ideas for humans Archives

Mind Over Matter: How to Harness the Power of Your Beliefs

by Idea Pictogram | Aug 31, 2026 | ideas for humans

I heard Dr Sarah Lidstone, a neurologist at UHN, speak many years ago at a TEDx talk in Toronto. Her talk, “It’s all in your head,” mentioned the placebo effect and how, at times, it really boils down to the issue of mind over matter. The mind-brain-body connection is so intertwined that the power of your beliefs (your mind) really do affect you physically (your body). In this blog, I describe five tips on using the principle of mind over matter and how to harness the power of your beliefs.

The power of wishful thinking

According to Dr Lidstone, treating the mind, brain, body as a whole can lead to some pretty miraculous results. Through the power of your beliefs, and your mind, you can cure ailments that affect the body.

Are thoughts so powerful that they can change reality?

Is it enough to believe in something so strongly that it ends up happening?

If you think that your thoughts would materialize into reality, some might call it nothing more than wishful thinking, and at worst, self-deception.

But that’s the power of wishful thinking, otherwise known in the self-help circle as “manifesting.” Popular self-help gurus (a dime a dozen) have created a whole practice of manifesting your dreams into reality. A lot of people believe in it and swear by it, attributing their success to the simple power of thought.

For example, some people swear by vision boards. Vision boards are a collage of images and phrases that you assemble onto a board and look at everyday to stay motivated and on track to meeting your goals.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. So if it’s mind over matter, how do you harness the power of your beliefs?

The power of imagination

The imagination is powerful stuff, I would say. I know because I’ve been the victim of my own imagination, like projecting what people think onto my reality, when it’s very far from the truth. So much that my actions were being controlled by my thoughts. For example, I’d think, “Oh no, that person doesn’t like me so they’re avoiding me.” So I start avoiding them instead, and it turns into a big avoidance thing where we don’t ever talk to each other.

We all care, to some degree and at some point in our lives, about what people think.

I have to admit, sometimes I’m the type of person who lives too much in their head. Someone who thinks too much. I care about what people think, too much sometimes, that it controls the way I act and think. I try not to do anything that invites ridicule. I strive for approval, for the pat on the head. You could argue that it’s just self-preservation. Who wants to act in a way that will quickly lose your friends?

But these thoughts are just thoughts, sometimes not even mirroring reality, not in any meaningful way.

Mind over matter: is it really all in your head?

Is the imagination, the power of the mind, so powerful that it can change reality?

Can we make the impossible happen by sheer willpower? That would be awesome, wouldn’t it? If we could make all of our dreams and our goals come true just by thinking very hard about it.

Like the placebo effect, the mind is so powerful that it can convince us of things that are or aren’t true, and it can spur us into action with either positive or negative consequences.

You’ve probably heard of how the self-help gurus promise that you can manifest your wants and desires using the power of your own thoughts. Is this all hogwash, snake oil? Before you dismiss these claims, consider that there may actually be scientific proof to back them up. Dr Lidstone recounted how a patient with Parkinson’s disease, who was dependent on his wheelchair, was able to get up and walk after taking a placebo.

Can you really trick your mind into doing whatever you want it to do? It’s possible. By harnessing the power of your beliefs, similar to what we call “faith”, we can literally make our thoughts turn into reality.

Here are five tips on how to harness the power of your beliefs:

1. Your beliefs must be grounded in reality.

It’s all great to say that you want to make a million dollars within the next six months, but that would rarely work if it’s so far-fetched that it’s not grounded in reality. Money doesn’t appear out of thin air. Ask yourself whether you can achieve your goal and whether you can take the necessary steps to get started. If you find yourself giving up after a short while, or a few half-hearted attempts, it’s time to re-evaluate and re-adjust your goals so that they aren’t so wildly out of reach.

2. Consistency is key.

You’ve heard of how faith can move mountains. Similarly, tiny actions can lead to big results. People never reach their goals, like losing weight or starting to write a novel, because they lack the follow-through or are blocked by how daunting and overwhelming a task can be. Discouraged, they never start at all. Don’t quit before you start! It’s the number one killer of dreams, the misconception that everyone must be ready before they start a project that they’ve always wanted to accomplish.

