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June 11, 2017

Our most important possession, our body

The very first possession we acquire in this life is our body. It is also the most important possession, as it is the vessel we inhabit. It is the ultimate multi-purpose tool. Perfect in design and function. Capable of doing marvelous works. But just like any possession we own, it can get lost in the sea of all the other possessions we own. So many of us don’t give it it’s due maintenance because we are too busy using and maintaining all our other stuff.

There just doesn’t seem enough time in the day/week/month to earn a living, mow the lawn, cook, grocery shop, clean the house, paint the dining room, laundry, dishes, bills, wash/wax the car, and theeeeen exercise. So many of us tend to cut the last one off the list. We do this because we consider maintaining these other material possessions necessary, but maintaining our own bodies as optional.

Perspective: We do not need a yard, car, house, lots of clothes, and dishes, so it should go without saying that we certainly do not need to maintain these things. We DO however need to thrive, to be healthy, to live. Make no mistake, exercise is absolutely necessary to maintain ones health. No, taking care of our bodies is not optional.

TIME TO RE-PRIORITIZE PEOPLE.

As if we needed another reason to live a minimalist lifestyle, how is this for one: Freeing our lives of unnecessary clutter gives us our time back to focus on using and maintaining the possessions that are most important to us. Most notably, our body.

June 4, 2017

A Minimalists view on race and race relations

As with all (or most) concepts/ideas, this minimalists view on race is small and simple:

There is only one race. The human race.

(How’s that for minimal?)

For starters, “race” is not the same as “ethnicity.” Race is a concept of grouping people by their physical attributes, and separating them with name labels. The very concept of race only serves to segregate people. So the very idea of race lends itself to race-ism. Ethnicity refers to the place of origin and culture of people.

So by that logic ……. race doesn’t really exist, or I should say that it exists only because we believe it does. Take it from Bill Nye (Bill Nye on Race).

One thing I have learned through experience about people and their behaviors, is that as much as our thoughts influence our actions/words (and therefore others actions/words), so too do our actions/words influence our thoughts (and others thoughts). So by that logic, the way to eliminate this fictitious concept of “race” (and therefore racism) is to simply not talk about it. I think Morgan Freeman’s view on this is the most valid one I could find (Morgan Freeman on Race).

So lets all just stop talking about it. Not to each other, not to ourselves, and certainly NOT TO OUR CHILDREN. Eventually the very concept will be just a memory to some, and completely erased for others. Our children won’t even have a concept of it or a use for it.

So in the spirit of not talking about it, this is my first and last post on the subject.

May 28, 2017May 29, 2017

My Minimalist Home

It’s difficult to believe that I have been writing posts for two years now and this is the first time I am posting pictures of my home. Well the truth is, that we tend to me semi-private people, and were therefore kind of insecure about the idea of putting it all out there. It is also for this reason that I will not be posting any pictures of the bedrooms; there are some things that should still remain private. Besides ….. There is nothing to be gained from seeing a minimalists bedroom really. We also have a 5’X10′ deck through our dining room I won’t be posting any pictures of for security reasons.

So I’m going to take us through my small 825 square feet of sanctuary (our condo), room by room giving some general points of how I have laid everything out.

The entry way:

In the entry way of my home all we see is a coat rack and shoe rack to the left, mirrored closet to the right, and a stair case.

No pictures, no decor. Not that I have anything against pictures or decor (the rest of the rooms have it), but I prefer the entry way to be pretty plain.

At the top of the stairs is the main hub area (kind of like a hall way) that joins all the rooms together. There is really nothing to it, so a picture is not necessary.

The Living Room

Just a basic black, white, and grey look with color sprinkled in here and there. 44″ TV, Sony Stereo Receiver, Infinity speakers, a little play area for my child, and all the basic elements of a standard living room. the pictures on the walls plus the sofa set gives the room a NYC theme.

Plus an awesome Spider-man print. Besides the fact that Spider-man is awesome, he does go with the city theme.

So as we can see, I do have both prints up on the walls and decor on the surfaces, however both the wall and table top decor are minimal, with a great amount of space between them. I believe it makes the space look more elegant, and makes each piece of decor more noticeable; the pieces demand more focus. This is right in line with the philosophy “less is more.”

The Dining Room / The Office

Let me start by saying …. we don’t dine in here. We dine in the kitchen. This room is used mostly for computer time.

It also happens to be where I store my bicycles and cycling supplies.

I’m really big on Star Wars.

This side of the table is where I keep all my office effects, as well as my MTG supplies (I play Magic the Gathering). All these things fit neatly under the first leaf of the book shelf, unnoticeable from the other side of the room.