Minimalism — The Way to Rediscover Life
A minimalistic lifestyle is not hermitage living with bare essentials. But an informed choice towards frugality. It is often confused with anti-materialism which is certainly not the case. For me, minimalism is not about keeping white-grey shaded bare walls and rooms with a minuscule set of things. I love my house to feel like a home. To add colors to it, to exhibit my souvenirs, artifacts on counters, and pieces of furniture to enhance the beauty of my place. My perception of minimalistic life is all about setting off on a journey of self-improvement and self-exploration. Where you learn to appreciate what you already own and discard anything that causes chaos in your well-being. It is all about unlocking your true desires and pursuing your mind to purge out trifling thoughts and create more space for a fruitful one.
So, minimalism is all about seeding willingness in our consciousness to stem out thoughts & physical possessions from our life that distract us from being truly happy. It provides a panoramic view of simplified day-to-day life with less stress, fewer diversions, more freedom, and quality time for self & loved ones.
Me on my journey to minimalist-
Less is more, an ancient simplistic style of living culture followed by many in Japan has been a buzzing mantra for many years. But most of us had a first-hand experience of this life during the lockdowns. I too got my first dose of minimalism during the long-tailed lockdowns that added a new dimension to my life. During this time listicle items of necessary goods and staying at home, tagged with financial insecurities, became a new norm of life. These constraints anchored my spendthrift habit of running to the mall on every sale or splurging into random online shopping. I became more conscious of eschewing any wastage or superfluous buying. The most important learning was the redundancy of multiple collections in my house that added no value but high entropy to my life.
This new shade of life made me understand how one can derive happiness in doing simple things like spending quality time with our loved ones, reading, knitting, music, cooking, and yoga rather than indulging in an expensive spa, vacations, or leisure shopping.
I’ve realized in the past two years of Corona that real happiness is not about getting what you wish for but being grateful for what you already have. And this is what simplistic living is giving me.
Simplicity slows down life and frees us from this modern hysteria to live faster. It finds freedom to disengage ― Joshua Becker
Few ways to Rediscover life through Minimalism
-Collect Memories not Diamonds-
I know a friend who gives no expensive gift to his child on his birthday but replenishes with fun-frolic family vacations, outings, and dining. His son recounts each birthday with the memorable moments he had cherished happily in his heart for a lifetime. When you try to shift your focus from possessing materialistically to memories, the space for your closet may shrink but creates lifetime memories for you to keep smiling, which is priceless.
A few years back, I went to my friend’s daughter’s marriage belonging to an affluent business clan. I was expecting a big fat Indian wedding. But my eyebrows raised in admiration when saw the simplistic style of wedding arrangements subtlety covering all the finesse of Indian traditional marriage. The bride looked ravishing in her mother’s trousseau with minimum jewelry and makeup. All the elements of sumptuous jazzy affairs of a big fat wedding or any form of wastage were missing. The focus was comprehensively on enjoying the ceremonies without pleasing anyone. A classic case of minimalistic marriage with a contented couple cherishing their precious moments.
When you step into a minimalistic mindset, you save time, money, and effort to mine the finer aspects of your life. So, indulge in collecting the moments and not the things as they endorse your true self.
-A messy room equals a messy mind –
A friend of mine was stressed out soul seeing stacks of books dusting on her shelf collected right from her childhood. The sentiments attached to them were holding her back, to let them go. But was unnecessarily weighing her mind. Finally, she donated them to the neighborhood library and kept a few as reminiscence. With all the physical clutter cleared, she now has a relaxed state of mind and feels contented when observing her book being shared & read by others. Thenceforth, she continued the cleaning drive-by trimming down her wardrobe, kitchen, office, and other areas in the house stuffed with things not needed anymore. The radiant refraction of her home reflected positively on her well-being.
One of the clutter-free corners of her house is now used by her as a painting studio to pursue her passion which she has been planning for a long time.
The research studies state that by focusing on organizing physical clutter in our houses and workstations, we mitigate our minds from anxiety and stress. In the chaos of copious belongings, we tend to forget where all essentials are kept and later lose our mind looking out for them or end up buying again. Experienced, it personally a couple of times. Declutter can help in curtailing stress as you know what you own and where your things are kept.
Marie Kondo, a Japanese writer, in her book ‘’Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’’, states that what we see or perceive affects the behavioral patterns of our minds.
-Buy Less, choose to well & make it last-
Consumerism is not bad but being a reckless one certainly is. Excessive consumerism shifts our concentration on materialistic upmanship. In the race, being a step ahead of others, we begin to evaluate our success markers with the number of worldly possessions and get into loans and debts of credit cards leading to mental stress and worries. Moreover, in quest of paying it off, you tend to trade off less time with your loved ones.
However, minimalistic consumerism does not imply zero materialism. I honor my commitments towards possessing worldly essentials like home, car, and comforts that are essentials or fall in the category of convenience. But will draw out a red line towards splurging or wastage.
Our ‘needs’ are limited but ‘wants’ are endless. We have to just learn to balance it out. Be a Conscious consumer and think before shopping — Why do you need it? How will it be utilized? Where will it be kept? Controlling your urge for impulse buying is an elementary step in embracing minimalist living.
Try to buy products lasting for a longer duration and avoid frequent replacements. Devices and appliances that have a multitude of utilization are a wise buy to avert wastage.
A minimalistic lifestyle is a continual journey of rediscovering life. We may not follow its ideology instantaneously, but with passing time, the principle of chaos to calm will brush our conscious and will have a sparkling impact on our well-being.
By choosing Minimalist living, I’m filling my life with stories to tell, not stuff to show. What are you choosing for yourself?
If you like reading this, you may enjoy reading my other articles based on self-improvement and growth.
5 ways to make your mind Clutter-free | by Ankur R Gupta | Jul 2022 | Medium