3. Think positive.

I might be criticized for toxic positivity which is a term I see floating around a lot, but has anyone’s life ever been negatively affected by a bit of cheerfulness? We can use more of the bright side when things fall apart, fall down, or are all doom and gloom. Believe me, this will happen often in any undertaking that is worth achieving.

4. Treat happiness like it’s a habit.

Just like consistency is key, happiness becomes second nature when you find more things to be grateful for. Can you become happier just by thinking you are happier? Maybe not, but give it a try. Changes to your mindset start by believing in the power of your thoughts.

5. Dare to dream.

You’re a unique individual and you have ideas and thoughts that no one else has. The imagination is limitless. Thinking outside the box is always a good and useful quality to have. Creativity is what leads to that next big idea, so tap into your hidden genius.

The above tips on how to harness the power of your beliefs might actually prove to you that it’s all about mind over matter. Thoughts are powerful and mysterious entities. Some call them delusions or wishful thinking. Some call these thoughts faith. But it’s been scientifically proven that what’s in your mind can manifest physically in your body. Treating the mind can treat the body. If thoughts are so powerful, then who can guess what you can achieve just by thinking it? Maybe it really is just mind over matter.

Why Don’t You Like Me? Rejection in the Age of Social Media

by Idea Pictogram | Aug 7, 2026 | ideas for humans

I’m no stranger to rejection on social media.

I wrote a nice, friendly note requesting someone’s connection over one of the ubiquitous social media platforms out there, and sent it out to them thinking of all the good things that could come out of it. But alas, to no avail. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Why don’t you like me? Is this rejection in the age of social media?

While I was listening to the crickets chirp, I started to think deeply, as someone tends to do on these occasions. Why did this person ignore me? Was it because I had no social proof? If this has happened to you before, you’re probably asking, “Why don’t you like me?”

Requests for help, and reaching out, is the part of networking that I like the least. When there’s no response, I start panicking and thinking that this person must dislike me because I’m being sooo annoying. But sometimes, the cold shoulder is just really that: they’re ignoring you because they’re busy and don’t have time out of their jam-packed day to pay attention to you.

Everyone has probably experienced requesting a connection through social media only to have it ignored or blocked.

In my case, on the scale of least to most wanted reactions, I should be glad that it fell on the higher end of least harmful reactions. At least this person didn’t openly berate me or shame me on social media, or report me to the authorities.

I shouldn’t be surprised, because this probably happens all the time, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit hurt, for all of a few seconds. Then I moved on and promptly forgot all about it.

Should we just be friends?

In the age of social media, how to choose your friends is relatively easy. You either accept a friend request, or you don’t. And you remove their connection if you no longer want to be friends. Rejection in the age of social media is so easy.

In the olden days, what happens when a friendship turns sour and goes awry? You would still have to see them everyday, but social media is changing what friendship means. You interact with them by sitting behind a computer and when you’re online, they’re easier to avoid. It became easier to make friends, but on the flip side, it is also easier to end a friendship.

It’s also easy to post something on social media without getting a lot of reactions or comments. They’re ignoring your post, not even reading it or paying attention, or at worst, ridiculing you.

I sometimes fear putting myself out there, opening myself up to rejection, but it’s something I have to do each time I post a blog post. Sending out a post and waiting passively for the number of reactions to climb is a nail bitter.

Sometimes it feels like rejection if there’s not that much of a response. Rejection hurts, and sometimes when there are hundreds of connections that could’ve responded, the multiplier effect amplifies that rejection.

The same goes for connection or friend requests. “Why don’t you like me?” you ask. You feel like you’re pestering people.

Wait, why can’t we be friends?

When you’re networking to find a new job role, for example, you find out that it’s not only who you know, it’s who wants to know you in return.

