel and watch the playlist here.

You can click the link on each of the books to shop them on Amazon.           
                                                                                 

Screw Work Let’s Play by John Williams

I’m going to start by saying something cheesy and cliché but so true, it is often the clichés that
are true but life’s too short to be doing something you don’t love and this book hit it home to me, very luckily at a young age.

More than anything, this book reassured me that everything I was thinking towards the life that society had laid out for me was in fact helpful in getting me to my dream life. There are two things in life that are lethal: heroin and a regular paycheque. It reminded me that it is actually the people who believe that working daily for someone else, with only weekends and an annual leave of four weeks is an acceptable way of life are the crazy ones.

Not every hobby should be monetised but it is important to do something you love everyday.I know the life I want to live and I am working everyday to make that happen and to this day I make reference to this book.

The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

I have always questioned the circle of life: go to school, get married have kids, work and then die and teach your kids to do the same.

I have learnt a lot of time saving and energy efficient methodologies some of which are as simple of putting my phone on airplane mode to how to be the first one to make the move and get what you want.

One of the defining part of the book which I have carried over to my life is the dream lining concept. The idea that your dream life doesn’t cost as much as you think it does.

Fuck It The Ultimate Spiritual Way by John C Parkin

Many people seek happiness by adding to their life, whether that be in the form of material possessions or not. This book made me question the societal pressures that were holding me down in my life. I have become so much more conscious and mindful in my life.
I learnt to appreciate the beauty in the everyday mundane and to never stop exploring. See my Instagram caption on this concept of always being excited about life here.

Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig

Simply being alive in and of itself is such a beautiful thing, that I have the opportunity wake up everyday, see the world, have people to socialise with, watch TV, read a book. All those simple things are the most amazing experiences ever. This book breaks down depression and looks at it in a positive light.

The Secret by Rhonda Bryne

The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

This one is an in between of the top two. It uses the concept of money to hook you in but my favourite thing about this one is that it uses examples of people manifesting beautiful things in their life with fierce determination.

I talk about living powerfully a lot on my socials but what does it actually mean to live powerfully? To live powerfully is to know how to be happy. To live powerfully is to be grateful, to nourish the mind and body. To live powerfully you have to let go. Let go of everything that was holding you back, negativity, toxic people, ideals, societal norms, what you think you should do, be and act. Living powerfully is to live with intention, to be conscious, to get to know yourself and most importantly to live the life of your dreams.

Ask yourself ‘why am I doing this?’ 

This question will reveal a lot and help you cut down on things that are making you miserable and in turn powerless. Really ask yourself why you are doing something as obvious as the initial answer sounds don’t stop there, dig deeper. When wearing bras were making me feel uncomfortable I would routinely ask myself why I was putting myself through the torture. My answers were ‘to support my boobs’, or ‘bras make outfits look nicer’. It was when I got to the answer ‘because I have to’ the truth became clear. I was wearing bras because society told me to.

We blindly follow the crowd even when we don’t realise it. Think about the hundreds of decisions you’ve made without even a second thought. Do you really need a dishwasher or a phone upgrade? Do you really want this job? Do you really have to clean the windows every week?

Get rid of things that no longer serve you

The more you declutter the objects in your life you really don’t need the lighter you will feel. Read my minimalism series here and watch my minimalism series on youtube.

Don’t try to control your life

When we go with the flow of life we feel don’t feel restless or stressed, instead we allow a stream of consciousness to enter, we can hear our heart, we can feel that gut feeling stronger than ever before. When you understand that there are some things you simply cannot control, like the weather, and that there’s no point complaining about it, you will be free.

Learn to stop stressing

Once you know the damaging effects that stress can have on you, you will take active steps to stop stressing.

When a new situation comes up that stresses us, this could be a scary decision to move cities (like it was for me), our mind goes back to its library of information to find a time when you felt this stressed before so that it can tell you how to react. The problem is if you always reacted to stress negatively you will continually do this until you take conscious steps to change something. I often tell myself, ‘if it won’t matter in five years’ time don’t spend five minutes stressing about it.’

Your mind then chooses to react the exact way as all those other times, by stressing and making the wrong decision.  Your mind goes into that primal state of fight or flight to escape the situation in some way or another. Reprogramming your mind not to take that ill-fated route is a skill that can take years to master and unfortunately for many people it is a beautiful thing that is never even realised.

