The Subtle Power of Minimalism

“An entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact.”

Tyler Durden, Fight Club

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Striving to live a more minimalist lifestyle is a challenging but good goal to work towards. Minimalism is essentially the process of identifying what is essential in our lives and eliminating the rest. “Less” is often more as the popular saying goes. In home design as well as the framework in which we shape our personal and mental habits, minimalism is linked with pure, authentic and simple yet meaningful concepts. The modern lifestyle is often unfortunately far from minimal. There’s many distractions that keep us from carving space for the simple yet important things in life… spending time with loved ones, exercising, cooking or just doing nothing. Not only does the excess stuff in our physical space distract us but digital, mental and emotional clutter can lead to increased anxiety and an overall sense of dissatisfaction with our lives. We often pine and dream of a simpler life, but seldom enact real change to achieve it. Not only can dealing with or buying “more” be damaging for us mentally and psychologically, but it’s also harmful to the environment. Do we really need that new car, new phone or constant cycle of new clothes?

Minimalism can vary to a large degree between person to person and that’s normal. For example, a buddhist monk practicing minimalism may hardly own anything while a family of four may simply be limiting the amount of distracting toys or video games they buy for their children. Many studies are now showing that kids actually do better with less toys and excessive stimulus and it may increase creativity as children delve deeper into imaginary scenarios when they get bored with any one particular toy. A little boredom here and there can surprisingly be healthy and restful mentally not just for children but for adults too. For my family minimalism looks like buying quality over quantity.

Additionally, we try our best to clean and fix things before buying new. We use cast iron so we’ll never have to buy pots and pans again. We have one small closet of toys for our children and before we buy another toy, we donate a toy so that we can avoid over accumulation. We buy clothes sparingly and only items that we genuinely really love. We keep decorations that have meaning for us and again, exhibit quality over quantity. In summary, we do our best to reduce and reuse as well as to buy with intention, awareness and mindfulness. Minimalism is really about just that, intention, and truly pursuing that which brings us joy while simplifying and eliminating as much else as possible. This is always going to be a work in progress and this is again, normal.

Minimalism can also be applied as mentioned already, to our mental and psychological habits and wellbeing. Is there any excess emotional weight we’re carrying around that we might not realize? Have we truly addressed our past traumas and moved on as best we can? Is there any unfinished business or words with someone important to us? Are we allowing ourselves to be abused, manipulated or taken advantage of? Are we just otherwise completely and utterly overwhelmed? The list is endless of possible psychological and day to day habits as well as unhealthy coping mechanisms that could be hindering our journey to a more simple and yet, meaningful existence.

As humans, we tend to get in our own way, instead of realizing the power of minimalism and how it can not only relieve stress but improve our lifestyle. Have you finally reached that point where you have had enough?  The subtle power of minimalism is that we learn to appreciate and enjoy life more. When we aim to only spend time doing mostly worthy and pleasurable things, undoubtedly, we’re going to experience life in a deeper and more meaningful way.

Some tips to try and simplify your life:

Disconnect

Disconnect and detox yourself daily from all the normal everyday happenings. Turn off, or remove all your electronic devices, shut off phones, and simply sit back, reflect and relax. When you sit for at least 20 minutes a day this way, with no distractions, it helps you to detox the negativity from your life and return to a more balanced state. This time allows you to reconnect with you, your mind, body, and consciousness. You will find that you have more energy to get through the day when you take time for basic mindfulness exercises. These look different for everyone and for me, the easiest time to do this is right before bed. Instead of surfing the internet, I try to think about and process the day in silence.

Prioritize Commitments, Goals and To Do Lists

List all of your current commitments, goals and to do lists. Prioritize them and eliminate things you don’t truly need to do. Slowly but surely, begin to chip away at your lists and enjoy the freedom that comes with accomplishing the projects that are important to you.

Learn to Say No

We can learn to say no to the things that aren’t moving us in the direction we want to be going. Additionally, we can learn to say no to the people in our life that mistreat us as well as saying no to being involved in situations that will only bring drama and heartache. It’s ok not to attend every birthday party or event or feel like we have to keep up with “the Joneses”. Our mental and psychological health as well as our families, come first.

Organize and De-clutter

Now is as good a time as any to organize and declutter our life. We can clean out our home, office, car, and all personal belonging spaces. Always ask yourself “Do I really need this?”. If you aren’t absolutely in love with whatever that item is, you will likely forget all about it the next day and have saved some money and clutter instead.

Choose Quality Over Quantity

Choose quality over quantity when it comes to home decor, products, clothes or experiences. etc. This idealism can really be applied to everything, even friendships.

Downsize and Buy Less to Save More

If possible, we can downsize our home or spending habits. We can analyze our bills and cut down on all things possible. This may in and of itself take a good deal of stress and financial burden off our backs. We shouldn’t be working and slaving away our time to the point of unhappiness just to keep up with our consumerist spending habits. An interesting Princeton University study by Daniel Kahneman in 2010 found that happiness plateaued around an income of $75,000 per family. This plateau is in essence, when we have enough to cover our bills plus a little extra to spend on experiences and quality time with our families. That number likely changes based on the economy and inflation but the inherent idea is the same. We really don’t need that much to be happy once our basic needs are met. By saving money where we can, it leaves us feeling more at ease by having less financial stress.

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