The digital era makes it easier to make a ton of friends as well as to lose them, and instantly. All in one instant, your social proof can go up or down, and if you’re riding the waves as a way of cashing in on your popularity, you better watch out when that luck turns. People are fickle, and social media is the most excellent tool for them to act out that fickleness.

In the olden days (and I’m talking about the past twenty or thirty years), friendship used to be about meeting up in person and going for a (real) coffee. Virtual meetings are convenient, and so easily set up, and dropped.

Ignoring someone is passive rejection, and so easy to do because it’s doing nothing at all. I’ve been at the receiving end of passive rejection, and obviously it’s not nice.

It’s unsurprisingly easy to be annoying over social media. Asking for a favour too many times will definitely get annoying. You might think of it as persistence or perseverance, but it’s just being irritating, and I might be guilty of this, too.

If someone is being a pest, ignoring them is the best thing you can do.

Friendship, monetize this!

The number of likes and reactions on a post could translate into a hefty sum of money. These micro approvals are a commodity. The clicks, when added together, can mean a big payout. Tally up the number of reactions, and you get your net worth in social proof. If you’re really popular online, you’d obviously want to use this to your advantage if you’re looking for ways to make money.

Ever since you asked, “Why don’t we be friends?” to someone you met online, your next question might have been, “How can I monetize this? How can I use your friendship to further my own agenda?” It sounds cruel and self-interested, but that question is top of mind for some business-minded people.

You can literally spin social media likes into gold, and a lot of it. Remember when friendship used to mean so much more than clicks and likes?

Friends? In the age of social media, who needs those?

The number of likes can translate into money, and lots of it. Friendship shouldn’t be a commodity. Are we friends because I expect something in return? In the age of social media, that answer might be yes, and might be all friendship is now about.

If you’re being strategic about who you’re friends with, you’re looking for a friendship that, after you spend time cultivating, will get the best return on your investment.

Money does change the way you think about friendship. Friendship becomes transactional, an exchange of mutually beneficial goods and services. Social media is the gateway to becoming popular, fast, with the least amount of effort.

Like it or not, pun intended, friendship is no longer measured by how much time you spend together or whether you truly care about the other. Friendship is now measured by how much influence you have on your friend’s buying decisions and where they choose to spend their time online.

Is friendship losing its meaning because of social media?

The social media royalty wins, big time, while the rest of us commoners are struggling to gain traction. I’m not complaining about the fact that the game is rigged. I’m complaining about not getting in on the secret myself, what everyone who has an enterprising online presence thinks but few will admit to.

When friendship becomes strategic, that’s when friendship loses meaning. We’re not friends, we’re business partners. You give me your approval, and I give you money. It’s that simple. Most want to get the greatest amount of money out of it with the least moves and least effort.

Making–and losing–friends on social media is so easy to do, that we do it all the time without giving much thought to it. Rejection in the age of social media is easy. Some people I know like to streamline things a bit, cut off a few former friends like you would shed a few pounds here and there. So I shouldn’t be concerned if all I get is a lack of response or reaction.

Do you depend on approval from your peers through social media?

Do you only have virtual friends and not real friends? Are you asking “why don’t you like me?” too often? My advice is to separate your self-worth from your social media persona. When you’re a social media influencer, and everything about your persona hangs on the number of reactions and likes, it’s easy to lose sight of reality.

Keep in mind that it’s not because they don’t like you, it’s because they barely know you even though they might seem like real friends or enemies. They don’t know who you really are like in person, they just know the image you project online, and that’s but a fraction of you as a whole. I had mentioned this in my blog post on social currency.

Want social proof? Look at my social media following

Why don’t you like me? I have an active albeit modest social following but apparently that’s not good enough.

One day you’re a nobody and the next your social status has been elevated to the stratosphere. It happens frequently now. Overnight success is definitely possible.

The most they can do is ignore you, not call the cops on you for stalking them. It’s a new form of social ostracization, annoying but completely forgettable and harmless.

It stings. You feel low about yourself for a day or two, you ask, “Why don’t you like me?” then you get over it.

