Minimalism (in general)

What do you think about minimalism? Minimalism definitely affects all aspects of life.

I realized how much I needed minimalism when I moved from one country to another. I’m definitely more of a conscious consumer thanks to it.

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Moving from one country to another changes your perspectives a lot. On my first visit ‘home’ after I moved, I took a suitcase full of books. Books I’ve read, books I like to have around, books I’ve opened once in the 7 years they have been with me.

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@anon32618512
I totally get that sentiment.

I’m an aspiring minimalist, and am currently in the process of purging a lot of ‘junk’ that’s no longer needed/didn’t need in the first place.

Anything I don’t want/need will be donated to folks that will actually get use out of it.

My goal is always to have the mentality of “less is more”. It’s a strange concept during these modern times, though, isn’t it?

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You can’t simplify your life without understanding your own needs.
It feels great to want less.

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That’s very elegantly put @elegante, you’re right that really getting to know ourselves can encourage us to appreciate the simpler things in life.

It’s impossible to understand what’s truly important without first removing some of the things that might be distracting us or making us unable to evaluate who we are. When we want less, it means we are more content with the things we have, in the present moment.

We can find both beauty and comfort in simplicity.

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One of the most liberating things about adopting a minimalistic view to life for me has been the freedom of knowing that I will be okay and comfortable even with nothing. It is a sense of lightness of being, an unencumbered feeling and a knowing that I can get by and trust myself to be okay just as my body. I think when we live in fear, or we live identified with needingsomething other than who we are at our most stripped down, our most essential and bare, if we are carrying the weight of attachment to all these possessions (or even feelings, thoughts, beliefs) as Who We Are, life is so tiring and heavy. We don’t remember how to trust ourselves, or connect with ourselves, because life is lived in a heavy, distorted way for the external and false satisfaction, the illusion of a security and comfort that always eludes us. Minimalism is piercing that veil, to start to allow in the possibility for more us, and less everything else. To allow for the possibility that maybe life can be simpler and more full of trust and comfort in being simple. And we find the freedom of that, and the joy any lightness of that, and come home to true comfort within that we never really needed all of that in the first place.

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Simplifying Life - (aka De-junk-ifying)

Minimalism in life is attractive to many. Clearing out junk, stuff we no longer require or desire, or even new things which just don’t quite fit us right. Doing this frees up space for the new - sometimes it’s just space, sometimes something new will come in it’s place.

Letting go of things physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually often go hand in hand. I.E. When we get let go of a person in our lives, we often have memories and emotions which come up and out at the same time - we have the opportunity to let them go in totality and be FREE. We free ourselves but also the other person or thing, to be as they are, without us holding them and ourselves in some unhealthful pattern.

Oftentimes life hands us prompts of things we’re ready to move on from.

Recently Microsoft Outlook sent me two emails which felt to me that it is time to move on.

  • One email was about ‘unusual account activity’ asking me to click a link to confirm a few things and ‘further secure my account’. No thankyou.
  • The other was about updates to their terms of use - to include more stuff about AI and collection and use of personal data. The specifics of which are buried inside a document. The timing I have left in my life is more valuable to me than trying to read a thousand page document filled with technical and legal jargon which seems purposefully designed to drive the reader mental. No thank you.

For 2 days I de-outlooked my life. Transferring user names, account contacts and personal contacts to a shiny new Proton Mail account. Mmmm, lovely - I’ve been deleting emails. Delete - delete - delete! So satisfying!

The new account is streamlined - the way I use it is different to how I used the old Outlook account. No more wasting time with emails, or saving emails I know I won’t need ‘just in case’.

Have you been simplifying things in you life recently? Maybe you’d like to share some of your de-junk-ifying adventures?

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I have two games I play.

  1. I throw out/recycle/give away ONE thing every day. It could be a piece of clothing I no longer wear, some knickknack that’s gathering dust, a book that’s no longer useful to me, but could be interesting to someone else, something I kept because I thought I would use it etc. This way I get rid of 30 or 31 items per month. I do this every month except for January. January, I take it to the next level.
  2. EVERY January, I have this January decluttering challenge. On January 1st I throw out 1 item, on Jan 2nd, I throw out 2 items, on the 3rd three items & so on & so forth. So on Jan 31st, I am throwing out 31 items.

You may think- OMG, you must have a LOT of crap. However, just getting rid of this stuff on a regular basis maintains the status quo because we live in such a consumptive society, we may not realize how much stuff we actually accumulate on a monthly basis.

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Thank you for inspiring me to close my Outlook.com account! I created it over ten years ago “with the plan to move away from Gmail as much as possible” (per a password-safe note). I rarely used my Outlook.com account, and I closed my Gmail account last week. So, after reading your post, I saw no reason to keep my Outlook.com account either! It had become clutter in my password safe.

