Category: Essays

Those of us that decide to live this simple life of intention, eventually come to have certain simple character attributes. Conversely, Taking on these attributes, these virtues, will facilitate a minimalist life. These virtues are:

• Focus – Focus in thoughts, and in life. The ability to narrow all attention to a specific task. Focused thinking is when one is working on one task undistracted (internally and externally); not multitasking (which is an illusion anyway). A focused life is one where all that we have/do, is to serve a very small set of priorities; a small set of values.
• Gratitude – When one is focused, they can develop an appreciation for the small things in life. They are appreciative. They are undistracted enough to see the beauty in things that others take for granted. They also have the time enough to let these things “infect” them with positive energy.
• Patience – Acceptance that there are some things we cannot control, and that we should live in every moment. This permits us to have a certain level of acceptance for life’s pace. This acceptance is just another word for patience. We accept that while we cannot control everything going on around us in our lives, we also realize that we completely control how we react to these occurrences.
• Compassion – When one takes on the task of creating a life of focus, they really start to analyze what their priorities/value really are. It is my belief that one such value is a constant for ALL people that take on a Minimalist life. This constant is ….. people. People are important. Maybe the most important thing. With that, we make it a priority to contribute in some way to humanity. This starts with compassion.

It is my belief, that living a life by these virtues will lead to a minimalist life. At the very least they will lead to contentment; a happy life.

The most difficult part of the philosophy of Minimalism is acknowledging when to let go, and then doing just that. Acknowledging when an element in our lives is no longer add value, but instead drains value.

With material possessions this tends to be easier. The real challenge here is acknowledging this with everything else. I am speaking of interests, activities, passions, and people.

I don’t care how long we have had this element, or how devoted we are to it, every so often we must ask ourselves:

• Am I getting as much out of this, as I am putting in?
• Am I getting fulfillment in the journey, instead of resting all hope on a destination?
• Have I reached the limit?
• Am I still contributing?

 

These are the questions we should be asking for every element in our lives, particularly those elements that require any significant amount of our time. These questions (and other like them) are our guide for leading a Minimalist life.

If after considering these questions, we’ve determined that an element is just a drain on our time/life, we must have the courage to purge it. It’s just that simple.

 

“Bury the Dead”

 

“Realize a poor investment, and cut our losses.”

People looooove to play the “blame game.”  I see it all the time. Whether on a public forum (like social media), or in peoples more personal lives, people feel useful pointing the finger at who or what they believe is the source of a problem. People do it with regard to national/world politics, workplace operations, household affairs, and basically all social groups. It’s a great way to create the illusion of productivity while at the same time relieve some angst.

Unfortunately it does neither of these things. Simply pointing out the cause of a problem very rarely leads to a solution, and any angst relief is very temporary. In fact, it usually just magnifies the angst quickly since the solution has not been found; we are just fueling our own fire.

The MAIN reason why we play the blame game though, is because we believe that it alleviates us from any responsibility toward finding/being the solution to a problem. “They broke it, so it’s their responsibility to fix it”.  This is both a lazy approach to problem resolution, and a waste of time and mental energy. The truth is: When a problem occurs, it is the responsibility of all parties involved to find/be the solution.

It is OUR responsibility to fix the problems in the world today. Simply whining about it on social media and pointing the finger isn’t getting us anywhere.

For both our global and private problems, we have to stop saying:

“Somebody has to stop this.”

“They better take care of this.”

Instead, we should be asking ourselves:

“What am I doing that could be causing or adding to this problem?”

“What can I do to resolve the problem?”

Or at the very least:

“What changes can I make, to do my part in the resolution?”

We should always be pointing the finger inward for solutions, never outward for blame. This is a more productive and less stressful use of our mental energy.