How do you win this game? Easy. If you can’t defeat the cold shoulder, just let it be.

Things shift quickly on the internet. Losers become winners and vice versa. Trying to map out a viable strategy is anyone’s best guess. And look at the bright side. Social media is never boring and never predictable. Fighting for their undivided attention might be a lost cause. Rejection in the age of social media has never been so hurtful and so easy to do.

Does this mean that we can’t make real friends online? No. But it just gets harder to find true friends this way.

How to Make Happiness a Habit

by Idea Pictogram | Feb 7, 2026 | ideas for humans

Happiness is a habit, one that you can develop if you work hard enough at it. At first, happiness sometimes feels like it’s hard to reach, like a neverending goal that keeps moving farther away no matter how many steps you try to take towards it. Happiness takes discipline. It might sound counterintuitive that it takes discipline to be happy. It can be a revelation that you have to work hard at being happy, that you have to put in the time and energy to achieve happiness. In this way, you can’t be too passive about your own happiness.

To some, it doesn’t come naturally. Happiness requires regular maintenance and practice, like maintaining a fit body through regular exercise and a healthy diet. To maintain your happiness, follow the principles of a balanced lifestyle. Implement regular check-ins with family and friends, and do an audit of each part of your life to find out which areas need improvement and which needs eliminating. Below are some more tips on how to maintain your happiness.

Let go of toxic thinking
Make your health a priority
Make friends and family a priority
Unplug from social media
Choose carefully what you consume

1. Let go of toxic thinking

Let go of anger and frustration. Don’t let negative thoughts be the reason that your life feels unfulfilled. First, you have to be more aware of your thoughts. Just like habits form by strengthening certain neural connections, building the required muscle memory starts with recognizing you have a problem. You can unconsciously have bad habits, like persistent toxic thinking that is too focused on negativity. Letting go of anger and frustration is a great weight off your shoulders. It allows you to feel happier and less tied to cycles of negative thinking. Happiness is a habit, which you can develop by letting go of toxic thinking.

2. Make your health a priority

This means exercising, quitting smoking, and having a healthy diet. Physical wellness has a great influence on your mental wellbeing. It’s easy to neglect your health when you have bills to pay and work to do, so it’s worthwhile to remember that healthy bodies make healthy minds. Either eliminate or moderate the things that will shorten your life span like the ones I listed above. Cleanse and declutter. Your environment influences how you think, so create an environment that is more helpful to your goals. Ever look at a cluttered desk and automatically feel overwhelmed by a seemingly simple task such as tidying and cleaning up? Make it easy on yourself and start with the simple things such as organizing your desk and your personal space. Healthy habits help in creating happiness as a habit.

3. Make friends and family a priority

Studies have shown that age-related risks such as dementia and Alzheimer’s increase the more socially isolated you are. By improving relationships with the people around you, you can be more satisfied with your personal life. Those with a solid support system are more resilient because they have others they can lean on in times of difficulty. That’s why making time for friends, new and old, can be so important. Don’t work too hard. Humans need play as much as they need work. Everyone needs to realize that work is not the be all and end all to life. Work is such a large part of our lives that you must find something you enjoy doing. It’s true that we need meaningful work to find fulfillment in our lives. The number of people who work really hard will wonder why they have let life pass them by.

4. Unplug from social media

Social media is a massive distraction and overconsumption of it can lead to feelings of inadequacy about your own life and self-defeating comparison. Sure, social media can have its fleeting rewards, and momentary joy from likes and peer approval. But these are like empty calories that if added frequently to your diet, lead to harmful side effects. Studies have shown that this type of desire for peer approval can be harmful for your health. Limit screen time; it can help to install an app on your phone that limits the amount of time you spend on social media. Being mindful of your consumption of social media can help make happiness a habit.

5. Choose carefully what you consume

When passively scrolling through social media, it’s easy to intake harmful content unless you pay close attention to what you are consuming. Choosing carefully also applies to the kind of people you associate with and spend time with. Making a decision about what you consume leads you to live a life that is intentional. Living your life with intention means that you think about making smart decisions instead of letting others make these decisions for you. This takes a lot of discipline. If you say you will do something, you have to be disciplined enough to follow through on your intention and to do it.