Learn to pivot from negative thoughts, feelings and people

It amazes me how many people go about their day in a negative haze. They stub their toe in the morning and feel grumpy about it, then they get splashed by muddy rainwater on their way to work and rage about it and the trail goes on. The worst type of people are the ones who spew negative words at others.

I have learnt to pivot the direction of my thoughts when something negative happens or when a negative person steps my way. I won’t let someone else’s bad energy affect my bliss. I won’t even allow time to pity them on how powerlessly they are living.

It is a powerful feeling to know that nothing anyone can try to do to you can ever affect you.

Don’t be angry

Harbouring anger and bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to suffer. Of course, anger is a normal human emotion and we should allow ourselves to feel it. When you look beyond the situation you can find a way to console yourself.

Don’t try and control your feelings 

It is not normal to be happy all the time. That can be exhausting. The happiest people are those who don’t see happiness as their end goal. Meditation has allowed me to do this. When meditating I allow my feelings to stream and observe them as if I were in the third person. I honour my feelings and that in turn allows me to honour myself and feel lighter. In this video I go into detail on how to do this.

If it scares you, do it

It is only when we do things that scare us that we truly grow and more than anything have the time of our lives. If it scares you, do it. I promise you that you will thank yourself later.

I've been a little quiet about my 2018 resolutions goals and I will speak more on that further down this post. As we're well into the new year I wanted to give you a little pick me up.

Set goals you actually want

This may sound explanatory but new year goals can be influenced by other people's goals or what we think our goals should be. It is important to remember that everyone is on a different path and more importantly there's no such thing as unrealistic goals. So if your real goal is to make £250,000 but you set £25,000 just to be 'realistic' you're setting yourself up for failure. If you really want something set it as your goal no matter how far fetched that dream is. It's only as further away as your mind's eye.

Write them down

Affirmations are powerful and research shows that you are fifty percent more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. This is because writing something down makes it legal, sets it in stone and you have to follow through. It's like a highlighter through your dreams.

Visualise them

You've got to visualise it so clearly that you believe it, even see it in the future. Keep a list of your goals on your wall or a picture of the house you want to put a deposit on next month. When you really want something and you are reminded of it everyday you increase your capacity to receive it.

Start setting things in motion now

If you don't work on them straight away you never will. You should be excited to work on them, so excited you can't wait for it to be January so you start the day you decide on them. My goal for 2017 was to write a novel. I started writing it in late 2016, as soon as I decided that was my goal.

Don't scream them off the rooftops

I know we can get a little ahead of ourselves with new year fever but when you tell everyone about your goals excitedly you're less likely to follow them through. This is not because you will 'jinx' them. Your brains sends out the same feelings to you as if you had already achieved the goals you're setting out to do. That happy chemical soon dies when you realise you haven't achieved them.

Don't approach with fear or dread

A lot of people approach their new year goals with dread. People count the last few days before they have to quit smoking or start exercising. If your goal is to be eat healthy you need to remove all the temptations from your sight. Throw out all the leftover Christmas chocolates. Whatever you resists becomes bigger. Focus on the positive side (the goal of being healthy) rather than seeing it as a negative. The more you resist and fight you attract more of what you are fighting. Why make it harder on yourself to follow through with your healthy eating goal when you can easily make it easy?

You will come to realise that achieving your seemingly hard to reach goals aren't actually that hard. I'm going to leave you with an extract from a book I have been reading recently called The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein:

'Many people have chosen, consciously or not, to lean towards fear. In some way, we get lost in the story that pain has purpose, or we buy into the belief that a meaningful life requires struggle. These limiting beliefs can have devastating consequences.'

I have chosen to be quiet about my goals as I no longer want to have to resist or fight the people that wince at my huge aspirations for 2018. I have big goals. I always have and have always followed through with them. For the people that shrink at your big goals it is a reflection of their own limitations, not yours. If your goal is to become a TV presenter, tell it to an unemployed relative and they'll laugh at you, choose to tell that dream to a current TV presenter and they will go out of their way to give you advice.

Here's a video I did where I spoke about some of my 2018 goals
20 Self Improvement New Years Resolutions 
How Not To Break Your New Years Resolutions

Happy new year.