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This is a really cool approach Urszula! I haven’t heard of it this way before but I really like it - making it fun.

@kirkmahoneyphd :smiley: That’s so great to hear!

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@galtions Yesterday I threw out a magazine from 2015 because it had a recipe in it that I wanted to try. It’s been 8 years. & I haven’t made the dish.
It’s safe to say, I don’t think I will. LOL

PS: I ripped out the page, just in case & stuck it in my recipe book LOL

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I love this approach, @urszula!

  1. Would you apply this to closing an online account (e.g., an Outlook.com account) and removing its record from one’s password safe?
  2. Would you apply this to uninstalling a program from a computer?
  3. If you “get rid of” N items in a single day, then do you give yourself “get rid of” credit for that day and the subsequent N-1 days?
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@kirkmahoneyphd Hmmmm, interesting points.
You’re question about accounts, like outlook, actually got me thinking of taking my “decluttering” in that way. I’ve actually started going through my email and making I don’t have anything in there that’s not useful or that I’m not using.

However, when it comes to programs on my laptop, I’m super selective what I install. Other than productivity apps, and programs I use on a daily basis, I pretty much keep it simple.
On the other hands, I should definitely declutter my documents folder. LOL

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I couldn’t agree more! While traveling to multiple countries over the last several years, I’ve learned to fit everything I need into my suitcase (plus the plane carry-on luggage ;)).

I tend to think that owning fewer things leaves us with more space for ourselves (less things to worry about) and for what’s really important in life (hint: it’s not the things we own).

On the flip side, it’s also interesting to consider that some people are simply addicted to spending and buying new products, believing that owning more will make them feel happier in life.

I’m not judging, because I know at least one person in my own family who is an impulsive buyer. It seems to be quite a popular notion in today’s society.

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A few years back, I read an article about the rise of a SHARED economy.

I have to admit it, since this article was published in 2017, there has been a noticeable increase in “shared services” like carsharing (which was already a thing in the US around 2010), websites to borrow fancy dresses, purses etc. The list goes on & on.

We are now 7 years away from 2030…

What do guys think the future holds?

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What a great thread, Ula. I wanted to start writing right away, and suddenly… I didn’t know what to say, which usually doesn’t happen to me. :slight_smile: I think it’s time for a moment of reflection. But I’m really curious about your voices but also about what this question triggers in you in terms of emotions - is it easy for you to answer it?

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I hope that people continue to own wherever they can.

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This is another great point - each one of us may be able to become more mindful of what we acquire in the first place. Minimalism includes that which we purchase. Our choices are certainly a big part of it!

In terms of shared economy - I feel there is good balance with this. Many would like to have certain items on hand. But for larger items that we use infrequently and have no space to store easily, short term rental of the item may be a much better option.

There is a local hardware store which offers rental of a heap of DIY equipment - I love knowing this is available and that the guy there will show me how to safely use the equipment.

I also feel that circular sourcing is VERY important for a sustainable future, but also RECYCLING our current waste. This is something that some countries do generally very poorly at present. It would be great for small and micro businesses to collect and re-purpose waste.
Easy for me to say but not so easy to do - I have ideas but no idea how to begin with creating them in the world! I’d love to see a network which connects ideas people with people who can help create those things.

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I have to admit that this SHARED economy & OWNING NOTHING does trigger me a bit.
From a minimalism & sustainability perspective, yes it does make sense (THEORETICALLY). I mean how many Louis Vuitton purses does ONE person need. (Don’t answer that @justyna_latoszek LOL) You only use one at a time. So, services like https://www.bagborroworsteal.com/ where you can RENT designer bags for a certain period of time and then give it back, kinda make sense.

However, the lack of personal ownership REALLY rubs me the wrong way. People often form emotional bonds with their possessions (NOT SAYING THIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING), which may really isn’t possible in a shared economy.
The whole point of MINIMALISM is not to get attached to STUFF:
I wrote about it on our blog sometime ago:

https://mudita.com/community/blog/reflections-on-minimalism-expectations-vs-reality/

Additionally, the article I posted about the shared economy mentions the need for suitable insurance when sharing assets. So, there is the thought that SOMEONE is going to be profiting off of this, just not the traditional manufacturing and retail establishments if people stop buying and start sharing everything.

In the end, there is so much to consider when we discuss a shared economy. And I think @kirkmahoneyphd would agree with me, a shared economy kinda smells like communism to me. Just saying…

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I agree! For someone who does not appreciate that, simply ask, “Then WHO will own this thing that YOU do not own?” SOMEONE will always own and therefore CONTROL the use of that thing.

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