Discipline is the hardest thing to master. There are too many excuses, too many distractions and obligations. But if you want to achieve something great, you have to make a promise to yourself that you will accomplish what you set out to achieve.

Happiness is hard work. Just as no one expects to be handed money and have everything taken care of for them, you have to be willing to put in the effort to reap the rewards. Your quality of life can either go up or down depending on how much time you put into maintaining the essential aspects of an enriched and fulfilling life. Setting aside time and schedule in things like exercise and family time is a great start. Living an intentional life where you are cognizant of the reasoning behind the decisions that you make will make you more aware of what needs to be improved and what needs to be eliminated. Happiness is a habit, and requires a mindful approach to maintain for the long term.

Time Management Tips: You Have More Time Than You Think

by Idea Pictogram | Sep 25, 2025 | ideas for humans

How to find time

I know you’re busy. Maybe you have a job, or multiple jobs, a family to take care of, and a mortgage to pay. When you prioritize what you should focus your attention on, the passion project or hobby that you’ve always wanted to spend time on is low on the list. How do you find time to do all of the things that you want to do? The first step is to learn effective time management. When you do this, you’ll find out that you have more time than you think.

The following is an interesting and eye-opening exercise. Record how you spend your time every hour for one week. You can log your time in a spreadsheet to keep it organized. I promise you, it reveals a lot about your habits, some of which you might not even be aware of.

After you do this, did you learn that you spend time mindlessly scrolling on social media on your phone or watching Netflix? Continue reading for more time management tips.

Sticking to an hourly calendar increases your productivity

Ironically, when I used a planner to time-block my calendar, I found that I had more free time than I thought. When you stick to a schedule, you’re being accountable for each hour of your day. This is a time management tip that makes you realize that you can check things off your to-do list and still have extra free time.

Do this exercise because if you don’t keep track of what you do with your time, you won’t know whether you’re spending it wisely. When you do this, you are more aware of how much time you spend being productive versus how much time you waste.

Using your time wisely and being productive makes you realize that you do in fact have more free time than you think. You just spend it doing wasteful things like scrolling on your phone.

To be more productive, eliminate any type of activity that wastes time. This eliminates distraction so you can focus on the important tasks.

If finding a spare hour or two here and there is tricky for you, it could mean getting up an hour early in the morning.

Make to-do lists and stick to them

People who are efficient with their time make to-do lists and stick to them. They have agendas and planners. They spend their Sunday nights planning out what they will do for the rest of the week.

They are extremely organized and have their schedules down to a T. Their time runs on a schedule, which they don’t deviate from. But life happens, and if they do deviate from their to-do list, they find ways to quickly catch up.

I’ve started to get back into the habit of planning my day ahead of time. I have a planner and write down what I’m going to accomplish every hour. I found that it helps me focus. It even helps me finish my tasks faster. The spare time that I have, I use to work on my personal projects.

What if you are tired by the end of the day and just want to watch TV?

It’s understandable if by the end of the work day you just want to relax and unwind. But why don’t you try taking a walk after dinner instead of spending your evening watching TV? Or read a book on a topic that will help you achieve your goal? Or watch a tutorial? There are so many other ways to be productive in your free time, while still enjoying what you are doing.

Deadlines are important

When you are trying to reach a goal, give yourself a deadline. This is a time management tip that works well. Put it in your calendar. It will motivate you to get it done. It’s true that if you’re given only an hour to get a task done, you’d use the whole hour. But if you gave yourself only half an hour, you’d manage to get it done in half the time. The remaining half hour is yours. You have more free time than you think.

Having a deadline is similar to giving yourself only a set amount of time to complete a task. At first it takes a lot of discipline not to get distracted and check your social media. But it takes practice. The more you shut out distractions and focus on your task, the easier it gets.

