The advancement in technology, global access to information and goods give you the ability to get on your multiple devices to shop, to access information, to communicate instantly via FaceTime, or Skype. Everything is at your fingertips. We wish, and we can have. But what is the price you pay for this advancement. The question is whether you are happier now than decades ago? Are you more or less stressed? Do you actually enjoy what you have more now than people did before having all this? Perhaps if you are honest with yourself you can admit that you are not necessarily happier simply because of the abundance of stressed. We are under tremendous amount of pressure in our daily lives and some of it self-induced as we need to keep up with the Joneses, have to have bigger and better of everything without paying attention if this is truly what makes us happy. But if I ask you what is your purpose and what do you really want to achieve, and more importantly when your time is up on this earth what is the legacy you want to leave behind, what will your answer be?

Don’t get me wrong, the advancements we enjoy in the 21^st century, the ability that we can snap our figures and pretty much get anything we want within our means is great, we would not, nor should we give it up. However, how can we adapt so we can keep the stress at the minimum and the ability to enjoy the life that we are afforded?

The answer is to declutter and bring clarity in your life. Understand what brings you the most joy, then set goals we can achieve that will bring us closer to the state of living that is joyful. Write your goals down as goals that are not written down are simply wish list. The next step is to identify the activities that would allow us to achieve our goals. Anything else is a noise, and noise is a distraction. Shot out the noise and don’t be distracted. This is a deliberate act and requires awareness each and every moment. Time is perishable, each second that is gone you will never get back, don’t waste your time. Successful people are successful because they are focused on activities that are relevant to their end goal.

The question is what are you willing to give up to get what you want? There is always a trade off, and you are the only one that can answer this question for you. So, what is it you really want, and are you willing to do the work to achieve it? We make choices every day, and there are consequences for each choice. What are the consequences that are acceptable to you? You own the decision and the consequences. Write each chapter of your life with pride and make it count.

— Shohreh