Time is valuable

Like money, treat it as a valuable resource. You don’t have all the money in the world, and you don’t have all the time in the world, either. So would you waste it? No, of course not! So don’t spend it doing things that don’t matter. Cut out activities that waste time. Focus instead on that hobby that brings you joy, like learning a new language or learning how to play the piano. Once you figure out your own time management practice using these time management tips, you’ll discover that you have more time than you think.

The Top Five Best Things in Life That Are For Free

by Idea Pictogram | Sep 8, 2025 | ideas for humans

One of the first blog posts that I published in my ideas+business page was aimed at educating you on how to sell what people want. It got me thinking on how to follow up on this important topic. Not everything is sell, sell, sell! There are in fact things in life that you can get for free. Not everything comes with a hefty price tag. So for this post I thought it would be useful to share the top five best things in life that you can get for free.

Everyone likes free stuff. Ever get frustrated by learning that something is not actually free? For example, signing up online for services requires you to give them your personal information like your birthdate. Definitely not for free.

While coming up with this list, I found myself leaning more towards the things we take for granted, the everyday things that we don’t appreciate enough.

These are mostly things that you would think about while trying to fill a gratitude journal, and are not tangible items we can own. They do not have monetary value in the usual sense. They don’t belong to anyone; they belong to everyone.

No one owns these, it’s free for people to enjoy. There’s no need to look for bargain prices, and there’s no haggling required to enjoy these things.

The Top Five Best Things in Life That Are For Free

1. Fresh Air
2. Water
3. A Walk Outside in the Park
4. Friendship
5. Freedom

1. Fresh Air

For those of you who are lucky enough to live in unpolluted cities, fresh air should top your list of the best things you can get for free.

To appreciate fresh air and feel gratitude for having limitless amounts of it, take a break from work or from studying and go outside. Breathe in deeply for a count of three, and exhale for a count of three.

Feel that? It’s fresh air, and you don’t even have to pay for it. No one can put a price tag on it, so have as much of it as you want.

I know what the next thing you’re thinking. How long will it be that fresh air is free and available to everyone? What if you live in areas where pollution is rampant, the air quality is low, and you can’t safely breathe it in unless it’s filtered?

My point is, this is a call to protect the environment. Take public transit or bike if you can, instead of driving your car. Protect the environment so that everyone can share and make use of it freely.

2. Water

Water is closely related to fresh air. It comes from the environment. Clean water is free, and I don’t mean the $4.50 one litre of bottled water at the grocery store, but the one from the tap. Okay, we have to pay our water bill, but you get the point.

Clean water is not available to everyone. In underdeveloped countries, clean water is scarce and hard to come by.

Everyone has turned on the tap for some water, and admit it, sometimes we’ve wasted that water. It’s something that we take for granted, so much so that we don’t realize when we waste it. It’s available instantaneously, like magic.

When something is freely available like it’s a normal, everyday part of our lives, it’s easy to overlook how lucky we are that we have clean water.

So next time you turn on the tap for a glass of cold, drinkable water, appreciate the fact that you can have it whenever you want it.

3. A Walk Outside in the Park

It’s free to take a walk outside in the park. Unlike having to pay for a fitness class, taking a walk in the park is free exercise. It doesn’t cost anything, and there are numerous health benefits.

During a busy work week, take some time during your lunch break to get outside, and bring a friend so that together, you can refresh your minds by breathing in all that free air.

Walking is a meditative exercise, and you only need fifteen minutes to reap the benefits. It makes you calmer and more focused. It gives you more energy to tackle all the things that are still in your to-do list.

You may have heard that sitting down is the new smoking. So do yourself a favor and increase your longevity by getting up, going outside, and talking a fifteen minute walk with a friend.

4. Friendship

This leads me to the next thing in the list of best things in life that you can get for free. Friendship should be given freely. Whether you meet in person or over the internet, being sociable can extend your lifespan and protect you from neurodegenerative diseases.

So call your friends or relatives that you haven’t kept in touch with over the years and invite them for a walk or for coffee. If you can’t see them face to face, have a FaceTime call. These people are important in your life, so cherish your friendships and keep them alive. It’s like watering a plant; your plant, or friendship, will die if you don’t take care of it everyday.

Cultivate the friendships that make you happy, and share your interests, hobbies, and everyday activities with them. Joining a social club or group is also a way to cultivate new friendships.

A good friend doesn’t have to be a rare commodity if you work hard at finding those who support you during bad times and share your joys during the good times.

5. Freedom

The last thing on the list of the top five best things in life that are for free is freedom. If you live in a free country, you probably don’t think of this everyday as something that we should appreciate. But you should realize that some people in the world don’t have freedom, or have ever tasted it, or have had it taken away from them.

Our gratitude for freedom needs to be something that we add to our gratitude journal everyday.

We can breathe in fresh air, drink clean water, step outside in the park without fear for our safety, and be friends with anyone that we want, without being punished for it.
So take care of the environment and take care of each other so we can prevent ourselves from putting a price tag on these things in the future.

You can see the point I’m trying to make with this list. The only way to keep these things free and available to everyone is prevent them from being threatened by our own carelessness.

The future is hopeful. Humanity doesn’t have to play a part in threatening these resources and making them scarce and enjoyable by only a privileged few.
There are actions that people are taking right now to protect the environment and each other.

By taking the time to appreciate what we can get for free, it will give us a reason to keep things free and accessible to all, because as soon as we put a value or price tag on them, they will no longer be free to everyone.

Putting an ownership on something that was once for free is an injustice. There doesn’t have to be a hidden cost to freedom.

The Seven Benefits of Being Frugal That Will Surprise You

by Idea Pictogram | Jul 31, 2025 | ideas for humans

I’m the type of person who practices frugality like it’s a religion because I’ve discovered many surprising benefits of being frugal. Being frugal is not only wise, it’s a way of life that has freed me from debt, stress, and worry. Not only am I debt-free, I’m also not tied to material possessions. I live free from the stress of having to take care of maintaining a house or a car or even a pet.

In today’s world, we live in a gluttony of material wealth. We’re unable to let go of things that weigh us down. We mistakenly pursue ownership of things that bring us status and power. But the joy they bring you is only momentary. In this blog post, I talk about the seven surprising benefits of being frugal, which I have discovered by limiting how many material possessions I own.

Table of Contents:

1. I have enough emergency savings to last at least six months
2. I live debt-free, and I do not even have credit card debt
3. I have peace of mind and I am stress-free
4. I am less materialistic
5. I live a healthier lifestyle
6. I have a greater appreciation for what I already have
7. The more I save, the less I want

1. I have enough emergency savings to last at least six months

Everyone should have emergency savings. Many people don’t have enough savings to last them three months. If you don’t have emergency savings, it’s time to start saving now. If you were to lose your job or if your business were to slow down and lose income, you’d be cushioned against bad times until things start to look better again.

If you have trouble saving, take a look at your daily or weekly expenses. Examine where you can cut down your spending. Do you pay for a subscription to an app that you never use? Or do you buy lunch everyday when you could just pack a lunch from home? Do you take an Uber when you could use public transit? These are just some of the ways to save money. It starts with taking an audit of your expenses and cutting down on the ones that are “nice to have” but are not absolutely necessary.

Get into the habit and mindset of saving money. Being strategic about how you spend your money will get you farther in your saving goals, and faster, too. The surprising benefit of being frugal is that it protects you during emergencies when your cash flow is stagnant.

2. I live debt-free, and I do not even have credit card debt

As soon as I receive a credit card bill, I make sure that I pay it immediately. The idea of paying high interest fees on credit card debt is enough to make me think twice about delaying the payment of my monthly credit card bills.

If you adopt the same mindset, you’d have no creditors knocking on your door. Also, credit card debt can pile up, creating a dent in your credit score. Protect credit score at all costs. Your credit score determines how much interest you’d be paying on things like car insurance and your mortgage, and whether you can get that business loan.

Being debt-free saves you from the stress and worry of wondering whether you’ll ever be able to pay back your loans. For example, if you have student loans and are drowning in debt, the first thing you must do is pay it off so you’re not saddled with high-interest debt. The less money that goes to your debtors, the more you can put in your own pocket. No one likes forking over their hard-earned money to someone else.

3. I have peace of mind and I am stress-free

Since I’m frugal, I don’t have to worry about paying off debt and whether I have enough money for shelter, utilities, and food. I don’t lose sleep worrying about it.

Also, if you want to start a family, you must have enough savings to provide for your children. You can’t do that if you’re buried under a stack of bills. Since I don’t have any bills piling up, I can rest easy knowing that I don’t have any financial obligations that can get in the way of providing for my family. And what’s more important than family? Life is stressful enough as it is. Being debt-free is an easy way to lighten that burden. The surprising benefit of being frugal is that it gives you a peace of mind.

4. I am less materialistic

Stuff is just stuff that you will later throw or give away. There is so much waste going into landfills. It’s mindboggling how we can continue to consume and to waste in an endless cycle. Because I am frugal, I don’t buy things that I don’t need. I am less materialistic. This means I throw away less waste, and I uphold my personal value of being responsible for the environment and for the planet.

Consumer spending creates a global problem of waste that ends up in landfills. It’s killing our planet. It might not seem like a lot when one person stops adding to that waste, but when a mass of people collectively say “No” to waste, it can really add up and make a great impact.

In addition, materialism feels empty after a while. You’ve got the latest tech gadget, for example, but after a while, that shiny object loses its appeal, and you’re back to craving the next thing to distract you. The benefit of being frugal is that you care less about physical things, and more about what really brings you joy to your mental and emotional state.

5. I live a healthier lifestyle

Since I don’t eat out in restaurants, I save more money and also live a healthier lifestyle. I will occasionally splurge on a meal, but never more than once a week or three times a month. That hamburger and fries, loaded with calories, carbs, and sodium, does not entice me enough to make me sacrifice my health.

If you get cravings for unhealthy food, replace that unhealthy meal with one that will keep you full. That includes protein and complex carbs that will not spike your sugar level.

I understand that eating out at a restaurant is what people do when they get together. They want to socialize and have a good time. But why not convince your friends to have a picnic or potluck, or cook food together at home? That way, you choose what food you eat and still have the chance to socialize while enjoying a meal together.

6. I have a greater appreciation for what I already have

I feel a lot of gratitude for what I already have, because I’m not constantly trying to replace these things with newer purchases.

There’s nothing that makes you more unhappy than being greedy for things you don’t have. For example, I already have a winter coat that serves its purpose of keeping me warm during the winter. So why would I need a designer coat that costs more but serves the same purpose? Some people shop for designer brands because they feel that it brings them status and makes them the envy of their social circle. But that’s not really the root of the problem. The root of the problem is that they don’t appreciate what they already have.

If there is one way of feeling gratitude, it’s to change how you think about your possessions and to value what you already have. The surprising benefit of being frugal is that you appreciate what you already have.

7. The more I save, the less I want

Savings and want move in opposite directions and in inverse proportion. Meaning that, when I save more, I want less. It mattered less whether I had the latest pair of shoes from Nike or the latest iPhone from Apple. These things won’t make you happy. Besides, at the speed that technology moves these days, the latest and hippest gadget will become obsolete and out of fashion faster than you can say smartwatch. So save more, don’t get distracted by shiny objects, and you’ll find that you want less.

The Final Word

There are a lot of hidden benefits to being frugal. Spend less and save more to unlock the convenience of not being tied to material possessions. Having lived through one or more recessions, the current generation is wiser about how they spend their money. Not knowing what can happen in the economy the next day, or next week, can stress you out if you’re not prepared or if you don’t have your finances in order.

Because of the unpredictable nature of the economy, have ample savings that can cushion you in hard times. Being frugal is not about penny-pinching. It’s about investing in your future and being smart about the choices you make when you spend money. It’s a way of life free from greed, and free from feeling unhappy about what you don’t have.

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